This is not for the Jewish community to solve alone: Allegra Spender

December 14, 2025, will go down as one of the darkest days in Australian history. It can and must also be the start of a new reckoning of how we keep our incredible country together.

One of the first shooting victims to be publicly identified was Rabbi Eli Schlanger. I had the honour of meeting Rabbi Schlanger through Chabad of Bondi. He was a lovely man. A good man. And as one community leader told me today: “Eli got up every day trying to work out how to spread good in the world. How can we fill the hole a man like Eli leaves behind?”

Each of the lives cut short leaves a gaping wound. Not just for their family, friends and community, but for all Australians.

The foundations of modern Australia are built on the safety and acceptance of all – regardless of faith, ethnicity, sexuality or any characteristic. We judge people based on their words, their actions, their relationships and their commitment to accept others. Not their group.

Sunday’s terrorist attack is the worst nightmare of Jewish Australians deliberately targeted by Islamic extremists. The Jewish community long feared this. Some dismissed their fears but now we must stop being complacent about what it takes to preserve our beautiful tolerant country.

Our Jewish community has contributed greatly to Australia, and should feel proud of this and who they are. They have earned and are entitled to the same security and freedoms as all Australians. They should not need to build ever bigger walls around their institutions, nor retreat from public life. They should be able to wear a Star of David or kippa just as others wear turbans or a hijab, without fear of intimidation.

We must actively pursue our social cohesion, our security. We must be steadfast and strong, but not reactionary.

Australia’s diverse community will inevitably have different views on difficult issues, but we must disagree strongly, never with hate. We must draw a bright line between those who sincerely disagree, and those who want to undermine our country.

Doing that is hard. We do need to strengthen our laws, strengthen our security. But that is not enough. We must forensically examine how Sunday happened, and what if anything could have been done to avoid it. The government should respond to the antisemitism envoy’s recommendations, but laws and policing can take us only so far.

What really protects us all and protects the Australian culture we treasure is our commitment to take each individual for who they are and what they do. That commitment saved lives on Sunday when Ahmed al Ahmed rushed forward to disarm one of the killers targeting the innocent men, women and children who had gathered to celebrate the joyous festival of Hanukkah.

Ahmed is a recent refugee, a shop owner who came to our country from Syria. A Muslim man who risked his life to disarm a killer and save Jewish Australians. Ahmed was wounded showing the decency and courage we celebrate in Australians from all faiths who will not stand for hate. The Jewish Australians I met today at Bondi Pavilion described him as a hero.

Building and strengthening our culture demands leadership at all levels, and a commitment at all levels of our country, from every single one of us, that this cohesion is something we need to actively fight for.

I come back to what I said at the start – the foundations of modern Australia are built on the safety and acceptance of all – regardless of faith, ethnicity, sexuality or any other characteristic. We judge people based on who they are as people, rather than what group they represent.

The instinct is often to pull people apart, to dehumanise and to look at each other with fear. The much harder thing is to see the humanity in each of us.

But every single one of us must ask ourselves – are we in our actions, in what we say, making our country safer for each other, or less safe? We all have a responsibility here. Security is more than laws and policing. It comes from a society that cannot be divided by those who wish it ill. We have to be that society. We need to confront the things that we disagree on; we cannot shy away from those conversations.

I will always wonder if I could have done more to prevent Sunday – in whatever actions and words I have taken or not taken. We each need to ask each other. This is not for the Jewish community to solve alone. We must all turn up.

Allegra Spender is the member for the federal seat of Wentworth, which covers Bondi.

• Moment by moment: How the horrifying attack unfolded

• Jacqueline Maley: We thought our gun reforms would prevent this kind of horror. We were wrong

• Blood donations, floral tributes: Sydney has rallied in the wake of the Bondi attack

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.