Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Sussan Ley have each released their Christmas messages to the country, both saying it was a time for Australians to “stand together” in the wake of the Bondi terror attack.<\/p>\n
In a statement, Mr Albanese said this Christmas, Australians would “grieve those whose lives were stolen \u2014 and those whose lives were changed forever” in the attacks on December 14.<\/p>\n
“Wherever you are across our wonderful country, Christmas will feel different this year,” he said.<\/p>\n
“After the terror inflicted on Jewish Australians celebrating Chanukah at Bondi Beach, we feel the weight of sorrow in our hearts.”<\/p>\n
But he said it was also a time to give thanks and celebrate the “extraordinary courage that shone so brightly through the darkness”.<\/p>\n
“It is in that spirit that Christmas brings Australians together to celebrate all that we have and all that we share,” he said.<\/p>\n
‘A time of deep sorrow’Loading…<\/p>\n
Ms Ley said this Christmas came “at a time of deep sorrow and reflection for our nation”.<\/p>\n
“Just days ago, families and friends gathered in Bondi to celebrate faith and community,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Instead, Australia witnessed an act of hatred and violence that took innocent lives from our Jewish community on the first night of Hanukkah.<\/p>\n
“Moments like this test us \u2026 Our strength as a nation lies in our decency, our courage, and our willingness to stand together, especially when it is hard.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sussan Ley says 2025 has been a difficult year for many Australians. (ABC News: Ian Cutmore)<\/p>\n
She said 2025 had been a difficult year for many Australians for other reasons, including the cost of living.<\/p>\n
“If you are doing it tough, please know that you are not alone,” Ms Ley said.<\/p>\n
Both Mr Albanese and Ms Ley thanked those who will be working over Christmas, including emergency and defence personnel, as well as hospitality and health care workers.<\/p>\n
“To each and every Australian, I wish you a Christmas of peace, safety and love \u2014 a Christmas where we stand together, united,” Mr Albanese said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Sussan Ley have each released their Christmas messages to the country,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":366644,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2324,64,63,193223,5503,44,2325],"class_list":{"0":"post-366643","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-anthony-albanese","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-bondi-terror-attack","12":"tag-christmas","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-sussan-ley"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}