Thursday, 10 September 2026

 Renee HEATH (Eastern Victoria) (10:07): This weekend Jews across Victoria are going to celebrate Jewish New Year. I just want to read a little bit of an article that was in the Herald Sun, which I just think is incredibly inspiring. It talks about the man, Senior Constable Barraza, who ended the Bondi terrorist attack by taking down one of the shooters. It says:

Sen Const Barraza, an experienced police marksman, was eating nachos at Bondi police station when a call came through on the police radio: “Possible armed offenders. Shots fired.”

He waited to hear confirmation.

Then his colleague Const Dyson’s voice came through: “I think I’ve been shot.”

It is the most amazing story. This man just picked up his gun – did not get his mobile phone, did not get his bulletproof vest – and ran towards the gunfire. He did not even know where it was, but he ran where people were fleeing from. He just listened to the sound of gunfire, and he ran to them. It reminded me that last week I was with a Holocaust survivor, Eddy Boas, and a great-granddaughter of Holocaust survivors. She asked Eddy this: ‘What is your one take-home message when responding to antisemitism, especially for the next generation?’ He said, ‘When facing antisemitism, you have got to not give in. Do what you normally do. Do not take off your Star of David, and do not give in.’ I thought that was a powerful message for us, because in order for them to do that, we have to stand up for them.