Bob Baldwin (Paterson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

Today I rise to pay my respects and offer my heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Sapper Rowan Robinson. I would also say that, for a variety of reasons, I have not had the opportunity to place on the record my thoughts in relation to the loss of Lieutenant Marcus Case, Lance Corporal Andrew Jones, Sergeant Brett Wood, Sapper Jamie Larcombe and Corporal Richard Atkinson. I think back to some of the speeches which have been made since the Anzac legend was born on 25 April 1915. I want to bring forward a couple of quotes which are as true today as they were then. I would like to quote General Sir Ian Hamilton, who said:

Before the war, who had ever heard of ANZAC? Hereafter, who will ever forget it?

Mr Deputy Speaker, I put to you that the service of these Australian diggers has been in the same vein with the same spirit as those who have walked those grounds before them. They go to do the deeds of government in fighting for freedom and democracy. They embrace the challenges because those they leave behind in Australia—their family, their friends, their loved ones and their nation which they love so dearly—give them the strength and courage to stand side by side with their fellow diggers as they go into the heat of battle. As Henry Lawson wrote at the time of the war in a clarion call:

I tell you the Star of the South shall rise—in the lurid clouds of war.

Wherever these Anzacs served, they left a legacy, often larger than life. It was during March-April last year that I had the opportunity to go to Afghanistan. I did not know Sapper Robinson, Lieutenant Case, Lance Corporal Andrew Jones, Sergeant Wood, Sapper Larcombe or Corporal Atkinson and I had not met them, but I feel I had because I had met their colleagues, the people from the same units, the people these brave heroes served alongside. While I did not know them individually, I knew them because of what they were, who they were and how they served their nation with great distinction. We can never forget their sacrifice.

As it says in the Bible in John 15:13:

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

To a man, in our Defence Force, they are driven to fight as hard for their mates as for their nation. They would never expect their mates to do the heavy lifting for them. Their creed is that they do the heavy lifting for their mates. They never, ever leave anyone behind or in a position of danger. And that can be said of these fallen heroes. Other speakers have detailed their tours of duty and their well-earned, well-deserved medals of recognition for the campaigns that they have fought. But, simply said: how do you fill the hole that is left in the lives of their family and their friends? It is that hole that makes sure that they are remembered.

The final words of the ode are: lest we forget. That must play hard on our minds because we should never forget their service or their sacrifice in Afghanistan not just fighting for the freedoms and ideals of the people in Australia and to reduce the opportunity for terrorism, but fighting for people they do not know, so that those young boys and girls in Afghanistan can have the freedoms, the democracy and the opportunities that we sometimes take for granted in Australia. This is a war fought in a foreign land against an evil that knows no bounds and no rules, but these diggers step up to the plate.

When I sat around in Camp Holland talking to people—including Sapper Smith, who I had the opportunity to meet when I and my colleagues visited there and who unfortunately met a terrible fate—I got to know what drove them. If they had kids, they were there fighting for their kids' future. What they saw in the kids of Afghanistan was a reflection of their own children. They saw sense, they saw hope and they saw a future. They wanted the children in Afghanistan to grow up with the opportunities and freedoms that they ask for their own children.

How brave is an Australian soldier? They are not forced to go to war; they volunteer to go to war. In fact, some of them fight and train very hard to qualify to go and do what they do. Quite often, people divide up the recognition and the allocation of heroism for people who serve in various positions in the theatres of operation. My understanding as the former shadow minister for defence science and personnel and assisting shadow minister for defence, and my understanding based on having had personnel from Williamtown RAAF Base in my electorate for a long time, is that each and every member of our Defence Force plays a key and integral role in the success of the units. We have suffered these casualties. We have also had 179 wounded in the theatres of operation, the majority of which have occurred since 2007. But these diggers join an honour roll of fine men who have paid the ultimate price, so I would like to put their names on the honour roll:

Sergeant Andrew Russell, Special Air Service Regiment. Trooper David 'Poppy' Pearce, 2nd/14th Light Horse Regiment. Sergeant Matthew Locke, Special Air Service Regiment. Private Luke Worsley, Special Operations Task Group. Lance Corporal Jason Marks, 4th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment. Signaller Sean McCarthy, Special Service Regiment. Lieutenant Michael Fussell, 4th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment. Private Gregory Michael Sher, 1st Commando Regiment, Australian Special Operations Command. Corporal Mathew Hopkins, 7th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment. Sergeant Brett Till, Incident Response Regiment. Private Benjamin Ranaudo, 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment. Sapper Jacob Moerland, 2nd Combat Engineer Regiment. Sapper Darren Smith, 2nd Combat Engineer Regiment. Private Scott Palmer, 2nd Commando Regiment, serving with Special Operations Task Group. Private Timothy Aplin, 2nd Commando Regiment, serving with Special Operations Task Group. Private Benjamin Chuck, 2nd Commando Regiment, serving with Special Operations Task Group. Private Nathan Bewes, 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment. Trooper Jason Brown, Special Air Service Regiment. Private Grant Kirby, 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment. Private Thomas Dale, 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment. Lance Corporal Jared MacKinney, 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment. Corporal Richard Atkinson, 1st Combat Engineer Regiment. Sapper Jamie Larcombe, 1st Combat Engineer Regiment. Sergeant Brett Wood, 2nd Commando Regiment. Lance Corporal Andrew Jones, 9th Force Support Battalion. Lieutenant Marcus Sean Case, 6th Aviation Regiment. Sapper Rowan Robinson, Incident Response Regiment.

I sincerely pray that this roll of honour of our fallen heroes grows by no more. We have paid enough of a price but if, indeed, more is to be paid to make sure the job is completed then that is the way it is. All of their families, of course, are devastated and saddened by their loss but the families that I have met with at the various ramp ceremonies and funerals for our diggers that I have attended, each to a T, has said, 'Please don't let their sacrifice be in vain.' They want the job completed because they understand the ideals that these fine Australian men gave their lives for and that must always be remembered. So I simply say as I honour these fine Australian heroes: lest we forget.

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