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

This morning I had the distinct pleasure of joining one of my primary schools, Pacific Pines State School, as their senior class, year 6, gathered at the War Memorial. There is something poignantly wonderful about seeing the next generation, on a cold Canberra morning, rugged up, come to the very soul of Australia to learn, to pause and to reflect. We conducted a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and paused for a minute's silence. When I left them, I left them in the good hands of a digger, a veteran of Vietnam, to talk about his service.

On this 100th year since we stormed the beaches of Gallipoli, I was able to stand there with the next generation and point them towards the bronze panels in the halls of the War Memorial, to talk to them about what it meant for two million Australians to have worn the uniform of our nation, to speak to them about freedom never being free—a price is paid by a few for many, ultimately by those over 102,000 names on those bronze panels—to talk through the loss of some 60,000 in World War I, including the loss of some 2,200 sets of brothers who fell in that conflict, and the 154 mothers who gave three sons in that conflict and, incredibly, the five mothers who gave four sons. It is always wonderful to spend time with the next generation, explaining what those that have gone before have done for those that live now.

It is an extraordinary commemoration we have this year and then, rolling through to 2018, as we reflect on deeds done in the past, great men and women who have served and the nation they have left behind. The Prime Minister quite rightly represented the nation at Gallipoli; other senior colleagues were across parts of Europe. As the Prime Minister and I talked about where we should go, the Prime Minister, to his enduring credit and leadership, agreed that the minister needed to be with the current fight. So I spent the 100th anniversary of Anzac Day at the only service that was not televised, with the special forces troops in the middle of Iraq.

Nestled between the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers at the special forces compound, I, with over 100 Australian special forces, including our colleagues from other nations and from the CTS of Iraq, which is the Iraq special forces, gathered on the dawn of 25 April this year. I also spent time at our operating base at Al Minhad, as well as two other locations—one in downtown Baghdad with our embassy, and with our aircraft force in the UAE to conduct similar services.

There is something extraordinary about watching the dawn rise over Iraq with our fighting men and women. The commanding officer of the Special Operations Group there had found a bugler from US special forces, he had found a piper from US special forces and he had put a young lady photographer on top of one of the shipping containers to take appropriate photographs. There we celebrated, commemorated and remembered the 100th anniversary of Anzac Day—me, the commander of the joint task force in theatre, the Australian Ambassador to Iraq and the fighting men and women we have deployed. It was an extraordinary moment in an extraordinary dawn as those who still continue to fight remembered those who had fought so long ago.

I made the point, not just to the Australian special forces there but also to our air component out of UAE as well as to our embassy staff, that, as we stood there, it was hard not to be drawn into the fact that men and women not only fought on the ground but also fought in the air. On that day, 25 April 1915, the fledgling Australian Flying Corps had already embarked on ships bound for Iraq. Indeed, we were the only British dominion to establish a flying corps for service during the First World War, and by war's end the Australian Flying Corps consisted of four complete operational squadrons. Australia sent one squadron to the Middle East—No. 1 Squadron. By the way, when Australia sent Super Hornets back into Iraq last year, it was 1 Squadron that led the way, the same squadron that was formed and sent 100 years earlier. Of the 800 officers and 2,840 men who flew in the Australian Flying Corps, 175 were killed.

In Iraq in 1915, the Mesopotamian Half Flight was established at the request of the British government of India and operated out of southern Iraq. Australia only had enough personnel for a half-flight, so that is what was dispatched: four officers, 41 other ranks and 18 mechanics. The Half Flight's aircraft were provided by the Royal Flying Corps. Initially, they were obsolete designs that were also unarmed—Maurice Farman Shorthorn and Longhorn aircraft. With a top speed of 50 miles per hour where desert winds got up to 80 miles per hour, you literally flew backwards. The aircrew were for a time forced to use pistols and drop two-pound infantry hand-held bombs. They arrived too late to help secure the Shatt-el-Arab and the oil pipeline, but they joined the British advance on Baghdad.

There I was, in 2015, with Australian special forces on the outskirts of Baghdad, between the Tigris and the Euphrates, talking about the Australian airmen who had been there 100 years before, supporting the advance on Baghdad.

In fact, on 4 July 2015, a Half Flight Cauldron G3 aircraft crewed by lieutenants George Pinnock Merz and William Burn were forced to land in enemy territory due to mechanical difficulties and were killed by armed civilians after a running gun battle over several miles. Our first casualties in the first air campaign in Australia's history were casualties on the ground in a land battle. The G3 had no machine guns that could be used to defend the aircraft. Ultimately, that attempt to reach Baghdad, supported by the Mesopotamian Half Flight, failed, with the tragic defeat at the Tigris marking the end of Australia's first experience of military aviation.

It was an extraordinary time for me in the Middle East. It is fitting and to the great credit of the Prime Minister that he ensured that a minister was with the men and women who are in the fight now, as he joined other great alliance partners in Gallipoli and other ministers across the world as we all remembered those who had gone before us and who had led the way in acknowledging that axiom that freedom is not free; it is paid by a few for the benefit of the many.

It was wonderful, at the same time, to see my own community on the Gold Coast come out in even greater numbers than before to reflect on what 100 years since the Gallipoli landings meant. The North Gold Coast RSL presented their new cenotaph—behind the Helensvale Bowls Club—which was ready in time for a fabulous service run by the RSL, which does so much for the community. Funds out of Anzac Centenary grants from the federal government were used by the majority of the schools in the electorate to run services to put in place rocks or cenotaphs of remembrance and to pay for wreaths.

As we commemorate the Centenary of Anzac, I thank the Australian service men and women, some 2,000, who are on 14 operational service missions across the world right now, eight of them in the Middle East. Thank you for all that you have done and all that you are doing. Thank you for your service to our country. This place recognises the sacrifices that you make and the sacrifices your families make. We recognise spouses at home and kids at home. We recognise the hard work and the seriously hard yards you do, with our flag on your shoulders and our country's name on your chests, for freedom's sake.

It will be an extraordinary few years as we continue this commemoration, but it is important that this parliament recognises, reflects on and remembers that over two million Australians have served, 2,000 continue to serve overseas and, in the years to come, thousands will serve under our flag, in our name. We remember you. We thank you. We are indebted to you.

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