<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Kellie Sloane had a different speech prepared for the vigil on Bondi Beach to mark one week after the worst terror attack in Australia's history.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Her words were beautiful, a rabbi said. But then he politely told her to start again.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Because the NSW opposition leader was not merely a political figure addressing the thousands still mourning – she was one of the heroes trying to save lives even as the gunmen were still firing.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/bondi-shooting-seven-days-on-memorials-day-of-reflection-to-mark-one-week-since-shooting/e46cadb7-a8c5-42b2-92a7-be28c8b53b3d"><strong><span>Bondi Beach 'reclaimed' in powerful vigil one week after attack</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She was under the bridge where the shots were being fired from, and what she saw "will haunt me forever".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I stand before you as someone who saw the devastation, who arrived here last week while the shots were still being fired, who witnessed the chaos and the distress and who saw the injured and who held the hands of those who needed their hands held," she told the vigil last night.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Earlier on December 14, Sloane had been celebrating the first day of Hanukkah nearby at Dover Heights.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/bondi-beach-shooting-kellie-sloane-nsw-opposition-leader-speech-at-vigil/2d0eef36-f33c-412d-8b48-2f9d9614a879" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>People were laughing and there was dancing.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Sloane had been on stage ready to address the crowd, tragically about the hope she had after a horror start to the year.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But she didn't get to those words. She saw a crowd start to run, disperse and security guards locking down the event.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/bondi-beach-shooting-prime-minister-anthony-albanese-attends-vigil-one-week-on/268e7513-3e65-488b-9afd-af6a0ab8437a"><strong><span>Albanese booed, Minns praised at Bondi Beach vigil</span></strong></a><span></span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Rabbi Mendy Litzman was there with his ambulance and Sloane jumped in.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I don't know that he needed an extra passenger but he was on the phone to his colleague … who had been shot and he was in a bad state."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>They raced to Bondi and arrived within minutes, parking under the bridge while the gunmen were still on top.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Litzman grabbed his kit and raced to the scene and began "making impossible choices about who to deal with first and who to treat".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I helped a man and his 10-year-old boy who were hiding under that bridge get into our ambulance because I thought they'd be safer there," Sloane said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"And then I walked into the scene.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"What I saw will haunt me forever.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"But I saw police running into this scene fast and unhesitatingly, with guns drawn, headed into danger.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/bondi-shooting-update-premier-chris-minns-warning-to-anyone-planning-protests-on-sunday/686c0ee1-07fc-4b35-9d04-66c36a847b19"><strong><span>Hundreds join 'Australia first' rally despite calls to stop</span></strong></a><span></span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"And I heard … the final pop, pop, pop of gunfire", as the shooters were finally stopped.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I tried my best to help, a surf lifesaver told me, 'grab bandages'. I said, 'what do I do?' And he said, "plug the holes'."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Sloane sat next to the injured and dying, "holding their hands, putting blankets over people who we couldn't help anymore".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I had people fall into my arms who were grief stricken because they felt that they hadn't done enough, and we all felt that way.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"But, man, I saw them as heroes, and they were heroes.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"And there was nothing more any of us could do."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The crowd warmly embraced Sloane as she recounted her horrors, celebrating the heroics of others as she pointed them out.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The member for Vaucluse said the first draft of her speech omitted what she herself saw on December 14 "because my experience felt absolutely insignificant compared to that of so many others who are sitting here tonight".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>And it felt raw, she said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Rabbi Eli Feldman convinced her to make changes.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/bondi-beach-shooting-anthony-albanese-prime-minister-review-australia/0c7662e6-ab69-495e-b9c4-d8964683dd21"><strong><span>PM orders review into law enforcement and intelligence agencies</span></strong></a><span></span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"He said the words I had were appropriate and they were beautiful but that I had a bigger story to tell, that I have shared something with this community that must be retold.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"[He] said to me that bearing witness and recounting that story might be hard and it might be confronting … but it is important, and he is right."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><strong><span>'Antisemitism has led to blood spilling on our most iconic beach'</span></strong></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Sloane said the attack came after a year in which Jewish people in Australia had been "abused".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The year started with "our community facing consistent firebombings, almost day after day, and vandalism," she said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Helicopters flying over our houses at night, while we slept, to keep our Jewish neighbours safe.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"A year where the Jewish community had been doxed, they'd been abused, they'd been unable to attend university.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"They'd been abandoned by old friends and colleagues in the most heartbreaking way."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Jewish people had been accused of overreacting, she said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Very few … paid attention when community leaders warned that history … history tells us that hate speech makes violence possible.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"How could anyone who is a student of history deny that broken windows lead to violence?</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Well, let there be no doubt now. Antisemitism has now led to the spilling of blood on our nation's most iconic beach."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Sloane plans to read the names of the victims in NSW parliament as she reckons with "what do we do now?"</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"How do we comprehend what has happened to our country?"</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She said she clings to the outpouring of love in the wake of the attacks.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It's given me hope that we will mend together.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I am in pieces with you but I will be strong like you are strong, and you inspire me. And together … we will find the light together."</span></div></div>