Pat Conroy (Charlton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the 70th anniversary of Victory in the Pacific Day. This is an incredibly important event that we mark in this House today. The conflict in the Pacific during World War II was the turning point for modern Australia. It was a turning point for an Australia that came of age. We were discussing previously the centenary of Gallipoli, another important even in Australian history often remarked on as when Australia came of age as a nation. I respect those that put that as the key moment, but I do think that World War II and the Australian response in the Pacific was a crucial turning point. It was a period when Australian unambiguously turned away from seeing itself as a Pacific outpost of the United Kingdom into a country that was standing up on its own two legs.

The conflict in the Pacific touched every part of our country. There is no doubt about that. Every part of the country would have a story about the impact of the war and how it touched their region. In my region of Lake Macquarie-Newcastle we were home to the Rathmines flying boat base on the shores of Lake Macquarie. At its peak it had 3,000 RAAF personnel present. It was the largest flying boat base in the Pacific. It played a crucial role in the Pacific conflict. Catalina flying boats based out of Rathmines identified the convoys travelling down the coast of PNG towards Port Moresby trying to circumvent the Kokoda track. This identification and trailing of those convoys led to the battle of the Coral Sea.

The Battle of the Coral Sea was a key turning point in the Pacific. It halted the seaward advancement of the Imperial Japanese Navy, and a few weeks later we saw the turning point of the Battle of Midway where the USS Yorktown, which the Japanese thought had been sunk at the Coral Sea, came into conflict and played a crucial role in sinking six Japanese aircraft carriers. This really was a turning point of the war in the Pacific against the Japanese. That could not have occurred without the Coral Sea battle; it could not have occurred without halting the Japanese advancement on Port Moresby. The Rathmines flying boat base played a crucial role in that conflict.

The other part of the flying boat role out of Rathmines in terms of the Pacific conflict that was most crucial was the mining of Manila harbour, which cut off a crucial harbour base for the Japanese—not just their naval fleet but their merchant base as well. The RAAF operated 168 Catalina flying boats from 1941 to 1950. Of these, 32 were shot down in combat and 332 lives were lost. I pay tribute to, and honour the memory of, those 332 personnel. The base was sited at Rathmines because Lake Macquarie is the biggest saltwater lake in the Southern Hemisphere—it is actually four times the size of Sydney Harbour. The base served many purposes: it trained air crews in the use of flying boats and sea rescue crews; it serviced and maintained the flying boats; it supplied Seagull and Walrus aircraft for the Royal Australian Navy; and the Catalinas that were based there patrolled the New South Wales coast. I honour that heritage.

There is a very strong community in the Lake Macquarie region that is dedicated to honouring the Rathmines flying boat base and is doing all they can to get due acknowledgement of that base. It is a well-kept secret in our region. People in our region have RAAF Williamtown, which played a crucial role in World War II, but Rathmines played an equally important role, and we need to honour that contribution.

I would also like to acknowledge the role of servicewomen at the Rathmines base. The Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force was created in 1949, and Rathmines was a sought-after posting. Women were deployed in 73 trades at the base and worked in many fields that were traditionally the domain of men, such as armaments works, flight mechanics, meteorology, and signals and radar. I pay tribute to the 57 members of the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force who died in service to their country.

In talking to this motion I also want to acknowledge and place on the record the courageous and inspiring leadership of our wartime leader, Prime Minister John Curtin. At the Centenary of Federation in 2001 Prime Minister Howard acknowledged two prime ministers of particular significance in the 20th century. One was Australia's longest-serving Prime Minister and Mr Howard's political mentor, Sir Robert Menzies—and that is understandable—and the other was John Curtin, whom Prime Minister Howard honoured for his leadership of our country at a time of grave peril. John Curtin became Prime Minister in October 1941, two years into the war and only a few months after the bombing of Pearl Harbour. His leadership saw the successful defence of Australia against Japanese imperial forces and the establishment of our security alliance with the United States, which, 70 years on, remains the bedrock of our national security.

There is little public recognition of Curtin's pre-war involvement in defence policy. In the years leading up to 1939 Curtin played a constructive role in national security as Leader of the Opposition. He supported the bipartisan approach to defence policy by the Lyons government's defence minister, Archdale Parkhill, and in the years leading up to the war he advocated for coastal defence and the production of defence materiel. In any recognition of John Curtin's leadership it should be noted that he bravely stood up to Sir Winston Churchill and ensured that Australian forces, rightly, defended Australia. It is well known that after the fall of Singapore, and without seeking Australian approval, Churchill directed the 7th Division of the Second Australian Imperial Force to Burma. They were in transit from the Middle East, coming back to Australia, when Winston Churchill attempted to divert them to defend Burma. John Curtin was rightly infuriated by this move and insisted that these ships return to Australia. In retrospect, this was not only the right move for Australia but also the right move for the war effort, because they were not travelling with their defence materiel—their armaments, their weapons. Had they been successfully diverted to Burma—at Rangoon in particular—I suspect they would have been caught up in the Japanese advance, been immediately interned in the Japanese prisoner of war camps and suffered the horrendous fate of other prisoners of war.

Instead, they successfully came back to Australia and strengthened our militia forces then fighting against the Japanese in PNG and played a crucial role in turning the Japanese back in Kokoda—the first land-based defeat of the Japanese army in World War II. I honour the role John Curtin played in World War II. In particular, I honour his role in standing up to Winston Churchill and saying that these troops were needed in Australia, that they were needed to defeat the imperial Japanese forces then advancing through PNG.

Mr Curtin's role in founding the US alliance is also very significant in this debate around victory in the Pacific. In Curtin's famous new year's message of 1941—in fact, 1942—he wrote that:

Without any inhibitions of any kind I make it quite clear that Australia looks to America, free of any pangs as to our traditional links or kinship with the United Kingdom.

This statement was obviously controversial at the time, but history also records that his policy was correct in that the sole focus of the United Kingdom was on defeating Germany in Europe and that Australia would need to ally with America in the Pacific to defeat Japan.

I do not need to inform the House of the close involvement of America and Australia in defeating Japan with our allies, including the United Kingdom, but do note that the relationship that arose from this involvement has formed the basis of our 70-year security relationship with the United States. Both sides of politics recognise the significance of our alliance with America, and John Curtin is responsible for the creation of this important relationship. As a country we were fortunate indeed to have been led during the Second World War by this brave and wise leader—a brave and wise leader much like Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was not destined to survive World War II, who worried himself sick during World War II and was acutely aware of the demands he was placing upon Australian service men and women and on our civilian population.

In conclusion, I honour the contribution of all Australians at that time to victory in the Pacific. I honour the hundreds of thousands of Australians who fought. I honour the hundreds of thousands who participated in wartime industries. I honour the memory and sacrifice of the thousands of Australians who laid down their lives or were wounded in this conflict. Theirs was a noble cause. We often debate conflict in this place and whether there is such a thing as a just war. World War II was such a thing. It was a just war, and I honour the memory of all those Australians, in particular those in my region, who were associated with that conflict.

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