PM Albanese Praises Australian Spirit in Response to Bondi Beach Attack

CANBERRA, Dec 31 (Bernama-Xinhua) -- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has praised Australians for their response to the Bondi Beach terror attack in his New Year's address released on Tuesday evening, Xinhua reported.

In the annual video message marking the end of 2025, Albanese said that the usual joy that Australians feel at the start of a new year is "tempered by the sadness" of the fatal shooting of 15 people at a Jewish festival at Sydney's Bondi Beach earlier in December.

The PM said that the nation's hearts ache for every life lost and every life changed forever by the terror attack, but that the response to the attack displayed the "best of the Australian spirit in all its courage and compassion."

"And that is why I'm optimistic and determined that in the new year we will rise to meet the challenges ahead of us in the same way Australians always do, by working together and looking after each other," he said.

Albanese ended the address by declaring that Australians would work together in 2026 to write the "next chapter" of the country's story positively. 

-- BERNAMA-XINHUA