21st anniversary of the Bali Bombings
With terror raging in Israel, we cast our
minds back today to another tragic terrorist attack.
21 years ago, 88
Australians lost their lives in the Bali bombings. To this day, the bombings in
Bali represent the largest loss of Australian lives from a terrorist incident.
These holidaying
Australians were among 202 innocent people from 20 different nations who were
murdered by sadists and death worshipers from Jemaah Islamiyah.
Such was the
barbarity of the attack, the first suicide bomber’s detonation in Paddy’s Irish
Bar drove fleeing survivors towards a second bomb in a van parked outside the
Sari Club, which was detonated by another suicide bomber.
Today we remember
all the victims of these savage acts. Many of the survivors still bear the
injuries or live with the trauma of that terrible evening.
Today, we pay
tribute to many others: The strangers who cared for the wounded, especially the
Indonesian people. The doctors and nurses who treated those patients airlifted
to Australian hospitals and saved lives and treated burn victims. The members
of our intelligence community, law enforcement agencies, foreign service and
military who responded to the attack and worked with our Indonesian
counterparts to ultimately bring the perpetrators to justice.
To those Australians
who survived the attacks and the families who lost loved ones: we continue to
be inspired by how you are living your lives and your many endeavours and
triumphs in spite of your suffering, your loss and your heartbreak.
As I said during the
20th anniversary last year, every day
of endurance is a magnificent blow to an odious ideology, every year of courage
is the confident roar of freedom in defiance of cowardly evil, and every decade
of achievement is a triumph over terrorism.
The Bali Bombings
are a reminder that fear and terror will never snuff out the flame of the human
spirit.