House of Representatives
Monday 22 February 2021
Humanity 'could never fully understand the world of a survivor'—that's what Jewish Holocaust survivor Olga Horak told SBS News when she reflected on Nazi Germany's regime of persecution. She was imprisoned at Auschwitz and liberated 76 years ago. On this anniversary this year and here in this parliament Australia at this time marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day. I thank the previous speakers for their contribution and, in particular, the mover and seconder of the motion for bringing the parliament together for this important issue.
Even though we might live across the globe from where the atrocities took place, when we hear stories like Olga's they hit very close to home for all of us. There are holocaust survivors here in Australia and across the globe who every day must do battle with the horrors they have experienced, horrors that are terrible, unimaginable and uncomfortable for us who have never known that kind of suffering to hear about—but they must be heard. Six million Jews, along with other minorities, were killed during the murderous Nazi regime. At Auschwitz alone, more than a million people died. Mrs Horak describes the camp as 'the bottom of hell'. She says, 'It was easier to die than to live.'
More than seven decades after the atrocities committed against the Jewish community, we must do more to remember. I want to commend the federal, state and local governments in my home state of Queensland for committing crucial funds to establish the Queensland Holocaust Museum and Education Centre, announced by the minister, Stirling Hinchliffe, and supported by the Premier and Treasurer, Annastacia Palaszczuk and Cameron Dick, to ensure that the voices will be heard and the stories from this dark moment in history will be preserved. I thank the member for Macnamara for playing a constructive role in ensuring that this has become a reality in my home state. I want to recognise my great friend Jason Steinberg, the Queensland Jewish Board of Deputies vice-president, who has played a key role in ensuring that this project will go ahead.
We must have more uncomfortable conversations. We need to discuss and comprehend the horrors that those in our communities, their family members and their friends have gone through. Keeping those terrible memories alive is key to creating a more just and tolerant society and it is the best way for us to do justice and pay respect to those who went through such senseless suffering simply because of the way they chose to worship.
It's never been more imperative to mourn and mark the Holocaust. We're living through some unprecedented times and troubling moments in history, when anti-Semitic sentiments are, sadly, on the rise. Many of us caught glimpses of the disturbing anti-Semitic imagery displayed right across the world on clothing and flags in the 6 January riot in the US Capitol. Sadly, as we've heard today, this is not an isolated incident. Anti-Semitism is on the rise across the globe, and here in Australia we are not immune to the disturbing trend of dangerous and harmful historical revisionism. Anti-Semitic acts are occurring on our own soil, in our schools, universities, places of worship, businesses and in the dark recesses of the internet, where dangerous, false ideas can be shared and reinforced as facts. Sometimes it occurs in full public view, as we've heard from the member for Macnamara of his home state of Victoria, where a group of men were making Nazi salutes and shouting 'white power'.
This is the face of evil showing itself here in our backyard, and it's up to all of us to decide whether or not we will allow it. This is not free speech. This is not an argument that we have. This is abhorrent. We must condemn hatred in all its forms in the strongest possible terms. There is no responsible or acceptable reason to display a swastika. There is no acceptable reason to deny the Holocaust occurred. There is no acceptable reason to discriminate against a group of people based on their religious beliefs. We must take ownership of this and defend our country's tolerant and kind reputation.
Seventy-six years on from the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp, Australia remembers humanity's darkest hour. We will still stand with the Jewish community and we will continue to speak about the unspeakable so we will always remember the devastating consequences of ignorance and hate. We will never forget.
