Philip Ruddock (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am grateful that the debate on the motion relating to the 100th anniversary of the landings at Gallipoli has been continued to enable us all to contribute. For me, this is about being Australian. It is certainly Anzac and it includes our New Zealand brothers and sisters, but it is about the values of our citizenship and what it means to be Australian, when you can identify with those people who have put their lives at risk to give us the freedom that we enjoy here in Australia today. As I think about the way in which Anzac Day is being commemorated Australia wide, I can see why so many people in the past suggested that it may, in fact, best be Australia's national day. What those diggers, as we call them, were about was defending our way of life—and it is unique here in Australia. We respect the rule of law. We have a parliamentary democracy. We welcome people from all over the world to be part of our family. We believe that these entitlements that we enjoy are important enough to defend.

When I reflect upon the way in which my electorate deals with these issues, I am proud of the way in which tens of thousands of people are now coming together regularly. The population that comes together on those occasions reflects the diversity of Australia. Some of the people I am seeing have been allies in other engagements that we have been involved in—the Vietnamese and the Koreans—but I see the Indians and the Chinese, and they see the importance of this event and they now come out to commemorate it. I have been at Gallipoli, I have spoken my Lone Pine and I know how important this is in our history and how important it is for our nation.

It is in that context that I want to note—as I did on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the victory in the Second World War, where we noted, in a number of memorials around my electorate, the importance of that event—on this occasion, through the Centenary of Anzac grants, the people of my electorate were able to come together. The RSL branches, the sub-branches and the clubs, along with the schools, were able to plan activities which were important. We were able to upgrade our First World War commemorative statues and monuments.

On Anzac Day, I started at 4.30. I do not know whether everybody does at that hour in their electorates. But I was at the Hornsby RSL dawn service, where, as I said, I estimated more than 10,000 people were along what was the old Pacific Highway. It was inspiring to see the park and the cenotaph filled with our veterans, with our young scouts and guides, and with parents and children. The service, in our case, was led by Rod White. Maybe you are coming to know him more, because he is now the New South Wales president of the RSL. He has contributed greatly and facilitated the work of the Berowra Anzac Committee.

We had a similar service at Berowra, organised by the RSL. We were at Annangrove, Glenorie and Beecroft, and I might say that there were events elsewhere at other times involving my communities and the schools. Grants were provided; $12,100 was provided to the Kenthurst primary school. We saw there a new flagpole, brass plaques as well as educational material. For the Hills District RSL, for a new flagpole, there was $1,500; for the Lions Club of Beecroft, for a memorial, $7,000. For a sandstone memorial for the Berowra RSL Sub-branch—a very substantial addition to the longstanding memorial they have had—there was $17,600; the Annangrove Progress Associated updated theirs for $5,400. For the Brooklyn RSL Sub-Branch, for a bronze sculpture of a First World War digger, there was $15,000

For the Marian Catholic College Anzac Centenary garden there was $5,400; for the Redfield College sandstone memorial and statue, $20,000; and for the Pacific Hills Christian School, for their service and special ceremony, $2,400. The Hornsby Shire Historical Society produced an education booklet—$4,900. There was also the Northholm Grammar School commemorative wall.

I might say that I was delighted at the way in which my electors, the citizens of Berowra, commemorated the 100th anniversary of the landing at Gallipoli. I am particularly grateful for my state colleagues and the mayors of both Hornsby Shire Council and the Hills Shire Council, together with Major Rod White, Bob Dobson, Alan Forno, Ken Shadie and Dick Gadsden in particular, who came together and regularly attended the committee meetings which planned the engagements that we had in Berowra to commemorate the 100th anniversary of that very significant landing at Gallipoli.

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