PM marks three years since October 7 in parliament

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese opened Question Time on Monday with a statement marking the third anniversary of the October 7 attacks, saying Australia stands with the Jewish community here and abroad.

“With pain in our hearts, we reflected once more on the devastation that the terrorists of Hamas unleashed on that dark day, and we remembered the 1200 lives that they robbed from the world,” Albanese said. “It was the largest loss of Jewish life on any single day since the Holocaust.”

He said the country continued to mourn Galit Carbone, the Australian murdered in the attacks. “Our hearts remain with her family, who live each day with her absence, and we solemnly vow, as we vow every day, to never forget what the terrorists perpetrated in all their cruelty,” he said.

That Hamas chose to target young people at a music festival promoting friendship, love and freedom sent a clear message that the organisation stood in opposition to humanity, he said.

Albanese acknowledged the approach of the first anniversary of the Bondi Beach attack, saying it compounded the pain for many. “Time marches on with an ease denied to the human heart. For so many, no day since has been easy, but anniversaries fall with their own terrible weight,” he said.