Anthony Albanese pays tribute to human spirit of Bali victims

Anthony Albanese will denounce the “calculated depravity” of the Bali bombers and pay his respects to the victims during a speech on Wednesday.

Anthony Albanese will attend an official memorial at Coogee Beach in Sydney.. Picture: NCA NewsWire /Philip Gostelow

Anthony Albanese will denounce the “calculated depravity” of the Bali bombers and pay his respects to the victims during a speech to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attack on Wednesday.

In remembrance of the 2002 Bali bombings, the Prime Minister will attend an official memorial at Coogee Beach in Sydney.

The event will be held at Bali Memorial at Dolphins Point, which was renamed in honour of the six members of local Coogee Dolphins football team who were killed alongside family and friends in the attack at the Sari Club in Kuta, Bali.

During his address, Mr Albanese will express his sadness for how 88 Australian’s futures were “stolen” and pay tribute to the strength of the human spirit in the aftermath.

“We think of those who survived, and those who helped,” Mr Albanese will say. “What they saw that night will never leave them.

“Yet amid it all, the very worst of circumstances brought out the very best in people. It brought out compassion. Selflessness. Heroism.

“Because what they struck at was the idea of us, the great fabric of dreams and ideals and compassion and fairness that make us who we are.”

Mr Albanese will pay tribute to the victims’ friends and their families who rebuilt themselves “physically and mentally”, while conceding that their grief has not faced. “Twenty years on, so many hearts are still tethered to that cruel night, every beat tempered by an abiding sorrow,” Mr Albanese will say.

“Many currents were stopped in the great river of life that night.”

Mr Albanese will also express how communities in Indonesia and Australia have been bound together in “strength and hope” after the attack.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong will also hold a national memorial service in Parliament House in Canberra to mark the anniversary.

The memorial will be attended by Governor-General David Hurley, former PM John Howard and a number of victims’ families, survivors, and first responders.