Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

As the member for Paterson has indicated, the Victoria Cross is the highest award for bravery and valour in action. The award is, of course, not handed out lightly. Indeed, until recently an Australian had not received a Victoria Cross for some 40 years. Those who are awarded the Victoria Cross, by virtue of that fact enter a hall of legends. Typically they share a number of attributes. They are typically highly skilled, usually super fit and, of course, full of courage. Selflessness is a typical trait, and they are dedicated to their task and their duty. While I cannot say I have known many of them—I have known a couple but have read of others—I sense that modesty is usually present amongst those in this sort of elite club.

I, with others, had the honour of attending the ceremony at Government House recently when Trooper Mark Donaldson received his award. It really was a great privilege to be there and to meet him, and to talk with him and his wife and his daughter and his other relatives and friends. There you got an additional sense, talking to friends and family, about the man—what he is, what he has been, and what made him the hero he is today. I also had the opportunity to speak with some of his mates, and, indeed, have a beer with some of his mates—those who were there with him on that day when our troops encountered a terrible ambush in Oruzgan province.

I recommend to all Australians with an interest in the issue—in military history, in our military affairs—to read the full citation. The Prime Minister read part of it in the main chamber yesterday, but he made the point that he had only read a selected part of the citation. To get a full appreciation of what Trooper Donaldson did you really do need to read the full citation.

At the risk of putting it in simplistic terms, on the occasion of the ambush he exposed himself and drew fire so that the wounded could be dragged to the relative safety of the vehicles. He then proceeded to break contact with his comrades. There was no room in the vehicles because the wounded were taking up all of that space. Trooper Donaldson broke contact on foot, moving with the vehicles, returning fire all the way. As the Prime Minister indicated yesterday, he then noticed that one had been left behind. A member of the ANA, an interpreter—an important part of the unit at the time—had been left behind, some 80 metres back, in open ground. Trooper Donaldson ran back, returning fire all the time. He picked the guy up, put him over his shoulders, ran back another 80 metres or so to the vehicle and put him in the vehicle. He applied first aid. Of course, our special forces soldiers are highly trained in first aid. He then returned to the fight. The incredible thing is how Trooper Mark Donaldson is still alive today. It is probably a reflection of not only his courage but a little bit of luck he had on that occasion. But, as we all know, you make your own luck, and highly trained soldiers are very good at doing that.

The whole event serves another very good purpose. The publicity surrounding Trooper Donaldson’s valour provides us with a fairly rare opportunity, as people close to these things, to share with the outside world exactly what our boys are doing on a daily basis. They are doing fantastic work disrupting the insurgency, taking enormous risks every day in very, very difficult circumstances. It is a good thing that we get an opportunity from time to time to portray a picture for the Australian community of what these guys are doing on a daily basis.

I said in the House months ago, in response to a condolence motion, that we are a nation which loves its sport. We revere our sporting legends. We respect them and talk about their speed, their skill, their strength and their courage on the field. Yet those are all the attributes shared by these special forces soldiers. For them, of course, the stakes are so much higher. It is not just about a trophy at the end of the season. These guys are fighting for the security of their nation and literally fighting for their lives. Each day, as they proceed out into theatre, they never have any assurance as to whether they will return in one piece.

Today we pay tribute to Trooper Mark Donaldson, who, as I said, joins an elite group. It was great to have Keith Payne at the ceremony at Government House too. He is a great Australian who was awarded the VC as a result of his actions during the Vietnam War. So we pay tribute to Trooper Mark Donaldson today, but we also pay tribute to those who were in that battle with him on that day. We pay tribute to those who will be out there today, as we speak, and again tomorrow and the day after and the day after that. We pay tribute to all the men and women who are deployed overseas, doing good work for the broader Australian community.

We have lost nine young Australians in Afghanistan, eight in the Australian uniform and one, young Stuart Nash, fighting under the British flag. It is nine too many. As I said on the condolence motion for Private Sher this morning, we as policymakers have an obligation to ensure that they have not given their lives in vain. We must do all we can, as a relatively minor player in the Afghanistan campaign, to ensure that NATO has a properly resourced and coordinated plan to win in Afghanistan. We have an obligation to ensure that, whenever we make decisions about deploying our troops, the proper risk analysis is undertaken and we have a clear picture in our mind about why we are there and, therefore, our basis for justifying sending our young people into such a high-threat area of operations.

Today, in addition to paying tribute to Trooper Mark Donaldson, we pay tribute, as I said, to all the men and women of the Australian Defence Force who are taking great risks, on a daily basis, so that those of us who treasure freedom and democracy and the things on which we base our nation can continue to enjoy our way of life and so that Australians around the globe, not just those on Australia’s mainland, can travel in relative peace and safety. It is a great privilege to be in the federal parliament and indeed to be the Minister for Defence on such a rare occasion—when the Victoria Cross is awarded to a fine Australian soldier. For that opportunity I am truly eternally grateful.

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