I woke up yesterday to the heartbreaking and horrifying news that there had been a terrorist attack at Bondi Beach.

I am still in shock and feel a deep devastation over the incident.

I am writing this from my home in Glasgow, Scotland thousands of miles away from Bondi, yet I have wept whilst watching the news, hearing stories of those lost and stories of the acts of bravery on the day and my heart aches for my fellow Aussies as though I never left.

Australia has a reputation at home and abroad for being a ‘safe’ country, we are able to speak our minds, practice our religions and live freely without fear of these sorts of events occurring. Which is perhaps why this feels so utterly shocking.

I keep asking myself how something like this could happen? What drives a person to take the lives of so many, to commit such a heinous act of violence?

The only answer I can come up with is ignorance. An ignorance so deep that it drives one to hate what is different or unfamiliar.

I’ve already seen a lot of social media posts saying that this is the result of immigration, of multiculturalism, essentially of bringing non white, non-Christian people into our country.
But I don’t believe that.

For me, Australia is inherently multicultural, we are a nation built by immigrants.
I am the child of an immigrant and for my whole life, as far back as I can remember, I have been surrounded by immigrants.

My mother grew up in a town called Renfrew, not far from Glasgow, her family emigrated from Scotland in the early 1970’s in the hope of building a better life in Australia.
My Aunt was born in South Africa, she and her family immigrated for similar reasons.
And then when I look back at my childhood and the community around me, I can see diverse cultural backgrounds.
My neighbours were Italians, the owner of the local corner shop was Yugoslavian, my best friend through primary school was Turkish, my first boyfriend was Indian, my group of friends in high school consisted of two Maltese girls, one Greek, an Aboriginal boy, an Indian girl, a Tongan girl, and a Lebanese girl.
Then throughout my adult life I have worked with Iranians, Iraqis, Nepalese, Italians, Egyptians, Poles, Croats, Africans, Polynesians, the list goes on.
And although, all of us came from different cultural backgrounds, held different religious beliefs or spoke different languages none of us viewed each other as any more or less Australian.

I remember having multicultural days at school, where students and teachers would come in their national dress and bring along their favourite national dish for others to try.
It was a way of educating the students about other cultures but also a way of celebrating what makes us all unique and special.
I was taught to embrace and value other cultures for what they bring to our community.

So how have we gone from this to where we are today?

For a while now I’ve been seeing a shift in the way people and media talk about what it means to be Australian.
I had hoped that what I was seeing wasn’t becoming mainstream, that it was just the result of social media algorithms controlling the narrative because I’ve seen a lot of people I grew up with, particularly white males, sharing increasingly alarming rhetoric online, most of it racist, Islamophobic, anti-Semitic and sexist.
Most of it shared under the guise of patriotism. The belief being that cracking down on immigration and restoring ‘Christian’ values will somehow take Australia back to the ‘good old days’, whatever they were.

But I still have hope that intelligence and common sense will prevail and that there will be a shift back towards true Australian values because for me the best thing about Australia IS its multiculturalism.
The fact that people move to Australia for a better life is a beautiful thing.
The fact that they are then able to share their culture and teach us about different ways of life, share their wonderful cuisines and languages opens us up to the world outside our borders without us ever having to leave the country.

Being Australian isn’t about where you were born, the language you speak or the colour of your skin, it’s about your values, Australians value freedom, respect, fairness, mateship and democracy.

It’s more important now than ever to embody these values and to reach out to our neighbours particularly those in the Jewish and Islamic communities to offer support and remind them that they are valued, they are appreciated and they are loved as fellow Australians.

My thoughts and prayers are with the victims, and all Australians.