Hope, kindness celebrated on bittersweet Christmas
Kat Wong, William Ton and Dominic Giannini |
On a Christmas darkened by the shadow of a terror attack, leaders are determined to showcase the best of the Australian spirit.
Less than a fortnight after the horrors of a massacre next to Australia’s most iconic beach, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese offered a serve of holiday solidarity at the Reverend Bill Crews Foundation Christmas lunch.
While Mr Albanese acknowledged it had been a tough time for many – particularly the Jewish community – he pointed to the actions of volunteers as a symbol of hope.
“Christmas is a time of hope: hope over fear is what we need, bravery over cowardice, kindness over violence and togetherness over anti-Semitism and hate,” he said at the event in his inner-Sydney electorate.
Two Islamic State-inspired gunmen killed 15 people at Bondi Beach on December 14, the first day of Hanukkah, leading to an unusually subdued atmosphere at the popular tourist haunt on Thursday.
But the mild Sydney weather did not keep crowds away at nearby Coogee, where the traditional Santa hat-wearing visitors celebrated on a day of weather extremes across the nation.
Heatwaves and emergency-level fires struck the west, while thunderstorms lashed northern Australia and unusually cold conditions flowed through the nation’s southeast.
West Australians sweltered through their holiday lunches in temperatures reaching the high 30s to low 40s over large parts of the state.
Hot conditions, combined with dry, gusty thunderstorms, fuelled fire risk and extreme fire dangers.
Tropical Cyclone Grant brought strong winds and heavy rain to the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, a remote Australian territory about 2700km northwest of Perth.
On the other side of the country, heavy rain and large hailstones battered parts of Queensland and the Northern Territory, bringing the risk of flash flooding.
Further south, residents shivered through their celebrations, with snow capping Mt Wellington overlooking Hobart.
The Tasmanian capital recorded a high of just 14.7C, while Melbourne experienced one of the city’s coldest Christmas days in decades with a top of 17.3C.
In their traditional holiday messages to the nation, religious leaders took inspiration from the Jewish celebration of light after the Hanukkah attack at Bondi.
“In a season when both Jews and Christians celebrate light and hope, we have been confronted with profound evil,” Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher said.
“As many in our city grieve this Christmas, let us declare boldly: the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Bishop of Parramatta Vincent Long called for Australians to act and help make a difference in the face of suffering and pain.
“Daily, our hearts continue to break when we see the violence, especially to children, in places like Gaza, Ukraine and Myanmar – we cannot just watch all this suffering in front of our eyes passively,” he said.
The 2025 Christmas message from the president of the Uniting Church in Australia, Charissa Suli, also proclaimed light would prevail in the face of fires, floods and conflicts that marked 2025.
Reverend Suli proclaimed the light of Jesus would prevail and that was why “Christmas still matters”.
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