Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the good member here to my right for allowing me to jump ahead of him on this important condolence motion for a fine Australian soldier, Lance Corporal Todd Chidgey. As President John F Kennedy once said, 'A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honours and the men it remembers.' So today I stand here on behalf of the government with a sense of pride and a sense of solemn sadness to pay tribute to and to remember a man who has revealed the very best of us—the very best of our country. We pay tribute to Lance Corporal Todd Chidgey—the 41st Australian to die in Afghanistan in the service of us, the people of Australia. I pass on the government's sincere and heartfelt sympathy and support to his family—his mother, Kerrie, his older brother, Paul, and his younger brother, Adam.

Todd was 29 years old. He was born in Gosford, New South Wales. On Remembrance Day this year, Todd will join the thousands of other Australian soldiers, sailors and airmen and women to have his name inscribed on the honour roll of the Australian War Memorial. His name will join the many other names in that place; his name will join a company of heroes—men and women whose lives were shortened because of a call for patriotic duty. His name will forever be enshrined on a bronze panel so that generations will know that brave men stood and fought against tyranny.

As people walk beside those bronze panels, it is instructive that we all remember that behind every name is a story of patriotism and bravery, is a story of grief and loss, is a story of communities that have lost their men and their women, is a story of brothers and sisters alone, is a story of families that have lost a part of them. Australia does not forget those who fight and serve; we remember them—not because we glorify war but because we commemorate those who have fought in the pursuit of peace.

Lance Corporal Todd Chidgey joined the Australian Army in March 2006, apparently to the surprise of his family. He joined under the Special Forces Direct Recruiting Scheme. On completion of his IET—initial employment training—he was posted to the 4th Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment, of which I am an honorary member and which is now called the 2nd Commando Regiment, in September the same year. Lance Corporal Chidgey deployed on six tours in Afghanistan, and colleagues from the 2nd Commando Regiment have described him as 'a brilliant bloke to know and to work with, who was loyal to the core and would do anything for his mates'. His mother and brother remember him as a 'consummate gentleman', a man who loved his work and enjoyed the discipline, structure and camaraderie of life in the Army.

In terms of his service, Todd was awarded: the Australian Active Service Medal with the ICAT clasp; the Afghanistan Campaign Medal; the Australian Service Medal with the Counter-Terrorism and Special Recovery clasp; the Australia Defence Medal; the NATO Medal with International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, clasp; the multiple tour indicator for the NATO International Security Assistance Force; the Soldiers Medallion; the ICB; and, of course, the Returned from Active Service Badge. He was a well-decorated soldier, a great junior leader.

He, and others like him, are ordinary men and ordinary women, but they rise to meet face on the extraordinary danger our nation puts them in and they rise to meet the challenge. They are ordinary men and women rising to do extraordinary things. This House will never forget that they have mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters. They voluntarily leave the safety and comfort of their homes to serve on our behalf, to fight tyranny, to ensure justice and to fulfil a long-held dream of citizens of the world that a promise of safety and security is not abstract but can be tangibly real. I am sure I speak for many in this place, and so many who are within its wider walls outside of our parliamentary colleagues, when I say we are immensely proud of this young digger, Lance Corporal Chidgey. We thank his family for their sacrifice of a son and their sacrifice of a brother. Lance Corporal Chidgey died in the service of his country—be under no doubt of that. With six tours in eight years, that man knew what it meant to serve. He will be remembered as much for being a servant of our nation as a warrior for the cause of peace. We will remember him.

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