Hon Phil Goff
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Speech Notes

12 September 2002

Goff speech to September 11 ANZAC service New York

(Delivered at the 9/11 ANZAC Commemoration Service, 3pm September 11 local time, Church of the Epiphany, New York)

We commemorate today the lives of some 3000 people who died tragically and unnecessarily in a terrorist attack a year ago.

The victims had done nothing to deserve their fate. They were simply going about their daily lives.

Yet they were targeted in a callous, premeditated and deliberate manner by zealots who by their very act discredited the cause they claimed to represent.

Those who died came from 79 different countries, were of mixed age, gender, religion and ethnicity. This was an attack not simply on the United States of America but on all humanity.

We remember today and offer our sympathy to families and friends of those who lost their lives.

Among those who died on that clear, sunny day of September 11, were two New Zealanders.

Alan Beaven was originally from Auckland. He was a humanitarian and environmental lawyer, aged 48. He died on Flight 93, which crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.

His remains were discovered inside the cockpit of the wreckage, his voice was on the black-box flight recorder.

Alan was one of a courageous group of passengers who prevented that aircraft at least from being turned into a missile, probably targeting the White House.

His heroic death was a small consolation to his widow Kimi and children Sonali, Chris and John.

Sonali aged 6 will grow up without the dad who loved her and Alan will never realise his dream of returning to New Zealand to a bach at the beach, enjoying his love of fishing and surfing.

John Lozowsky, was a US-born New Zealander who had dual citizenship. He worked in New Zealand during the 1990s, first at Treasury and then the Ministry of Health.

John’s professional abilities were greatly respected. He was greatly liked and is remembered as an outgoing person with a great sense of fun.

We think today of John’s six-year-old son, Max, who will grow up without him and whom, I understand, still asks where John is.

To John’s mother Rosemary, sisters Diane and Debra and brother-in-law Alan who are represented here today. We extend to you our deepest sympathy.

We pray that John and Alan’s families and all those families who have lost their loved ones will have the strength to rebuild their lives and recover from their sad losses.

In the New Zealand Parliament is displayed a torn and burnt New Zealand flag recovered from the wreckage of the World Trade Centre.

It was presented, by the two New York police officers who discovered it, to our Prime Minister Helen Clark when she visited ground zero in March of this year.

That flag is an ongoing reminder to us, as parliamentarians and to all New Zealanders of the terrible events of September 11, our solidarity and friendship with the people of New York and the United States and our shared commitment to defeat those who pose a threat to humanity.

From the destruction of 11 September, from the sadness and despair came a spirit of determination. It shone through in the selflessness of the firefighters and police officers who put their lives at risk to save others.

It shone through in the unity and determination of countries and people across the world not to allow the terrorists to succeed.

New Zealand was proud to give immediate and unequivocal support to the campaign against Al Qaeda. Our SAS continue to fight alongside their comrades in the US, Australia, British and other forces in Afghanistan and we are also providing peacekeeping and humanitarian support.

Out of the tragedy of the events a year ago emerged an unprecedented unity of purpose of people of all faiths and beliefs, reflected in the unanimous decision of the Security Council to condemn and fight back against the terrorists.

We pray that out of the ashes of the World Trade Centre may arise renewed hope, enduring peace and a strong determination to protect and cherish the values of tolerance, democracy, of freedom and of human rights that unite humanity.

ENDS

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