The parents of 10-year-old Matilda, the youngest person killed in the Bondi massacre, have said they would like the footbridge used by the alleged gunmen to be saved and painted yellow in honour of the sundress their daughter wore on her final day.
In a sit-down interview with the ABC, their first since the terror attack, Matilda’s parents, Valentyna Poltavchenko and Michael Britvan, have warned against rushing new legislation through parliament in response to the attack, and thanked the woman who saved their younger daughter.
The future of the heritage-listed pedestrian footbridge has been placed on hold after a Waverley council meeting heard it was “really upsetting” that the matter had ignited such fierce public debate. The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, has called for it to be torn down to prevent it from becoming a “ghoulish reminder” of the attack.
Matilda’s parents have suggested painting the bridge yellow and installing a plaque to commemorate the 15 victims of the attack, the ABC reported. Matilda’s mother, Valentyna Poltavchencko, said she did not want to see the bridge demolished.
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“I want it to be in place. So people can go on it and look at the park from the highest point and feel that pain that was just in front of them,” she said. The couple said they would like the park where the Chanukah by the Sea event targeted by the alleged gunmen took place to be renamed “Matilda’s Park”.
Matilda’s father, Michael Britvan, warned against using his daughter’s death to justify new legislation, and said he did not believe it would prevent another attack, the ABC reported.
The federal government has reconvened early this week to debate hate speech and gun control laws, while the NSW parliament rushed through an omnibus bill including changes to firearms, hate speech and protest laws just 10 days after the attack.
“Criminals do not care about any laws you make about any speech or any guns. They will find their way,” Britvan said.
“When the government tries to rush any laws, especially after some tragedy, they’re never good.”
Matilda’s parents, who met in Australia after both moving from Ukraine, told the ABC they had felt unsafe after seeing a rise in antisemitism in the past 18 months, and described the moments leading up to their daughter’s death, saying they initially thought gunshots were firecrackers.
Poltavchenko told the ABC she thought someone was playing a “bad joke”. Britvan found the injured Matilda, who had gone to the festival’s petting zoo with her sister Summer. They said an off-duty doctor and a paramedic, still in their swimming costumes from the ocean, came over to help.
The parents asked the ABC to identify six-year-old Summer, who they described as like a twin to Matilda despite their age difference.
They thanked a woman with bright red hair, identified after the attack as 20-year-old Tash Willemsen, who shielded Summer behind a ute when the shooting began. Britvan said he found the uninjured Summer with Willemsen, who had been running the petting zoo with her family.
The parents told the ABC that Matilda, whose name they chose for its Australian significance, was a “regular, awesome Aussie girl” who was inseparable from her sister.
