ALLY LANGDON, HOST: Twenty years ago today, Australia suffered its largest loss of life from a single terrorist attack when those two bombs went off in the party district of Kuta in Bali.
KARL STEFANOVIC, HOST: Memorial services are being held across the country and in Indonesia. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is in Coogee for the Australian service this morning and he joins us now. PM, good morning to you. Tough morning for Australia.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning. It is a really solemn day for Australia in which we commemorate the 88 Australians who lost their lives and pay our respect to them and express our condolences, again, to their families and their friends. It's 20 years since the shockwaves from that terrorist attack in Bali reached our shores. And it shocked Australians; 202 people lost their lives to this act of terror. But, of course, the terrorists didn't win. It didn't divide the country. It united the country. And today we again take this commemoration to offer our condolences, to once again unite against terror and to pay our respect to the victims of it.
LANGDON: There was such a loss of innocence that night. Where you are, at Coogee, it was the Coogee Dolphins who were away celebrating a footy trip and so many of their mates didn't come home. When we talk about 20 years, in some ways it's a really long time. Yet we see the images and it comes back so vividly. How do you think that attack changed us as a nation?
PRIME MINISTER: They made us much more conscious about the fact that we need to be vigilant against those who would cause us harm and attack our way of life. It was a tragic and devastating reminder that innocent people could be victims to this obscene ideology. Bali is, I think, so shocking as well. I've certainly been there a couple of times in my younger years, on holidays with friends to celebrate. It's a place where so many sporting teams – that night, the Coogee Dolphins, the Dulwich Hill Newtown Basketball Club from my own electorate in the Inner West of Sydney – they have their end of season trips up there because there is a chance for them to enjoy each other’s company, to enjoy the company of people from all around the world, 202 global citizens lost their lives that night. The devastation, I think, is just added to by the fact that it occurred in a holiday destination. It wasn't a war zone. It was a bar. And people were walking just past from these two bombs that occurred. And the fact that it was planned so meticulously, I think, is something that is still shocking today, that people could sit down and plan to cause such devastation and chaos.
STEFANOVIC: I think too, for mine, the fact that just a couple of years later, I think it was three years later, we lost four Australians and fifteen Indonesians in an attack on a beach where Australians were just sinking their toes into the sand and enjoying what was a beautiful night in Bali. The same again with Kuta three years earlier. This was a complete loss of innocence for Australians. And, again, it showed the threat that was just on our doorstep.
PRIME MINISTER: Well that's right. And since then governments of all persuasions have provided increased support for our security. We know that the threats change over a period of time. Some of them remain constant: distortions of religion that really have nothing to do with religion and more to do with fanaticism and ideology. But also, of course, some of the individual lone wolf attacks are things that we need to remain vigilant about. But Australians are resilient people. And today is a commemoration and also a reminder of the strength that we showed in the days and months afterwards: the extraordinary heroism of people in the medical fraternity in Darwin, in Perth, doing those skin grafts on to the burn victims of these bombings, the people who ran towards danger to try to assist those who'd been impacted by this horrific act, the incredible acts of bravery. And the fact that Australia and Indonesia came together and, indeed, the whole world came together to condemn this act.
STEFANOVIC: Just watching then, PM, you wouldn't have been able to see it, but when we had Australians arriving home in Darwin and people just trying to catch a glimpse to see if they could see their loved ones through a fence, the sheets covering most of these poor people when they came home. This was a moment that changed our country and that we felt so deeply and keenly.
PRIME MINISTER: Which is why I think the impact is just as deep today as it was 20 years ago. It had such an impact. I know myself and other local members would have had people, family members, ringing trying to find out their whereabouts as well. There were so many people in Bali, it's a great Australian holiday destination where Australians travel to experience a different culture, but they travel in groups as well. And the impact of this I don't think can be underestimated. That's why it is important today that these commemorations will take place right around Australia, in the Great Hall in Parliament House, here in Coogee. Of course, the Coogee Dolphins footy team was particularly impacted. At Petersham Town Hall in my electorate there will be a commemoration for people like Debbie and Abbey Borgia. They were a mum and young daughter there on an end-of-season basketball trip. She was the youngest Australian who lost her life. We named the Debbie and Abbey Borgia Community Centre, a sporting organisation where young people go and play basketball with the assistance of the police who do such a good job there in Marrickville. And so right around Australia there are tributes and commemorations taking place today.
LANGDON: Yep, a big day for so many people. Prime Minister, we really appreciate your time.