Milton Dick (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's a great privilege and honour to speak on this ministerial statement on veterans and their families. I'm all too aware of the dedication, commitment and sacrifices made by our veterans and current serving members. I want to start by acknowledging the longstanding commitment to bipartisanship in this place on Veterans' Affairs and defence. I pledge to continue working in this spirit for the benefit of our Defence Force, veterans and country. I'm proud to have spoken on this topic many times before in the parliament. Today I again place on the record my unwavering support for and gratitude to the brave men and women who have served our nation, for their service and contribution to the Australian way of life, and to the families of our veterans, who have also made tremendous sacrifices for the betterment of our nation.

I have had the great privilege while serving in this parliament to meet elected members who have also served our nation in the ADF. I acknowledge in the chamber today the service of the member for Solomon, Luke Gosling OAM; Andrew Hastie, the member for Canning; and Mike Kelly, the member for Eden-Monaro. It has been such a privilege to get to know them, to listen to their stories and to understand the service that they delivered for our nation. They continue to serve our nation in this parliament as well.

I have not served in the ADF, but I do come from a military family. My father served in the Navy during the Second World War. He was a signalman onboard HMAS Ararat. He enlisted at the age of only 20. He served in the 2nd Australian Imperial Force until Allied victory in the Pacific. I listened to the member for Bowman talk about pins. My grandmother wore a pin every day that my father served in the war. She slept with that pin because she was afraid to take the pin off—if something happened to that pin, something might happen to her eldest son.

The Ararat was an Australian warship positioned in the newly captured Allied territory of Cape Gloucester near Britain. Whilst my father was not one to tell many stories from the time he served, I'm pretty sure it's safe to say that life onboard the Ararat was not easy. This is reflective of the experience of many of our service men and women and veterans today. They gave up and have given up so much so that we can enjoy freedom today.

There are currently almost 2,000 veterans and a further 1,000 current serving members of the Defence Force who now call my electorate of Oxley home. I'm proud to know many of them personally. I enjoy working alongside our local RSL sub-branches to help improve services for members. Every electorate in Australia has RSL sub-branches, but today I want to place on record in the parliament the following that I work closely with and to acknowledge the service, understanding and care they give to veterans: the Centenary Suburbs RSL Sub-branch, the Forest Lake RSL Sub-branch, the Dara and District RSL Sub-branch, the Goodna RSL Sub-branch, the Redbank RSL Sub-branch and the Redbank Plains RSL Sub-branch.

Listening and talking to the executive, the liaison officers and the community people who support and attend meetings has given me a better understanding of what veterans require, what support services they need. I do believe that it's important that we as parliamentarians take the time to listen to their stories, their concerns and their challenges—whether it be better access to medicine or more support for mental health services. It could just be lending an ear for a friendly conversation. It's important that we continue to build relationships with veterans in our community.

I've also been fortunate to work alongside our future service men and women and see firsthand the next generation of cadets coming through the ranks. This includes in my electorate the Australian Air League Forest Lake air squadron. Most recently I visited their women in aviation event and met with some inspiring and amazing young female cadets, who are in training now for a career in our Defence Force. This was in contrast clearly to those who have gone before them and who joined us at the event. They paved the way for our younger generation to learn the values of the Defence Force and to become role models for others. Next month we will see our young cadets line up alongside our veterans.

As we've heard in this debate in this parliament and as we've witnessed, we will be seeing the 100th anniversary of the Armistice, when the guns fell silent on the Western Front and, after more than four years of unimaginable bloodshed and destruction, the war was finally over. Earlier this week, I was really privileged to join with a number of my colleagues and with the Leader of the Opposition, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, the shadow minister for veterans' affairs and the shadow minister for defence, Richard Marles, when we visited the Australian War Memorial with the director, the Hon. Dr Brendan Nelson AO, and saw the 62,000 poppies made by Australians from all walks of life to commemorate the fallen during World War I.

A little earlier this year I visited the YMCA headquarters in Brisbane, located in Fortitude Valley. The YMCA at Lutwyche also has undertaken a similar poppy project, with 80,000 poppies from around Queensland and Australia, under the leadership of one of their dedicated staff, Meg Woolf. I've spoken about this in the chamber before. I didn't know the reason we wear poppies until I visited the YMCA. Two days before the Armistice was signed, a person who was attending the 25th conference of the overseas YMCA war secretaries decided to pin a poppy to her collar. It's claimed it was Moina Michael, who was working at the 25th conference of the overseas YMCA war secretaries, who decided to do that. To think that one person began what the whole world now knows as a symbol for honouring the fallen is an amazing story. As Labor's shadow minister for veterans' affairs said yesterday:

As the Centenary of Anzac draws to a close, it is important that we consider how we keep alive the memories of men and women who have served and who have died. While we no longer have the benefit of any of our World War I diggers with us, it is critical that we remember their experiences and their sacrifice.

That's why I am really pleased that a conversation has begun and that the opposition has proposed establishing the Western Front Fellowship. This fellowship, based on the successful Canadian program, is proposing to support eight post-secondary students a year to work at the Sir John Monash Centre, acting as tour guides, presenting some of Australia's most important history to visitors. This is just one of many new initiatives proposed that include, obviously, the recent announcement by the shadow minister and the Leader of the Opposition about the military covenant, signed by the Chief of the Defence Force and the Prime Minister of the day, that will be accompanied by legislation that will ensure regular reporting to the parliament on how we are meeting our commitment to those who have served. I recognise that the government has also made comments that they're exploring the idea of a military covenant. I'm really pleased that in the true spirit of bipartisanship we will work together, hopefully, to see this progress. Alongside a whole range of announcements that have come forward, particularly around veterans' employment programs, I know that it is critically important that we don't lose the skills of the veterans, that they're not lost, that they're encouraged to enter business and that they're assisted with their work in the community post a career in the ADF.

In closing I also want to acknowledge the bipartisan ADF Parliamentary Program, which many members, including myself, have attended. It gives us a glimpse—a very small glimpse, as the member for Braddon and I supported and visited Afghanistan—and we're able to better understand some of those huge sacrifices our men and women are delivering for this nation. It's amazing to be able to talk to them in country and to understand the challenges of being separated from family and loved ones, and I encourage all my fellow parliamentarians to participate so that, together, we can develop a better understanding and an even greater appreciation of our men and women serving overseas.

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