‘Darkness’: Albanese’s vow after Bondi attack during address for International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Anthony Albanese has marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day with a touching address to Australia’s Jewish community – reiterating the nation “stands against anti-Semitism” and the “darkness” cast in the shadow of the Bondi terror attack. The January 27 event marks 81 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp – and the commemoration of the 6 million Jews killed by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust in World War II. An estimated 1 million of the 1.1 million prisoners killed at the notorious Nazi death camp were Jews. In his address, the Prime Minister said the most “infamous of numbers fall across the decades like a shadow”. “As we give thanks for all who survived, we hold on to the memory of the victims. We hold on to all those names, all those faces, all those stories,” Mr Albanese said. “It holds within it the immense multitudes of Jewish lives and futures stolen with a pitiless cruelty that remains scarcely fathomable in its evil. “More than eight decades since the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, we repeat the vow: Never again.” Mr Albanese said the vow was repeated despite the horrors of the recent terror attack in Bondi, where 15 people died when alleged “ISIS-inspired” gunmen opened fire on a Chanukah gathering in December. Dozens more were injured. “As we have been so horrifically reminded by the 7th of October (2023) atrocity carried out by Hamas and last month’s terrorist attack at Bondi Beach, the darkness that underwrote the Holocaust is a darkness that still dwells in too many hearts,” Mr Albanese said. “The Australian Jewish community found hope and safety in our country after the Holocaust. “The Jewish community is part of our Australian story, and to the even greater future that is within our reach. “Just as we embraced Jewish refugees fleeing the Holocaust, we wrap our arms around the Jewish community now. Mr Albanese said the nation was committed to protecting the “safety, freedom and hope” Australia represented to the Jewish community and they remained steadfast against anti-Semitism. “It (anti-Semitism) stands in opposition to all we are as a country, the nation we have built together over generations with care and compassion,” he said. “On this most solemn day of remembrance, we join you in our shared humanity. And together we tend the flame of memory, ensuring its glow will live on in the hearts of future generations.” The address follows a national outpouring of grief for the victims of the Bondi terror attack. Last week, the federal government’s Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism (Criminal and Migration Laws) Bill 2026 passed the Senate 38 to 22 with support from the Liberals. The Bill, introduced in the wake of the Bondi Beach terror attack, seeks to introduce aggravated offences for preachers and leaders found to be promoting hate. It also allows for stronger deportation powers and the designation of a new category for proscribed hate groups – including the now-disbanded neo-Nazi Nationalist Socialist Network and Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir.