It is hard to believe that today is the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks. It is hard to fathom that an entire generation of young Australians have reached adulthood who were not born on 9/11. And yet, they have grown up in a post 9/11 world – a darker world. My four children are among them.
But for those of us who lived that terrible day, it was a day that changed the world and another date in human history that lives in infamy. We all remember where we were, and how we received the shocking news.
American Airlines Flight 11 hit the North Tower of the World Trade Centre at 10:46 pm Australian Eastern Standard Time. Most Australians were asleep. Some night owls saw the breaking news on their televisions. Others were roused from sleep by loved ones to witness United Airlines Flight 175 strike the South Tower 17 minutes later.
Of course, this was the pre-smartphone age, and many Australians would not see the news until the following morning. I was one of them. I was working in the private sector at the time and walked into a Sydney café. I saw the front page of the newspapers with the disturbing headlines “War of Terror”, “Terror war on US”, “America Attacked” and the unbelievable photos of the planes exploding upon hitting the Twin Towers. The entire situation was unfathomable and surreal.
By that time in the morning, the tragedy was far worse than what the newspapers had been able to report by their printing deadline. A third plane – American Airlines Flight 77 – had hit the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. A fourth plane – United Airlines Flight 93 – had crashed inverted in a Pennsylvania field after brave passengers attempted to retake control. The South Tower – second to be hit – had collapsed first. And the North Tower – first to be hit – had collapsed second.
Throughout the day, Australians were glued to televisions rewatching the footage – stunned, horrified and dumbfounded. Trying to process the planes crashing, the people jumping, the towers crumbling. Trying to comprehend these incomprehensible events on the other side of the Pacific.
My thoughts turned to my mates in New York. In the days to come, I learned that all were thankfully alive. But they had lost many good friends among the 658 employees of Cantor Fitzgerald – a financial services firm that occupied five floors in the North Tower.
Some 3,000 people were killed as a result of the terrorist attacks on 9/11. Among them were ten Australians. On behalf of the Coalition, my thoughts are with those Australian families who lost their loved ones on that horrific day 25 years ago.
On 14 September, President George W. Bush stood amidst the rubble of the Twin Towers surrounded by rescue workers. In tragedy, he delivered words of resolve: “I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.”
In America’s darkest hour, Australia heard America. Australia stood by our ally and dear friend, thanks to John Howard and John Anderson’s leadership and moral clarity. It was right that John Howard invoked ANZUS. It was right that Australia took the fight to the terrorists in the Middle East, regardless of the shortfalls of those campaigns. I take this opportunity to acknowledge all our warfighters who served, suffered and sacrificed in that necessary and noble cause over many years. Including patriots in the Coalition like Andrew Hastie MP and Phillip Thompson OAM MP.
9/11 changed the world. We awoke from the naïve dream of the triumph of liberal democracy – or the “end of history” as Francis Fukuyama put it. Instead, we were forced to confront a brutal truth about our world – a “clash of civilizations” as Samuel Huntington put it.
Islamist extremism remains a civilisational threat. It has evolved since 9/11 and taken many forms and been called many things: Al-Qaeda, Jemaah Islamiyah, ISIS, ISIL, Daesh, Jihadism, and more. But it is still Islamist extremism.
And I find it bewildering. There are friends in the Arab and Muslim world who readily acknowledge the threat of Islamist extremism. Yet here, in Australia, there are those who refuse to acknowledge or name the threat, even after the Bondi Beach terrorist attack.
As we mark the 25th anniversary of 9/11, an atrocity committed by terrorists, and in memory of all those murdered, it is time we had a reckoning with Islamist extremism. Enough of being told, “Don’t look back in anger.” Enough of the apologists and appeasers. Enough of this threat being downplayed.
My commitment to Australians is to keep out and root out Islamist extremism. We will protect our way of life. And if there is any country that can rekindle a Western resolve to combat this threat, to show it can be done, then it is this country, our country.
