Nicolle Flint (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to begin by commending my South Australian neighbour and colleague the member for Kingston for presenting this motion to the House today. Remembrance Day provides all Australians with the opportunity to honour the men and women who sacrificed their safety and their lives for our country. Their defence of our nation and our values is something that must never be forgotten.

This Friday, 11 November 2016, marks the 98th anniversary of the Armistice which ended World War I. The minute's silence we will all observe at the 11th hour of the 11th day of this, the 11th month, is not only a time to remember the great loss of life borne by our nation in World War I. It is also a time to commemorate all those who have gone to war and those who returned with the hidden scars of battle.

In the year 1914, Australia's suburbs and country towns were emptied as 400,000 men voluntarily enlisted to serve. Over 60,000 Australians died, and a further 156,000 returned as casualties of war. One of those men was my great-grandfather, Private Roy Gambrell. One hundred years ago this year, at the age of 18, my great-grandfather joined the 48th Infantry Battalion. The battalion comprised new recruits from South Australia and Western Australia as well as veterans from Gallipoli. Their first action was as Pozieres—action that was some of the worst that Australian troops have ever endured. The battle at Pozieres caused the greatest loss of Australian life in our military history. The 48th Battalion endured what was said to be the heaviest artillery barrage ever experienced by Australian troops and suffered 598 casualties.

In his recent address to mark the 100th anniversary of our sacrifice on the Western Front, our Director of the Australian War Memorial, the Hon. Dr Brendan Nelson, recalled that more Australians had been lost in eight weeks of fighting in France than in eight months at Gallipoli. Dr Nelson went on to say that, of Pozieres, our first war historian, Charles Bean, simply wrote:

The shelling at Pozieres did not merely probe the character and nerve; it laid them stark naked as no other experience of the AIF ever did. The ruin of the Pozieres Windmill …

which stands as a memorial today—

was captured on August 4th by Australian troops who fell more thickly on this ridge than on any other battlefield of the war.

Pozieres is more deeply sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on earth.

I am always touched when I read some of the 102,000 names on the Roll of Honour at the Australian War Memorial. I also think about the personal triumphs of all the Australian men and women who have served our nation. As we all understand in this House, our armed forces are respected worldwide as professional and humane. Recorded on stained-glass windows above the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Australian War Memorial are the 15 values of Australia's armed forces. They are what I believe we should all strive for in honour of those who laid down their lives: resource, candour, devotion, curiosity, independence, comradeship, ancestry, patriotism, chivalry, loyalty, coolness, control, audacity, endurance and decision. I commend the current Director of the War Memorial, Dr Nelson, for placing these values at the heart of his work commemorating those who have served our nation.

In my seat of Boothby, we also remember the sacrifices of our service men and women. Leading up to Remembrance Day, I know that the veterans and the many volunteers of the Brighton, Blackwood, Marion, Mitcham and Colonel Light Gardens RSLs will be working hard to prepare their memorial services. Boothby is also home to one of Australia's few memorials to the involvement of women in war and service, at the Australian Women's Memorial Playing Fields. I consider Boothby to be blessed to have so many organisations that remind us of those who have given everything so that we can live in safety and in peace and that also act as hubs for our community so that we may enjoy that safety and that peace together.

I hope that the ranks of men and women recorded on the honour roll at the Australian War Memorial never grow as they did during World War I. As our Governor-General, Sir Peter Cosgrove, has remarked:

The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.

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