Ian Goodenough (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the motion by the member for Ryan in recognition of Remembrance Day, this year marking the 97th anniversary of the armistice which ended the First World War on 11 November 1918. At RSL branches across Australia, in communities, institutions, schools and workplaces, let us all join together at 11 o'clock this Wednesday in observing one minute's silence. Although there are no longer any remaining living veterans of the First World War in Australia, we must honour their memory amongst our younger generation and migrants in promoting awareness of the sacrifice that our veterans have made. The significance of their contribution is just as relevant today as it was nearly a century ago. It is seen in our democracy, culture, institutions and values which form the basis of our great Australian society and it has allowed us to enjoy prosperity in peace.

The lesson we can learn for our current and future generations of Australians is of greater patriotism, loyalty to our country and service to our nation. We must fight vigorously against the emerging counterculture and anti-establishment elements in our society which seek to undermine our proud national heritage. Referred to as the Great War and the 'war to end all wars', this significant conflict in our national history has contributed to our Australian national identity and the values which we hold dear, including devotion to duty, loyalty to one's mates, personal sacrifice and service to our country.

At that time, Australia was a young nation, barely 15 years out of Federation, and the First World War represented our first substantive entry onto the international stage. Patriotic Australians, keen to do their duty for king and country, enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force. The First World War unleashed the horror of modern warfare on an unprecedented scale with the development of small arms and automatic weapons with high, sustained rates of fire, chemical weapons, and artillery with explosive ordnance. Never before in history had such lethal and effective weapons been deployed on the battlefield, inflicting heavy casualties and loss of life. Australian troops were confronted with the sombre reality of entrenched machine gun positions and the appalling stalemate conditions of trench warfare. In these conditions of hardship and deprivation, the Anzac spirit was born out of our troops' support of each other.

From a population of 4.9 million Australians, 416,809 men enlisted, of which 59,357 were killed between 4 August 1914 and 11 November 1918; 155,133 were wounded and 4,044 were taken prisoner. On average, 38 Australians died each day during the 1,560 days of the war. There were 431,448 hospitalisations. The highest rate of enlistment occurred in my home state of Western Australia, where 32,231 men enlisted, representing 9.9 per cent of the state's population.

The contribution by women to the war effort must also be recognised. A total of 2,139 women served with the Australian Army Nursing Service, and 130 worked with Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service. A further 423 nurses served in hospitals within Australia. Twenty-three of these women died in service during the war.

In the context of a world that is faced with conflict and security concerns, it is important that the Anzac values be maintained and passed down to future generations of young Australians, so that we may meet and overcome the future security challenges that we face as a nation in uncertain times. The nature of war and conflict is evolving from engagement between sovereign nations and states to terrorism and guerrilla-style conflict between organised militias. Just as the diggers were confronted with modern weapons, today we are faced with new security threats in the war on terrorism.

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