23 January 2002

Lawmaker Recalls Australia's Support for U.S.

Representative Stephen Horn (Republican of California), in a January 23 speech to the House of Representatives, recalled Australia's quick and strong show of support for the United States after the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Horn cited an address by Premier Bob Carr of New South Wales one week after the attacks in which Carr introduced a resolution in Parliament condemning the terrorist assault and calling on Australians to practice "the very values that were attacked -- freedom and the rule of law."

Australia has committed troops, ships and aircraft to the war on terrorism.

According to Horn, Carr also spoke of the heroes of September 11, noting that "human goodness is a fact -- it is unstoppable, and ineradicable."

"The firemen and police who walked into the shadow of two great wobbly towers and climbed the stairs, were probably aware they would not survive," Carr said.

"The heroes on United Airlines flight UA93, accepted their fate and attempted by their death to save others and protect their country," he added.

Coincidentally, Australia's Prime Minister John Howard was in Washington the day of the attacks to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Australia-New Zealand-United States (ANZUS) alliance.

Horn asked that the full text of Carr's remarks be included in the Congressional Record "so that it will be clear to all that America has many good friends and many strong allies in the fight against terrorism."

Following is the text of the January 23 extension of remarks by Representative Stephen Horn, which includes Premier Carr's speech:

Mr. Horn. Mr. Speaker, the terrorist attacks of last September 11th were a terrible blow to the United States and to all of our citizens. Each of us became witnesses to the cold-blooded murder of fellow Americans by a small band of fanatics who hate our country and the values we stand for--freedom and the rule of law.

But the events of last September produced not only shock and horror, but an immediate outpouring of support from nations all over the world. One voice from overseas that spoke with both power and eloquence was that of Premier Bob Carr of New South Wales, Australia. Mr. Carr has long been a good friend of the United States and his speech to Parliament on September 18th last year should be read by every Member of Congress. Today, I place that speech in our RECORD so that it will be clear to all that America has many good friends and many strong allies in the fight against terrorism.

Bob Carr is not only a historian of his wonderful Australia. He is also a master of our history.

Terrorist Attacks On The United States Of America (by Bob Carr, Mp, Premier Of New South Wales)

Mr CARR (Maroubra--Premier, Minister for the Arts, and Minister for Citizenship): I move:

That this House:

• condemns the terrorist attacks committed in the United States;

• extends condolences to all the victims and their families; and

• calls on Australians of all faiths to support each other and practise the very values that were attacked--freedom and the rule of law.

All who lived through 11 September 2001 will always remember it. A catastrophe like that bonds us as human beings and great good can sometimes flow from enormous evil as if, in this time of talk of war, when facing the darkness, we most value the light. The events of just a week ago have shown us that human goodness is a fact--it is unstoppable, and ineradicable. The firemen and police who walked into the shadow of two great wobbly towers and climbed the stairs, were probably aware they would not survive. The heroes on United Airlines flight UA93, accepted their fate and attempted by their death to save others and protect their country. The husbands, wives, sons and daughters rang loved ones from those planes and wrecked offices to say, ``Goodbye, I'm unlikely to survive this. It was good to have been your friend upon the earth.''

Thousands volunteered their blood, their hands, their exhaustion for the long nights and days that followed. They are still at work. The chaplain who died in the act of giving absolution to a fireman who himself died in an act of gallant self-sacrifice. Our colleague in public service Mayor Giuliani never slept, and former President Clinton wept with the kinfolk of the fallen. Sometimes it takes this enormity to show the generosity of the human spirit. It is not good that the few who are not susceptible to mercy can do such harm to so many.

Today we are not here to speak--though the time will come--of the big picture of world terrorism, its causes and its remedies, or of the strategic goals and alliances that are being talked of, and the necessary action to smash terrorists. We are here today only to speak our shared regret, our sympathies and kindred sorrows. The number of Australians currently not accounted for in New York and Washington is more than the number who perished at Thredbo when 18 lives were lost; on the Westgate Bridge, 35 lives; in the fires of Hobart, more than 50 lives; perhaps even more than in the Granville Train disaster, 83 lives lost.

We feel ourselves one in blood with the fallen, kin and bonded with all who died. A world away, we share their grief. There were those that morning who bad the luck. The Chairman of Cantor Fitzgerald, Howard Lutnick, survived the attack because he was late for work. He decided to take his children to kindergarten for the first time that morning. He lost his brother, though, and around 700 workmates--700! John, a New York Port Authority worker, rolled himself into a ball, tumbled down 80 stories as the building fell and was barely scratched. Ian Thorpe came to the door two hours before and then went back to his hotel for his camera.

John Howard was giving a news conference at his hotel a short walk from the White House, when the 767 airplane intended for its destruction hit the ground in Pennsylvania. All feel relief but also guilt that they were spared and so many were lost. Human beings are like that. We feel for our fellows, across race, religion and region. We breathe the same air, share hopes and sorrows. We are involved, as John Donne said, in mankind, and the tolling bell tolls also for us as it does for comrade, foe and kin.

We think of our lost Australian kin. Yvonne Kennedy, 62, from Westmead, a widow with two sons, had recently retired from the Red Cross after 25 years, having been awarded the Red Cross distinguished service medal. She was on her retirement holiday. Adelaide industrial advocate Andrew Knox was working for an infrastructure company on the 103rd floor of the north tower of the World Trade Center. Leanne Whiteside, from Prahran, Melbourne, was on the second day of her dream job in the World Trade Center working for an insurance company. Retired Sydney Qantas baggage handler Alberto Dominguez from Lidcombe had worked for Qantas for 21 years. He was a prominent member of the Spanish community. Lesley Thomas, from the Central Coast, was working in New York as an options trader for Cantor Fitzgerald.

For these and all the others missing and not accounted for among the scarred and twisted metal we hope for a miracle: that among the rows of stretchers and doctors waiting for patients and treating so very few, that along the unending odyssey of the sniffer dog Bear, who knows in the way dogs do how essential is his task, a human form in the dust will unexpectedly move and show that life is there, and hope abides.

There is no joy in this occasion. There is no great comfort in knowing that more lives are yet to be shed in the conflict that will surely follow this atrocity, this bestial act by fearless, fanatical, short-sighted men. There is no comfort in sharing a planet, a fragile global confederation, that has in it so much hate, and to see that hate grow by the hour. There is no victory, and there is no honour, in defaced mosques or churches or in abuse and street violence against good citizens born in the Middle East and at peace here in Australia. They detest as much as any these barbarous and poisonous acts and the inhumane organisation that planned them and fed them.

There is comfort, however--some comfort--in the goodness this foul deed has ignited: the song and ritual and the extended hands of nations met in unexpected comradeship, united by their sympathy, sorrow and outrage. In the words of a familiar song, ``We are one, but we are many.'' In this country as in yours and at this awful time we are with you, the very many of you now grieving, in spirit and in fact, in our prayers and in our sorrow, and in our strategic support--in all this, Australia will be there.