Speech delivered on 16 December 2025 at Admiralty House

I acknowledge the Cammeraygal people as the traditional owners of the land we meet on, and pay my respects to their elders, past and present.

I also acknowledge: 

• Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
• Leader of the Opposition Sussan Ley
• Member for Wentworth Allegra Spender
• (other Parliamentarians)
• Mayor Will Nemesh (and your assistance in bringing together members of the community tonight)
• Rabbi Jeffrey Kamins, Rabbi Jacqueline Ninio, Rabbi Benjamin Elton, Rabbi Shua Solomon
• The NSW Board of Jewish Deputies and the Executive Council of Australian Jewry
• And all who in recent days have been exposed to trauma, suffering and grief and have played significant community leadership roles in supporting so many.

Simeon and I are so grateful for your presence here at Admiralty House. In the past 48 hours your distressed and shattered communities have turned to you for reassurance and support.

Tonight, we simply wanted to host this gathering, at a time of great pain and trauma, both to acknowledge the tragedy and to thank all of you, and others not with us in person, for your leadership and nurturing of your communities. That is why we offered to host this gathering, primarily organised by Rabbi Kamin and others.

Last night, I had the privilege of speaking with His Majesty The King. He has followed the events of the last few days closely and cares deeply about our country and the Australian Jewish community. I told The King that we would be together here tonight and he asked me to convey to you his gratitude, warmest wishes, thoughts and prayers.  

I too am deeply honoured you are here and particularly by the words we will hear from Rabbi Kamins and Rabbi Elton, the Blessing of Healing we will receive from Rabbi Ninio, and the memorial prayer to be delivered by Rabbi Solomon.

At this time last year, I joined you, David [Ossip] and the community at Sydney Central Synagogue to celebrate Hannukah and to share in the Shabbat service.

That beautiful moment of peace and optimism we all felt then is so cruelly different to the distress and horror experienced on Sunday and the sorrow we feel today.

Australia’s Jewish community have for so long generously brought the beauty and riches of your faith and culture, and shared them with us all in a spirit of deep welcome and fellowship.

The Sydney Jewish community is particularly in our minds tonight.

It was in this room that earlier this year Simeon and I had the deep honour of welcoming 25 Holocaust Survivors who volunteer at the Sydney Jewish Museum to share their stories and experiences … Over the last few days I have reread their poignant and generous messages in our visitors book – both imploring us to remember and teach the horrors of the Holocaust and expressing their pride in the life of peace and care that they built in Australia.

Rabbi Kamins, you said once, ‘whether believer or atheist, we are all part of the whole.’

And, this morning, Jewish journalist David Leser asked us, ‘Who do we choose to be in the midst of this national tragedy?’

As your Governor-General, I learnt from my predecessors

… From Sir Zelman Cowan who reflected on this role being to reflect the light and shade of our society back to the country … From Sir William Deane who spoke to me about the need to put compassion above all else …

… to show up, to listen and to care.

That is the spirit we are working to embody here at the Office of the Governor-General.

Peace, welcome and belonging, offered with care, kindness and respect, which I have chosen to put at the centre of everything I do: my program, the people I meet and the stories I tell.

For Jewish Australians, that has included discussions with Rabbi Yaakov Glasmon who visited just last week, following my visit to St Kilda Synagogue earlier in the year.

… a celebration with George Newhouse and the team at the National Justice Project in recognition of NJP’s ten years of commitment to human rights

… a gathering of the leadership of the Australasian Union of Jewish Students. I welcomed students from universities across Australia to Government House in June to share the work they are doing to promote good leadership …

… and conversations with Jillian Segal, Australia’s Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism.

These and other engagements go to one of the most important expressions of the care … care for how we debate and discuss the big issues of our time. Now, more than ever, that is a muscle of care we must exercise.

These engagements are an expression of the opportunity of this office to, in, again, the words of Sir Zelman Cowen, ‘promote unity and heal divisions’.  

I spoke yesterday of the journey of healing we are on – from physical scars and emotional wounds, and the critical shock to our society that reverberates following an act of antisemitism, abhorrent barbarism and division.

It is a collective journey that must face the question of why and how this act of terror happened and what we all must do to ensure it can never happen again.

In the quiet, respectful reverence of the mourners I met yesterday at Bondi – the mood of contemplation and the growing numbers of tributes reflecting a community’s determination to bring light into the dark – I was filled with hope that we can find those answers.