Remarks, St Andrews Ukrainian Church - Lidcombe, NSW
PRIME MINISTER: …To members of St Andrew’s, to my colleagues who are joining me. Dr Fiona Martin, the Member for Reid, the Minister for Immigration, my dear friend Alex Hawke who is here and Ben Morton, the Special Minister of State. Jenny and I, this is where we wanted to be today. We've come from our own church in Sutherland this morning, where I had the great privilege to lead prayers in my own church community, for Ukraine.
I want to thank you for inviting us to be part of this liturgy, because you know all around the world, here in Australia, and as the sun rises all around the globe, people of faith will be coming together of every denomination, in every church and some of those churches will be in ruins, like they will be in Ukraine. And they'll be praying. And they will find strength from their faith, from their fellowship and from their community. A community that isn't just the large numbers gathered here, but a community of faith which spans the world and they will gain great strength and courage and peace from that faith which [inaudible] spoken about this morning.
Now, this morning. I've come here this morning with Jenny to offer prayers and to offer encouragement because it is not just specifically the communities of faith, but the Australian community as a whole who I know has thrown its arms and held tightly the more than 40,000 Australians of Ukrainian ancestry here in this country and to extend every fibre of their support, encouragement and love to the people of Ukraine.
Peace is not just the absence of war. Peace is the absence of threat, of violence, of persecution, of subjugation. It is what so many Australians of Ukrainian ancestry came to this country to enjoy, to live, to raise their families. And here you are. Splendid, in your homeland dress. It is not just the absence of war and on occasion, peace requires great strength and courage. We have already heard of the brave young man, and I will attempt to pronounce, Vitaly Skakun Volodymyrovych, an engineer who set up mines on a bridge to deter the Russian advance. The advance was too fast, he could flee or finish the job. He stayed on the bridge and he detonated, as the Reverend Father said, an act of love, but an act of courage for peace. Because peace takes courage. We don't seek a peace in Ukraine that is based on bending the knee to an autocrat and a thug. We seek a peace that is the sovereignty of Ukraine. That is what peace is for and that is what the world community demands.
The other prayer I have for peace this morning with you is a prayer of peace, for comfort. That in your great anxiety and in your great concern for your loved ones and for your community, for your homeland, and that you will find that peace and that comfort, in one another. And then those as the shells fall and the bullets ring out in their cities and their suburbs, that they will find in that noise and in that terror, a peace in their faith. But, you know, most of all, as Christians we know that no shells, no bullets, no tyrants can silence faith, can subjugate faith, can take from you the peace of your faith, and I want to encourage you all in that today as we raise up our prayers like a fragrant offering, just like the incense let those prayers ascend to the heaven. And may mercy reign down. And may compassion reign down. It says in Corinthians that that these things, faith, hope and love the greatest of all of them, may they all endure as I know they will in your hearts.
Eight years ago, after MH17 was downed by Russian rockets, our then Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who was a great friend of Ukraine and this community, spoke at the memorial service for the 38 Australians who perished. And he ended his address with a simple prayer, a prayer I wish to conclude with today. And it is this. May the God of Mercy comfort those left behind and may the God of Justice answer all our prayers. Amen.
