Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to stand here this evening to welcome the honouring of a very important promise by the Rudd government to my electorate and to the ex-prisoner of war community across Australia. At the fourth anniversary of the commemoration of the Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial in Ballarat, the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs honoured Labor’s longstanding commitment that the memorial be recognised as a national memorial. In outlining the legislative process by which this is to be done, the minister also announced $160,000 to the City of Ballarat over four years for the memorial’s upkeep. My electorate, and particularly the veteran community, were extremely pleased at the announcement. The funding will ensure that this memorial can be preserved into the future. But, more importantly, the minister’s announcement that later this year he will be introducing legislation that sets out the process by which national memorials outside of Canberra will be recognised, and that the memorial in Ballarat will be the first memorial to be recognised under that legislation once passed, honours our commitment to the ex-POW community.

The memorial, whilst in Ballarat, pays tribute to over 35,000 Australian ex-POWs, 8,000 of whom died overseas while in captivity. The rest of these brave men and women came home bearing the scars of their tragic and traumatic experiences. The names on this memorial provide a tribute to those who were held in captivity during the Boer War, the two World Wars and the Korean War. It is important that the relatives of those who suffered during their imprisonment, or of those who died during their imprisonment, have somewhere to go to pay their respects. It is important that those who have not been touched personally by these traumas also have somewhere to go where they can not only pay their respects but also learn about these 35,000 Australians.

The people of the Ballarat electorate, being strongly supported by people from all over Australia, have long held the view that this memorial in Ballarat is nationally significant. We have never sought to take away from the Changi Chapel here in Canberra as the national memorial for ex-POWs. But for many Australian ex-POWs it has not represented all wars and people from across all conflicts. We witness that on any weekend in Ballarat when you can see the masses of poppies along the wall against those 35,000 names—poppies put there by friends and relatives who have travelled from all over Australia to pay respect to their loved ones. Anyone who visits this memorial cannot help but be moved by the significance of it—cannot help but be moved by the national significance of it.

It has taken two years and a change of government, but we now have the commitment and the will to make the Ex-POW Memorial in Ballarat one of national significance. This process has begun, and I look forward to speaking on the bill when it is introduced to this place later this year. This has been the culmination of endless hours of work and lobbying from a combined group of people, particularly the tireless efforts of the veteran community not only from Ballarat but from all across Australia. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge Peter Blizzard OAM, who developed the concept and the design, and who received his OAM largely for his work on the memorial. Les Kennedy OAM and David Baird OAM, a former POW, have tirelessly campaigned on this issue. The ex-POW community from Victoria and across Australia, many of whom were there on the day of the fourth anniversary to hear the minister’s announcement, have supported this move.

It is an incredibly moving monument with the names of all the known Australian prisoners of war. These names are listed in historical order from the Boer War in 1899 through to the Korean War in 1953. At the end of the granite wall where the pathway ends, visitors face a large stone engraved simply ‘Lest We Forget’. I would like to finish by honouring those who died and those who survived as prisoners of war. In the Boer War there were approximately 200 POWs, four of whom died. In the First World War there were more than 4,000 POWs, with more than 300 who died. In the Second World War there were more than 30,000 POWs, with more than 8,000 who died. In the Korean War there were 29 prisoners of war, with one death. Those deaths are nationally significant. Those 35,000 survivors are nationally significant. And the monument to those 35,000 people, their families and their stories is nationally significant. I am very proud to be part of a government that will formally recognise the memorial in Ballarat dedicated to all men and women who were POWs across all wars as a national memorial.

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