00:05Along the shores of Lake Burley Griffin, people gather to remember the CivX tragedy on October
00:1019, 2001.
00:13They were people seeking asylum in Australia, trying to escape from Saddam Hussein's Iraq,
00:20which 25 years ago was a pretty brutal dictatorship.
00:25Only 45 people survived when the fishing boat en route to Christmas Island capsized in the Indian Ocean,
00:32with a national memorial honouring the 353 people killed.
00:37The tragedy occurred during then Prime Minister John Howard's 2001 federal election campaign,
00:43as the government hardened its stance on asylum seekers.
00:46That's when Australia turned against people coming here as refugees and asylum seekers,
00:52which is a tragedy. So we think the memorial is a place to show that Australia is better than that.
00:59So it sends a signal that ordinary Australians are not terrified of refugees,
01:05and not terrified of people from other countries.
01:0825 years on, speakers at the service drew connections to ongoing debates about migration in Australian politics,
01:14with the rise of One Nation bringing the attention back to the issue.
01:18That what happened 25 years ago today is reincarnating itself,
01:23and is real, and to be challenged, and is challenging us all as a nation.
01:30Questions remain about the tragedy, with many of the victims never publicly identified,
01:34and no full judicial inquiry ever taking place.
