Mr HOWARD (Prime Minister) (2:51 PM) —I move:

It is appropriate at the commencement of this parliamentary sitting that we pause for a moment to express our sadness and offer our words of comfort to the loved ones of those who died in this tragic accident. Those that have been taken from us by this accident—those five Australians in different ways—were on service for their country. Because of that and because many of them in different ways, including those injured, were known to a number of us and were known to so many in the government, it is a particularly poignant moment and we should reflect on their contribution and reflect upon the tragedy that overtook them and their families.

When news was given to me in the outer suburbs of Melbourne on the morning of 7 March I immediately thought of how, in so many different ways, their lives had intertwined in the service of Australia and how the loss of people of this character took from our country and from our Public Service people who dedicated their lives to the betterment of Australia and the betterment of Australia’s relations with the rest of the world. I had the opportunity shortly after receiving the news of speaking to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, who was, as you know, in Indonesia and only a few hours earlier had spent time with many if not all of those who perished in this accident.

I and the Attorney-General and the Leader of the Opposition and the Assistant Treasurer a few moments ago attended a solemn and moving funeral service at St Andrew’s Cathedral here in Canberra to farewell Mark Scott and to honour his contribution to the Australian Federal Police. As the police chaplain remarked, one of the common links amongst all of those who died in this terrible accident was that in every case they were taken well before their time and the loss, because of that, is all the more grievous.

We also send our very best wishes to all of those who were injured, including two Defence Force personnel, an Australian businessman and Cynthia Banham, a well-loved and respected journalist for the Fairfax press. We admire her extraordinary courage in the face of this terrible accident and we send our thoughts particularly to her beloved, Michael Harvey of the Melbourne Herald Sun, who, together with Cynthia’s family, has maintained a bedside vigil at the Perth Hospital.

We again reflect on the extraordinary capacity of this country to mobilise, in partnership and goodwill, its emergency services. They do us proud. Again they were there. I particularly honour the contribution of the Federal Police towards organising the rescue effort, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Australian Defence Force and all of the others associated with the effort not only to identify those who died but also to care for the injured.

It was an accident that claimed people on a common purpose. The common purpose was the better projection of this country within our region. For that we especially mourn their deaths and we particularly grieve for the terrible loss that their families have suffered. Those working for the police—and one of them I have had some contact with in the course of my official duties—were both highly regarded men properly honoured by their force. Liz O’Neill was a remarkably vivacious and popular officer of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and known to many of us. She was heavily involved in the arrangements to cope with the horrible aftermaths of the first and second Bali attacks, she organised and assisted in relation to the bombing of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta in 2004 and, of course, she was intimately involved in organising visits to Jakarta for me, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and many other senior members of the government and was known well to the Leader of the Opposition and other members of the opposition.

They were, as I say, all involved in the service of Australia, and so indeed were those of the press. In a way, an incident like this links us permanently with each other. The media of Australia, whilst they are not always in sympathy with the objectives and the goals of the government of the day or, indeed, the opposition of the day, are nonetheless a permanent and indelible part of the great democratic network of this country. We reflect upon the contribution that Allison Sudradjat made to the projection of Australia’s overseas aid effort, and on Morgan Mellish, a very talented young journalist. The obituaries that have been written so affectionately of him by his Fairfax press colleagues speak of a person full of life and hope and optimism, of incredible personal charm, of great adventure and with a love of the surf and a love of sport generally, but with all of that a very talented journalist, having won a Walkley award in relation to an examination of the taxation affairs of a former member of the board of the Reserve Bank. So to all of those relatives and friends, we convey our profound sympathy.

We also mark the reality that the nations of Australia and Indonesia have been joined yet again in tragedy. I had the opportunity the night after this terrible accident of addressing a gathering of the Global Foundation in Melbourne attended by the ambassador for Indonesia, and I said then that again our two countries had been joined in tragedy. The cooperation between the rescue forces of the two countries once again swung into action. And if any sense of comfort and optimism can be garnered from such a terrible event it is once again to remark on the goodwill, the sense of cooperation and the spontaneous willingness to work together that was evidenced by the authorities of the two countries.

We mourn the deaths of these five Australians. We thank them for their service to our country. We extend our love and our prayers to their loved ones. We wish a speedy recovery to those injured. We salute their courage and we admire their sense of hope and optimism. We look forward in our different ways to seeing them again and helping them on the road to fully resuming the lives that were so brutally interrupted by this terrible accident.