Mr SHORTEN (Maribyrnong—Leader of the Opposition) (14:09): I rise to support the Prime Minister's words on this most dreadful matter. I also rise as a father, as a son, as a brother, as a husband and as an Australian to offer my deepest personal sympathies to those who knew and loved the victims of this terrible, violent and unimaginable crime. On the morning of the very last day our parliament sat we assembled amidst the sudden shock and grief of the incomprehensible tragedy of MH17. In the weeks that have passed between then and now so much has been said about the act of evil that shot, from European skies, an Asian airliner filled with citizens from around the world. I, on behalf of Labor, look forward to continuing to work with the Prime Minister and the government to ensure the strongest possible reaction from Australia. The seeking of justice, as the Prime Minister has indicated, cannot be shirked. The weapons of death were sophisticated and could not have been built automatically by the people who used them. So let me be very clear: I have the gravest reservations about welcoming to Australia anyone in the future who was engaged in this act of terror and we will support the strongest possible reaction from the government on this matter. We recognise that all involved have done remarkable work. I acknowledge the work of the Prime Minister and the foreign minister. I also acknowledge the Prime Minister's chief of staff and his national security adviser, who have kept the opposition in touch; representatives of DFAT; my colleagues, in particular, Tanya Plibersek; the AFP; military personnel; and His Excellency the Governor-General. I also acknowledge the great cooperation and leadership of the Netherlands, of the Ukrainian government and of Malaysia. I also wish to speak of the opposition's support for Malaysian Airlines, which has been through an unimaginable year. I think it is also appropriate to acknowledge the role of the United States, without whom I believe much could not have been possible. The suggestion of the memorial is a very worthy idea. Our parliament stops all other business today to offer its thoughts to all of those who have lost their lives on MH17. This has, indeed, been a global tragedy which has struck at Australian hearts. Australia did lose 38 of our own: sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, partners and parents, friends, team mates, classmates, colleagues—wonderful people who loved and were loved, people who laughed and learnt and made a life underneath our Southern Cross. For the loved ones left behind it is a time of shock, a time of disbelief and a time of continual mourning. We know their grief in this place but we cannot share it. We vow to repatriate their loved ones but we cannot fill the void of their loss. We can hope to an end for the quest for a reason, but it is not enough. Here in the House of the Australian people, for many who are listening what matters today is not the why or the how, what matters is who we have lost and what we will miss. I had the humbling privilege of meeting with many of the families touched by this tragedy. Their courage, their resilience and their ability to endure public interest in their private grief was remarkable and moving. Who of us can imagine, who of us here can contemplate that sense of cruel coincidence, of avoidable calamity, the unimaginable hell of alternative possibilities that will be haunting the dreams of all those who have lost someone that they loved so unexpectedly on this ill-fated flight? I know, and the Prime Minister knows because I witnessed him talk to the families, that for the families and the friends of all those aboard MH17 words can mean little at this painful hour. But they should know that Australia shares their sorrow. I sincerely hope they can draw modest consolation from Australia's affirmation, from the knowledge that they do not walk alone in their grief, that we are with them. Our nation's great, invisible, generous, sustaining sympathy is with them and it always will be. Madam Speaker, let us all pause now to remember the names of those our country lost. Let us remember their potential and their possibility. Let all of us remember them not for how they died but for why they lived, for the love and the friendship and the joy that we who are left behind vow to never again to take for granted. May they rest in eternal peace. The SPEAKER: As a mark of respect, I ask all present to rise in their places. Honourable members having stood in their places— The SPEAKER: I thank the House and those in the gallery. Debate adjourned.