Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It was a big day for all of us on 25 April. It is hard to dispute that Anzac Day is unequivocally the most important day for our country. When we look back 100 years—and it was not the start of the war; there were things that took place before 25 April—it was that moment when this country stood up together. People rose collectively, leaving aside the parochialism of the colonies, as one people and one nation. That is why it is such an important time for us and why it is the most important day of each year. It was just 14 years earlier that Australia had become a nation, and here was a challenge where people rose to the occasion.

A lot has been said about why our young men signed up in such great numbers. The AIF was formed and went overseas. There might have been something of the grand adventure. There might have been some wanting to prove themselves to the homeland. I think we need to acknowledge that everybody that went would have known somebody from the homeland—from the United Kingdom, from England—and they had great concerns about what was going on, the series of events, the Serbian Gavrilo Princip stepping out from the coffee shop in Sarajevo and firing two shots at Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife. Four or so years later, millions of people were dead, including 61,000 Australians and a further 150,000 Australians were wounded. From a small event in the Balkans, such carnage followed.

Australians all across the country decided that they wanted to be part of something, that they thought this country should act collectively. As I said before, it did not just begin on Anzac Day. The first shots were fired to try to dislodge the Germans from German New Guinea. We sometimes forget that. Then in November 1914 there was HMAS Sydney's victory over the RMS Emden in the Cocos Islands—the first great victory of World War I for Australian forces.

Despite those things that happened earlier, the collectiveness of the whole country—people signing up, people being recruited to go and fight—actually culminated on that first day in Gallipoli, when the troops had come across from Lemnos and came forward in the boats across such difficult ground: the raking fire, the difficult terrain, and the great challenges. That was the reality of war. It was not the home-by-Christmas viewpoint of some people; it was the challenges of death, carnage and destruction. That, of course, affected this country for years to come. When you have some four million people, and 61,000 of your finest young men die and 150,000 are wounded, the impact of that goes on for generations. Of course that was felt by every country that participated in the war.

Sometimes people talk about the futility of war. I think it is wrong to talk about war in those terms. It is true that it is not a desirable thing. We always hope for a grand peace—a greater peace and tranquillity in the world. But the reality is that, throughout history, there has been evil in this world that must be stopped, and sometimes the only way to stop it is by fighting. There is good in the world, and it is worth fighting for.

So when you look at the history of this country and the military history of this country, we have seen Australians rising to the occasion and leaving these shores—and sometimes fighting on these shores as well—to fight for a better world. I think that we should be proud of what they have done. Look at World War II, for instance. Of course, following World War I, no doubt there was an aversion in Europe to confronting Adolf Hitler—a man who came to power in 1933 and four years later saw the final breaking of the Versailles treaty—but, if people had stood up and confronted Hitler at that time, how many millions of people could have been saved?

Of course, there would still have been a war, but how many millions could have been saved?

Then you can look forward beyond those times, from the evil that was the Nazis—the evidence of that brutality that I personally have seen at Auschwitz—to now, to what IS, Daesh, is doing. It is the same sort of evil. I sometimes wonder when people say, 'Let's not become involved in that,' if people were probably saying that when Hitler was rising as well. There are people doing evil, subhuman things in the world. It was the Nazis in the thirties and early forties; it is now IS and, in Africa, Boko Haram. These people are not human. They need to be confronted, they need to be defeated and in fact they need to be destroyed. There is evil in this world. There has always been evil in this world and someone has to stand up and fight it.

I think that Australians have always acknowledged that sometimes there is no other way. Nobody likes war. Nobody wishes for war but, ultimately, if you have to stop people doing the wrong thing and taking advantage of the weak—murdering, killing and abusing—sometimes there is just no other way.

When I looked across my electorate on the days leading up to Anzac Day I was so very proud not just of my electorate of course but of the whole country. People have risen to the occasion to acknowledge the sacrifice and the belief in good causes on Anzac Day and on those days leading up to it. A dawn service on 24 April at a local primary school—Marangaroo Primary School—that had sought a Commonwealth grant for the Centenary of Anzac created a flag station memorial for Anzac Day. What a great example—there were hundreds of people turning out, not on Anzac Day but actually turning out on the 24th itself.

There were little children there at 5 o'clock and 5.30 in the morning, along with their parents and community members. There was a great display in the undercover areas. I think it was just an outstanding example, as we have all seen outstanding examples, of Australians paying great tribute and commemorating the sacrifice of so many Australians, both men and women, over the period of Australia as a nation.

I think that we can sometimes look upon things that happen in this country—particularly with young people—and sometimes we might generalise about the problems that they have. But you look around the country and you see how many young people, children and people in general have risen to the occasion and demonstrated that great respect for the commemoration. It is not a celebration, of course, on Anzac Day but a wonderful commemoration of people who believed in the cause and who were prepared to die for it. I think it is just a great example of how great this country really is.

You do not need to travel very far in this world to realise that we have a lot going for us. There are examples such as our commemoration of Anzac Day and our ability and belief in going and fighting for good causes, peace and justice. These are the things we should always try to achieve.

Lest we forget.

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