Jamie Briggs (Mayo, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I join with and acknowledge the remarks of the Minister for Defence Science and Personnel. This is a debate in which we can all agree wholeheartedly on paying tribute to Trooper Mark Donaldson and Lance Corporal S, as the minister referred to him.

During my maiden speech, I acknowledged and paid tribute to the commitment of those who are in the Australian defence forces and those who have been in the Australian defence forces in the past, particularly those who have given their lives in defence of our great country, our great free land. A time like this is, of course, an opportunity to again acknowledge the commitment these people make to our country, to our democracy and to our freedom—because, without a strong defence force and strong policy to defend our freedom, there are threats in the world that wish to take it away. These people fight day in, day out in faraway places, and they have done so for many, many years. I think this is a great opportunity for both sides of this House, and it is pleasing to see such agreement in these sorts of matters on paying tribute to our Australian defence forces.

In particular, in this case, the acts of Trooper Mark Donaldson simply go beyond words. The member for Cowan commented on how the word ‘hero’ is thrown around too much at our sporting champions and the like, and he is probably right. The media and others seek words to explain feats in all sorts of ways, but there is nothing that can actually explain the sort of behaviour and acts that Trooper Donaldson engaged in on that day in Afghanistan in September last year. While reading the citation, it is hard to imagine that a Hollywood producer could come up with such a scene: ambushed, running across a stretch of 80 metres of exposed land, firing three types of weapons and carrying across an Afghani interpreter—not an Australian mate of Trooper Donaldson but someone who he probably knew only a little bit but was willing to sacrifice his life to rescue—exposing himself to live fire. It is quite an extraordinary thing to think you could do. It is something that I imagine Hollywood scriptwriters would struggle to come up with, but this act occurred, and it occurred under our flag. It is something that we should all be very proud of. I know all members of this House are very proud of what he has done.

There are 96 others who have been awarded VCs—which first began in 1856, as I understand it—through our history. The VC, to me, brings back images of Gallipoli. I could be wrong on this, but I think several VCs were awarded for the acts that were undertaken in that battle at the Nek in Gallipoli where they jumped out of trenches and ran at machine guns. It is just impossible to imagine—and, thankfully, it is something that does not occur today. While that does not occur, the same courage, displayed by Trooper Donaldson, does, which is a great thing.

Many in this place have reflected on what the citation has said and what Trooper Donaldson did, and now of course we acknowledge Lance Corporal S as well. I will not go into that too much, except for acknowledging exactly how great the acts were. But I think it is worth reminding ourselves why we are in Afghanistan and why our troops are displaying this sort of courage. The Afghanistan commitment from Australia occurred after the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001 on the United States. We invoked the ANZUS treaty, went in with the United States of America and several other countries and took on terrorism in its home, in effect. It is a battle which continues and which will continue for some time yet. It is a sacrifice that eight of our troops have already made and potentially more will make.

We in this place—particularly those in leadership in this place—are the ones who have the obligation of making those decisions and commitments, and we should never take those decisions lightly. I know those decisions in the past have not been taken lightly. But what we do there is important. We are fighting for our freedom. We are fighting for democracy. We are fighting for the values we hold true. And I think in that respect it is very important that the government consider in great detail the request that the new President of the United States is making about additional commitments to Afghanistan. It is a battle that we should win and that we must win. On that note, I will conclude by saying that we salute Trooper Donaldson, as the head of the Australian Defence Force did.

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