Tony Smith (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I join in speaking on the Australian War Memorial Amendment Bill 2014 and supporting the very important measures in it to ensure that there are no parking fees at the War Memorial. I want to very briefly associate myself with the remarks of members on this side who have spoken on this bill.

The War Memorial is one of Australia's foremost institutions. It has the names of 102,000 Australians who made the ultimate sacrifice. My friend and colleague the minister and I have spoken about this in the centenary of Anzac. The memorial bears the names that are on all the cenotaphs in all the local towns in my electorate down in the Yarra Valley, and in the towns of the minister's electorate in Queensland. Over these four years it is going to be a focus like never before, with school groups going to the War Memorial and looking up the names that they have seen on their local honour boards. This bill is an important bill. It is one that was foreshadowed some years back by our Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Senator Ronaldson, when he was the opposition spokesman—he carried it through in a clear policy prior to the last election. It has my strong support that we are dealing with that today.

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