Phillip Barresi (Deakin, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I welcome this opportunity to speak on this motion. In fact, this is the third time since I have been a member of this place that we have debated a private members’ motion on the significance of the Kokoda Track. Back in 2002, my nine-day track experience took me from Kokoda to Owers Corner just in time to attend a very moving ceremony on Anzac Day at the Bomana cemetery. To follow in the footsteps of the 500 Victorian men who formed the 39th Battalion is a truly humbling experience. It is humbling because we now know that when these men arrived in Papua New Guinea in 1942 they were ill prepared and underresourced for the task that lay before them. These brave men, who gave so much in sacrifice, were ordered to be the Australian line of defence against an approaching and until then—as the member for Hotham said—invincible Imperial Japanese Army. They were ordered to defend the line at all costs—not to retreat but to buy time, while diggers from the 2nd/14th and the 2nd/16th, returning from the Middle East, could be diverted to the track. In due course, many other units took their place in the bloody battles. In the past I have spoken about some of those battles.

When I returned from my trip to Kokoda, I lamented in my own private member’s motion that the heroism and deeds of the soldiers on Kokoda are the stuff of legends but that, sadly, we had not had as proud a record in honouring our heroes as had other nations. I said at the time that I could recognise the beginnings of a change in that area and that observation has been borne out.

The member for Hotham has moved that this House notes that the Kokoda Track is a place of great historical significance to Australia. The members of parliament and their constituents are doing just that in increasing numbers as they too walk the track. Every year more and more members of this place are participating in treks along all parts of the track. So far, it is my understanding that seven members of parliament have walked the track, including the Minister for Health and Ageing, the Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, the Minister for Human Services, the member for Lindsay, Senator McGauran, the members for Griffith and Hotham and me. Some of us undertook the trek with less fanfare and media attention than others. No matter how we did it, the fact is that it was a gruelling experience for all of us.

All who undertake this activity are to be commended. They return from the journey strong advocates for the protection of the track, and its significance in our history. It gives those of us who sit here a better understanding of a part of Australian history that is so important, an event that has shaped our concept of self-identity, in the way that Gallipoli has done.

We would be right to be concerned if the environment surrounding the Kokoda Track were to be disturbed to such an extent that the track became unrecognisable. Part of the benefit that is gained from walking Kokoda is drawn from the fact that you have to endure discomfort and difficulty during your time there. I have often commented that to walk the Kokoda Track is to understand one’s physical and mental resilience. It is a ‘psychological endurance test’.

I am asked whether I enjoyed the experience and what the scenery was like. I say that most of the scenery I looked at were my feet. Whatever discomfort we experienced, it can never compare to the pain and hardship suffered by those men who laid down their lives in the battle for Australia. Nobody was shooting at me. I had ample food. I had a satellite phone to use to get me out if I was in trouble. The soldiers of the Kokoda Track did it the hard way. A lot of them paid the ultimate sacrifice.

The PNG government is acutely aware of the significance of the Kokoda Track to Australians and to their own people. The people of Papua New Guinea and Australia stood side by side to defend that land, and that will never be forgotten. To assist in the long-term management of the track, the PNG government established the Kokoda Track Authority in 2004. On behalf of the Australian government, the Australian High Commission in Port Moresby assisted in establishing the Kokoda Track Authority. We continue to have a close working relationship with the Kokoda Track Authority.

Chief among the authority’s concerns is the safety of trekkers and provision of amenities on the track. Working in conjunction with local landowners this has been possible and was a memorable feature of my own experience. The warmth and generosity of the villagers as we passed through their land was greatly appreciated by weary and drained walkers.

In 2002, I outlined my belief that the Kokoda Track should be classified as a national memorial park. I remain convinced that this is the most appropriate course of action if we are to protect the integrity and significance of the land. I do however recognise the difficulty of such a classification, considering that Kokoda is in another nation’s sovereign land. It is important that the Australian government continues to provide interpretive materials at Sogeri, Isurava and at the Herbert Kienzle Memorial Museum at Kokoda. (Time expired)

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