Two nights ago, two gunmen shot and killed 15 people, and wounded at least 42 more. This happened at Bondi beach, where a Chanukah by the Sea event was taking place to celebrate Hannukah.

The nation is in shock. For decades, since our strict gun controls came into law after the Port Arthur Massacre in 1996, we have been relatively safe from mass gun violence. Yet, bit my bit, there have been attempts by a variety of lobby groups and political entities to attempt to water down our national firearms agreement.

The motive for the killings at this very early stage, appears to be anti-semitism.

We have heard stories of heroism – Ahmed Al Ahmed is now a national hero after bravely disarming one of the gunmen, and subsequently being shot and wounded himself.

As our PM has said tonight, and also yesterday, it is essential that Australians unite to repudiate this kind of violence, and to support each other. Our strength as a nation has been our unity and our national identity of ‘mateship’ and the way we pull together when things go pear shaped.

Yet as early as late last night, there have been some individuals, mostly on social media, immediately politicising this act of terrorism, and demonising migrants. And sadly, the most vehement, at least on my social media – which generally means people I know – are those who frequently, and publicly, espouse their Christianity.

If you follow this blog, you’ll know that I am also a Christian. Yet I cannot demonise an entire people for the actions of a few. It is not what Jesus did – even on the cross he asked his Father for forgiveness for his own killers.

The actions of the gunmen were reprehensible and indefensible. Australia’s Islamic leaders have repudiated their actions.

And while it very much appears that the gunmen were motivated by their warped and extremist views, and anger at their actions is normal, to demonise immigrants is not the appropriate message to foster in our community.

My husband is a migrant. But he’d be considered ‘the right type’ of migrant. As my grandfather would have been – white, male, and English speaking. There is (very sadly) a very loud minority of Australians who shout and scream about migrants, every time even the slightest thing goes wrong. They very conveniently forget that our worst mass shooter was a white, Australian born man, who killed 35 people and wounded 23 others at Port Arthur in 1996. A man (most likely) just like the ones considered ‘the right kind of migrant’ by those currently shouting the loudest.

And of course, hatred is what caused this. Hating back is not the solution. Unity, compassion for others, and shared grief is an appropriate response. The desire to continue to make our nation a better place, where people support each other, and assist each other in good times and bad is a good and proper thing.

More guns is also not the solution. I’ve seen some social media USians commenting that having more guns would have helped. All you have to do is look at the numbers we already know about to know that tactic is not working out in the US at all. And at least the gunmen didn’t have automatics. Or even semi automatics. And our current (migrant) hero tackled the gunman with nothing but his hands and determination.

To be Australian is to be welcoming, and to give each other a fair go. This is the essence of who we are. We do not need voices of hate. We need voices of unity and peace. We need to stand beside each other and mourn, not plot revenge. And then we need to get on with the job of making our nation safer, and happier.