Mal Brough (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today, 18 August 2015, is the 49th anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan, a battle of the Vietnam War. Why would I bring that to the attention of the House, when we are debating the 100th anniversary of the landing at Gallipoli? Because, as a former military man myself, I believe it was, above all else, the attitude that was forged in Gallipoli that has set the standard for our Defence Forces—men and women, Army, Navy, Air Force, as well as the Nursing Corps, as it used to be called, and the Mercantile Navy. Whatever branch of the Defence Forces people have been a part of, they all look to the traditions, the standards and the attitudes that were forged on 25 April 1915.

The names I am about to read out will be familiar to some, and one in particular will be familiar to most, but I would conclude that all of them, if given the opportunity, would have one thing to say. They are Private Albert Jacka, Captain Alfred Shout, Private Leonard Keysor, Lieutenant William Symons, Private John Hamilton, Lieutenant Frederick Tubb, Corporal William Dunstan, Corporal Alexander Burton and Second Lieutenant Hugo Throssell. All, of course, are Victoria Cross winners from the Gallipoli campaign. As I said, I feel confident in knowing that if they could be asked today or any time after being awarded the Victoria Cross, they would say that there were many more who were more worthy than they. That may not be true, but it is a reflection of the attitude, the mateship, the camaraderie and the collective passion they had for the tasks that they were undertaking, not to say the love and support of their comrades in arms.

Every one of the Australians who participated in that campaign forged a tradition that all Defence Force men and women strive to uphold. It is an attitude; it is something that becomes part of you when you join the Defence Forces. In my time at Kapooka, I learnt about these things. You only hope that if you find yourself on the occasion of having to face the battle and the enemy that you would find the strength that those young men did 100 years ago.

Today as I stood before the memorial, hearing from a former Governor-General and a current Governor-General, both of whom are decorated Vietnam veterans, I could not help but reflect that the survival of Delta Company 6 RAR was owed in some small part to the traditions that were formed 100 years ago—never giving in, making the best of a bad lot, facing the enemy and, in doing so, doing your mates proud.

In the 238 days there were on average 109 Australians wounded each and every day. That is a dreadful price to pay. I recall having the honour of speaking at a Maleny Anzac Day ceremony some years ago and, as I looked across the Obi Obi Creek, the scene came to me of a young man on horseback crossing that creek for the last time, heading down the Blackall Range to get on a troop ship—perhaps as part of the Light Horse—heading away for the last time. I thought too of the way families were torn apart and of the great excitement of leaving on this adventure and then the reality of the torn bodies, the death and destruction came home. One can only imagine the horror for those families.

My wish, Mr Deputy Speaker, is that this debate we have had over the past few weeks is replicated in 100 years' time. That will be the true testimony to the legend of the Anzacs. As they say:

Age will not weary them nor the years condemn.

It is up to us the Australian people, and not just the Defence Forces, not just the families of Defence Force personnel but the whole nation—our schools, our universities, our community associations—to live the spirit of Anzac, to commemorate their sacrifice, to remember and honour those men who forged a place in the world that only the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps has been able to provide in the decades since. On behalf of the people of Fisher, I say: 'Lest we forget and may they all rest in peace. We thank them for their duty to the nation.'

Question agreed to.

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