Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to give moving speech on Bali bombings: ‘20 years on, the ache does not dim’

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says 20 years on from the Bali bombings the ache of the tragedy hasn’t dimmed for victim’s families and survivors.

Mr Albanese is due to attend a commemoration ceremony at the Bali Memorial in Coogee on Sydney’s coast on Wednesday morning as the nation mourns on the 20th anniversary of the atrocious attacks.

And in what is expected to be a moving speech, the PM will say “calculated depravity robbed the world” of 202 lives, including 88 Australians.

“Twenty years on, the ache does not dim,” he will say.

“For most of us, what happened on that fateful night is beyond imagining.”

Mr Albanese will say the innocent victims of the terror attack were always in people’s thoughts.

“We think of them with the ache of knowing they should still be here, their senses filled with everything we feel now,” Mr Albanese will say.

On October 12 each year, the globe comes together to remember those lost in the 2002 Bali bombings when three bombs were detonated in two busy tourist hotspots – the Sari Club and Paddy’s Bar.

The Prime Minister will also decry the terrorists and the lasting effect on victim’s families.

“They left families and friends struggling with loss. For them, the world could never be the same again,” he will say.

“So many hearts are still tethered to that cruel night, every beat tempered by an abiding sorrow.

Mr Albanese will make reference to former PM Julia Gillard from a decade ago, where she said: “Bali is a place, like London and Gallipoli, where something of the Australian spirit dwells upon another shore.”

The ceremony will be live-streamed via the Randwick City Council Facebook page.