December 14, 2025, will go down as one of the darkest days in Australian history. It can and must also be the start of a new reckoning of how we keep our incredible country together.

Allegra Spender at Bondi on Monday. She said the shooting in her electorate was the community’s “worst nightmare”.Credit: Kate Geraghty

One of the first shooting victims to be publicly identified was Rabbi Eli Schlanger. I had the honour of meeting Rabbi Schlanger through Chabad of Bondi. He was a lovely man. A good man. And as one community leader told me today: “Eli got up every day trying to work out how to spread good in the world. How can we fill the hole a man like Eli leaves behind?”

Each of the lives cut short leaves a gaping wound. Not just for their family, friends and community, but for all Australians.

The foundations of modern Australia are built on the safety and acceptance of all – regardless of faith, ethnicity, sexuality or any characteristic. We judge people based on their words, their actions, their relationships and their commitment to accept others. Not their group.

Sunday’s terrorist attack is the worst nightmare of Jewish Australians deliberately........

© The Sydney Morning Herald