25TH ANNIVERSARY OF 11 SEPTEMBER TERRORIST ATTACKS
Today marks a quarter of a century since the world changed forever.
Twenty-five years ago, the catastrophic terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 innocent people on American soil, including 10 Australians whose lives were tragically cut short far from home.
On this solemn milestone, Australia pauses to remember every soul lost. We hold in our hearts the families left bereaved, who have carried the compounding weight of that grief for twenty-five years.
We honour the extraordinary courage of the first responders who ran towards danger, and the profound humanity of ordinary citizens comforting one another in their darkest of hours
Being in Washington D.C. on that fateful day, former Prime Minister John Howard immediately pledged Australia’s resolute solidarity with the American people.
In the days that followed, for the first and only time in history, Australia formally invoked the ANZUS Treaty. We did so not just out of legal obligation, but out of a deep, emotional bond of abiding mateship.
We recognised that an attack on the fundamental freedoms of the United States was an attack on the free world itself.
The unity shown by the Labor Government and Coalition Opposition, reflected in the moving bipartisan words delivered in Parliament yesterday by both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, mirrors the unbreakable unity of all freedom-loving Australians when confronting such tragedy.
Twenty-five years on, our resolve has not waned.
The Coalition reaffirms our sacred pledge to stand unyieldingly against evil, terrorism, and violent extremism in all its forms.
This commitment renews a promise to work hand-in-hand with the United States and other international partners to protect the open, democratic way of life that defines us.
Let us never forget, and let us always stand united.
ENDS
