Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

on indulgence—John McCain was a patriot, a distinguished military officer and a great friend of Australia. I was privileged to meet him when he visited Australia last year. He spoke of his long friendship with Australia. As we have heard from previous speakers, his father served here as a submarine commander in World War II. I think John McCain was the embodiment of Australia's friendship and alliance with the United States. I saw that closeness that we have with the United States in southern Afghanistan and in Timor-Leste. I now see it in Darwin and Palmerston, which are in the electorate I represent and which are very proud to be hosting US service personnel.

Our great wartime Prime Minister John Curtin said:

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.

That statement changed the course of Australian history and it changed the course of American history. We faced very serious challenges together in World War II. We saw in my electorate in Darwin the loss of US sailors, US soldiers and US airmen. We now face vastly different geopolitical challenges. However, in Darwin we are acutely aware of this shared identity and we commemorate it every year.

John McCain understood the great military and economic significance of Darwin being close to the great trading routes of the world, particularly during this incredible time with the rise of China, India and Indonesia. John McCain knew this and he understood that our ADF presence in Darwin and the Top End was incredibly important and was very significant. I told him how pleased and honoured we were to be hosting US marines in Darwin, and he thought that was great.

Recently, in my electorate, I spoke to a group of defence industry representatives, a mixture of Australian and American businesspeople, including a gentleman who had been working as a United States contractor for many, many decades. During my presentation, I passed on to the people of the United States my condolences on the passing of John McCain. And when this American gentleman got up to speak, he thanked me for passing on those condolences and he shared a memory that he had of the former senator. He talked about being in a plane flying across the United States. He went down to the toilets at the back of the plane, and he was surprised to see John McCain there chatting with a couple of blokes, a couple of ordinary Americans. He said, 'Senator, what are you doing down here?' And McCain said, 'I'm just talking to these fine American patriots.' And he says they were just ordinary blokes.

Other speakers have alluded to McCain's presence when he spoke to both caucuses. It was real; it was palpable. He was a man of presence, but that short story from an American colleague in Darwin just a couple of weeks ago really opened up another insight into the man, John McCain, in that he believed in people. And he didn't stand up on a soapbox and think he was better than anyone else. He was just proud to serve. Our Labor leader, Bill Shorten, said yesterday that John McCain was an example to us here in Australia, and I think that's very true. John McCain was a friend of Australia because he saw us as an important ally but also because he believed that we share a moral responsibility to advance the cause of freedom around the world.

John McCain's was a courageous life, an honourable life, a life well lived. He's an example of service. Sometimes people ask me, 'Why politics?' Particularly when I catch up with people that I served with in the military, they say, 'Gos, why politics?' And I say, honestly, that I see politics as an extension of service to our country. I think John McCain was a great example of that. Like the previous speaker, I won't go into the details of his service life, but, as someone whose father served in Vietnam and lost mates and whose father's father served in the Second World War and lost mates, his story resonates with me. I think it's been an important initiative to allow this condolence motion.

I want to end with Barack Obama's words from his eulogy to John McCain, because, as many members probably understand and appreciate, there's an old saying that you never really know someone well until you've had a blue with them. That's when you really get to know someone—the real person. And you could say that about politics. When we enter into these political contests every 2½ or three years or what have you, you really get to know those opposite. We get to know each other. Former President Barack Obama—who, having gone through a presidential election race against John McCain, I think knew the man perhaps better than most—said:

What better way to honor John McCain's life of service than, as best we can, follow his example?

To prove that the willingness to get in the arena and fight for this country is not reserved for the few, it is open to all of us, that in fact it's demanded of all of us, as citizens of this great republic?

That's perhaps how we honor him best—by recognizing that there are some things bigger than party, or ambition, or money, or fame or power. That there are some things that are worth risking everything for. Principles that are eternal. Truths that are abiding.

At his best, John showed us what that means. For that, we are all deeply in his debt.

May God bless John McCain, and may God bless this country he served so well.

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