At the centre of the Place de la Republique in the French capital of Paris stands a bronze statue of Marianne, the personification of the French Republican. Holding an olive branch in her right hand, and with her left hand on the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, Marianne personifies the values of this proud country and others that stand with her: liberty, equality, fraternity.
On the evening of 13 November a series of coordinated attacks on Paris attempted to take that liberty, equality and fraternity away from those in Paris and indeed those around the world who hold the same values true.
On that evening 130 people were murdered, 89 of those at the Bataclan Theatre, and 368 people were injured, with 80 to 100 of those seriously injured, including Emma Parkinson, a young Tasmanian woman who was shot by the attackers in the theatre.
These attacks, like all those before them in the West and in the East, are acts of cowards and cowardice.
These extremists claim to represent Islam.
They do not.
Their ideology could not be further from the teachings of Islam.
They are acts of terrorism that strike at the heart of democracy and of freedom, seeking to divide and seeking to spread hatred.
However, they will not divide our societies, for strength is engrained in those built on liberty, equality and fraternity.
As the millions of French citizens have gathered at the centre of the Place de la Republique to mourn in the days after these attacks, the rest of the world has stood with them, and we will continue to do so in the fight to rid the world of this evil.