<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>NSW Premier Chris Minns has delivered a moving tribute in state parliament during a </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/bondi-shooting-nsw-premier-chris-minns-delivers-major-firearm-reforms-in-state/f3c4d334-51a1-41d6-ae9f-1e5d8a500700" rel="" target="" title="rare emergency session to new introduce firearm, protest and anti-hate speech laws."><span>rare emergency session to new introduce firearm, protest and anti-hate speech laws.</span></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Minns used today's legislative parliament to pay his respects to the 15 innocent victims of the </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/bondi-shooting" rel="" target="_blank" title="Bondi Beach terrorist attack"><span>Bondi Beach terrorist attack</span></a><span> on Sunday and commend the bravery of those who risked their lives to help.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>His speech also acknowledged the responsibility he wears as premier to respond swiftly to the mass shooting with legislative action.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>You can read the full condolence motion below.</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/boxing-day-test-ashes-melbourne-victoria-police-semi-automatic-guns/842bcd21-d3cc-49af-a443-470fffa78808"><strong><span>Police to carry semi-automatic guns for Melbourne's Boxing Day Test</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><strong><span>Condolence motion – Victims of Bondi Beach terror attack</span></strong></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>Mr Speaker, I move that this House:</span></em></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/bondi-shooting-nsw-premier-chris-minns-speech-to-parliament-in-full/f086c753-fe2b-4fe3-95db-53d6eb0d2376" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>Mourns for the innocent lives lost during the terrorist attack targeting the Jewish community at Bondi Beach on Sunday, 14 December 2025, and extends the deepest sympathies of members of this house to the family, friends and loved ones of the victims.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>Conveys its utmost gratitude for the bravery shown by those who risked their lives in aiding the victims, including members of local Surf Life Saving clubs, frontline responders such as the New South Wales Police, New South Wales ambulance, community groups such as the CSG Community Safety Group and members of the public.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>Recognise the devastating impact this attack has had on the Jewish community in our state and our country.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>Acknowledges the evil of antisemitism and violent Islamist extremism, and that words of hate can lead to actions of hatred with devastating consequences.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>Rejects antisemitism unequivocally and hatred and intolerance in all its forms, and recognises that we have no place in our modern multicultural community for this behaviour.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>Resolves to lead in the eradication of antisemitism in whatever form it appears, and commits to do all we can now to hasten the elimination of this hatred in our state, for Jewish communities today and across the generations to come.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>And stands in solidarity with our state's Jewish community and commits to supporting them through this process of healing.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>Mr Speaker, each night of Chanukah after the lighting of the Ma'oz Tzur candles, the Jewish people sing the Ma'oz Tzur, "My soul was sated with misery and my strength was spent with grief."</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>Today, at the end of Chanukah, we've returned to this house of parliament to acknowledge in one unanimous voice that we too are spent with grief.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>After an hour of terror and a week of sorrow, this morning, we remember 15 beautiful souls.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>On Sunday, the 14th of December, victims of violent Jewish hate, but in the course of their lives, wonderful, generous, big-hearted members of our community.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>And it's in that spirit that we mourn their death today, not by the evil that found them, but by the lives that they lived, the love that they gave, the good that they shared with us and the rest of the world.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>Mr Speaker, eight days ago, Sofia and Boris Gurman saw a black ISIS flag on the windscreen parked along Campbell parade at Bondi. Now they could have easily edged away, having seen the flag and put themselves in a position of safety.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>They were walking away from the Chanukah festival. But they didn't do that. And instead, and despite the obvious danger, they tried to, without being armed themselves, disarm the gunman, and in the struggle, they became the first victims of this terrible crime.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>With my wife, Anna, we met their sole surviving son, Alex last week, who spoke of his deep sense of gratitude that the footage of their final moments was in fact, found so that he knew that they died heroes.</span></em></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-terror-attack-victims-named/8e866d73-4e45-4198-b28b-3661b4d8ad58" rel="" target="_blank" title="Holocaust survivor, heroes, a 10-year-old girl: The 15 people killed in the Bondi Beach terror attack"><strong><span>Holocaust survivor, heroes, a 10-year-old girl: The 15 people killed in the Bondi Beach terror attack</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>The family had said this act of bravery and selflessness reflects exactly who they were, people who instinctively chose to help, even at great personal risk. While nothing can lessen the pain of this loss, we feel immense pride in their courage and humanity.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>On Friday morning, age 61 and 69, Sofia and Boris were buried together, and they were buried as husband and wife, according to the rabbi, Rabbi Ulman, it's been years since he'd seen two coffins placed next to one another at a funeral.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>Mr Speaker, no one could fail to observe the courage and humanity displayed at Bondi Beach, often by grandfathers and grandmothers hopelessly outgunned, placed in an impossible situation.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>But the more we've learned about these 15 people, the more we've come to understand the source of that bravery, the reason that they were going to stand in the breach and to protect people in their community and other strangers that they'd never met.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>Because one of the many traits that's united these people is that they were all active citizens. They were community people. They gave themselves to others.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>People like Edith Brutman, a cherished leader in their committee against anti-discrimination. In the words of her loved ones, she met prejudice with principle, division, she met with service.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>We mourn her deeply, but we ask that her life, not the senseless violence that took it, be what endures when we remember Edith.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>We remember young Matilda painting her face at sunset, petting a baby lamb with her sister. She was called a ray of light to everyone who'd met her.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>We remember Boris Tetleroyd, a gentleman and a musician who loved conversation, connection and helping others whenever he could find them.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>We remember Marika Pogany, who was given the New South Wales Mensch award for hand delivering, get this, 12,000 kosher Meals on Wheels over, get this – 20 years of service to the community!</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>And I ask you, what kind of malevolence could motivate a person to murder, an 82-year-old Meals on Wheels volunteer, an elderly lady who loved her community and was looking for nothing but peace, the peace to celebrate her religion.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>Mr Speaker, we remember Tibor Weitzen, killed while shielding other people from gunfire, a kind and generous man in life, and we can say this now because we know it a hero in death.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>So too, Reuven Morrison, who was seen running towards the gunman with a brick, nothing but a brick, against a whole bunch of guns hoping to protect his people.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>As his daughter said, "If there was one way for him to go on this earth, if we had to let him go, it would be fighting a terrorist. There's no other way. He could have been taken from us. He went down fighting, protecting the people that he loved most."</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>He went down fighting.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>Today, we remember Alex Kleytman, 87 years old, who survived the Holocaust in Europe before moving to Australia. He loved this country. He cherished the Australian way of life. He believed in freedom. He believed in democracy. He believed in its people. He believed in all of it, everything about Australia.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>Because it's not what he saw in Europe, the place where he left.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>And it's also beyond heartbreaking that he was killed after a long and often perilous life on the soil that he loved in the country that he called home, on a beach that he thought was safe.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>Mr Speaker, we remember Peter Meagher, a former cop, decades of service, decades of service, to the people of this state, then a local photographer and a legend at the Galloping Greens Randwick Rugby club.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>And one of five boys. One of five boys. It seems as though the Meagher family knew pretty much every single person in the Maroubra Eastern Suburbs period, and went to Marcellin Randwick, an amazing family. They're going to miss their big brother.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>Adam Smyth, a sports lover, a father of four, forever irreplaceable to his wife and to his children.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>Dan Elkayam, he was a French national who crossed the world for a better life in Australia, a life he had found before he was killed on Sunday at the age of just 27 years old. 27.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>Tania Tretiak of Randwick attending Chanukah, with her family by the beach. She died at 68 years of age.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>I know when you go through the lives that have been lost, the significant contributions that they've made to this state, the love that they put out in our community, that it's very hard to divine any positive feelings that have come out of Sunday's event.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>It leaves you flat. It leaves you worried. For many in our community, it leaves them fearful.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>But we can and we must, look at some of the uplifting parts of the last week by witnessing the strength and the grace of the Jewish community.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>In some cases, it's best exemplified by the rabbis of that community and of our city, our rabbis as well.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>Not only have they been working to honour the dead, comfort the families, organise the burial of loved ones, they've also had to say goodbye to two of their own, Rabbi Yaakov Levitan and Rabbi Eli Schlanger.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>Both were killed while performing religious duties in Bondi, the kind of service they routinely performed for the people of New South Wales.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>Rabbi Eli Schlanger was a Corrections New South Wales pastor in our prisons, and the stories outside his funeral of him traveling hours and hours and hours to see inmates in far flung areas of the state and then working incredibly hard to see them released into his care, often into his personal care.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>We've lost someone with a huge heart and deep empathy for people who are in a difficult, difficult time.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>They were known by many.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>They were loved by many, including by other members of that rabbinical family, particularly Eli Feldman, who was a close friend of Rabbi Schlanger.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>They were the two Elis. They studied together as young men, they both become rabbis, and Schlanger was like a brother to Feldman.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>If Eli Feldman had responded to the murder of his friend with spite or even hatred, I think we probably all understand, in fact, that's what many people are feeling today at the loss of so many wonderful people in our community in Australia.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>But instead, that didn't happen. On television, front of a large group of people, in front of everybody, he said, no matter the colour of your skin or what you believe, we are all created in God's image.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>Let us love each other. Let us care about each other.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>As Australians, our instinct is to look after each other, to stand by your mate and not leave anyone behind. And when that instinct is tested, it reveals itself not in speeches or in Acts of Parliament, but often in brave, always selfless acts, sometimes spontaneous, but always courageous.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>We've seen it from life savers running towards the danger in bare feet. I know an off-duty cop jumped out of the breakers at Bondi, made sure his two children were okay, then jumped the fence to help people in the line of fire.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>We've seen it life savers running down Campbell Parade from the neighbouring surf club after they heard gunshots at Tamarama, running towards the gunfire.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>We've seen it from members of the New South Wales Police, including two who were in a critical care after being shot in the front, running towards the violence.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>And we've seen it in acts of quiet charity, in blood bank donations, private donations, and in urgent life and death acts of professional care.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>And we should also mention the doctors, the nurses, we've said, the paramedics, those that work in our big public hospitals, who, at the drop of a hat, ran into work to receive the injured, the wounded and the dead at our big public hospitals.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>They were absolutely incredible. I've spoken to the local health manager at all of those big hospitals. Not one call had to be made to any of the senior surgeons, they were there almost immediately, having seen the news on television, knowing there'd be a mass casualty count.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>I mean, that is true public service, that's commitment to the people of this state.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>Mr Speaker, there are no adequate words that deal with the devastation that we've experienced this week. But as Rabbi Wolff of Central Synagogue told me this week, "This is why many turn to Scripture, and that's why we've got a book."</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>And it's written in Scripture, "It's not your duty to complete the work, and neither are you free to desist from it."</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>In the term of this parliament, it not, it might not be in all of our power to eradicate the poison of antisemitism, it's hard to take the hate out of somebody's heart, but that doesn't mean we don't have a duty to do everything we possibly can to fight hatred in our community, wherever and whenever we see it.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>This includes organisations and individuals who promote violence, who divide our community.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>It's got to be confronted, and that's why we're all here this week, three days before Christmas, to begin that task, I urge and put the emphasis on begin that task.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>This isn't the end of the changes that we need to make to keep the people of New South Wales safe.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>I have to say, Mr Speaker, I bear a deep responsibility for that as premier, we must, we must make those changes.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>We don't have all the answers for the many questions that people are asking, but I do know that Australians are repulsed by what they saw two Sundays ago.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>We are kind, tolerant, loving people, and yes, we've got every reason to despair right now, but Australia has been a land of hope, not least for the Jewish migrants who found a home and a sanctuary here for decades.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>80 years ago, one of the one of those migrants who found the sanctuary in our country, walked off a boat in Sydney Harbor having survived the Holocaust of Europe, he was a Jewish immigrant to our country.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>On the next day so his second day in Australia, he recorded in his personal diary, quote, "It's a very peculiar feeling. You if you were born here, or you've been living here for many years, you probably don't understand the feeling. Though it is midnight, though it's just our second day in Sydney, we seem to be home. Already, we start to have this have the same sense of security as Australian citizens. There's no difference between the two of us. We're beginning to share their confidence in their fellow citizens and in their country."</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>Mr Speaker. I know I speak for all members of this parliament, all members of this parliament, when I say to the Jewish people of this state, this is your home.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>This has always been your home, and we must do everything we possibly can to ensure that you are safe and you are protected in this city.</span></em></div></div>