Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link] I remember the feeling of horror and sadness. I'd just finished dinner with friends, washed up and turned on the television, hoping to catch The West Wing, but instead a different drama in America was on my television screen. The north tower of the World Trade Center, which I'd visited only nine months earlier, had been pierced by a hijacked passenger plane. Footage of a burning World Trade Center tower was on my television screen, and minutes later I watched in horror as a second plane was driven into the south tower.

When the World Trade Center opened it was the world's tallest building. A symbol of American confidence and the triumph of Western values and global free trade was now in rubble and ruins. I stayed up and saw both towers collapse. A plane was flown into the Pentagon, and another, heroically diverted by passengers who took on the hijackers, crashed into a field. I sent messages to friends in New York and Washington to see if they were safe. I kept watching until about 4.30 in the morning. As Tony Blair has written:

We forget this now, but the world was spinning on its axis. We feared further attacks, possibly worse.

Nearly 3,000 people, including 10 Australians, died that day. Prime Minister Howard was in the United States. He invoked the ANZUS Treaty and Australia stood shoulder to shoulder with America.

The terrorist group al-Qaeda and their leader Osama bin Laden eventually admitted responsibility for the attacks. al-Qaeda had been given support and a safe haven by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Australia was part of the international coalition which helped liberate Afghanistan in 2001. We went in to stop Afghanistan being a haven for terrorist attacks on the West. We also liberated the Afghan people from a regime that oppressed women and girls. Since 2001, more than 39,000 members of the Australian Defence Force have served in Afghanistan, and 41 made the supreme sacrifice.

Today, I want to speak about Trooper Jason Brown from my electorate. Jason Brown, or Browny, was five when he decided he wanted to be a soldier. His dad, Graham, was a Vietnam vet, and he remembers playing drills with Jason in their backyard at Westleigh. Service runs in the family. Jason's sister is a police officer. Jason went to Oakhill College, graduating in 1999. His classmates, including the comedian Daniel Ilic, remembered him as something of a prankster. He played 14 seasons for the Penno Stags rugby league club, where he played centre and wing. He played five grand finals, winning two of them. His coach Ross Ruhan said he never saw him take a backwards step, and he played with a steely determination, uncompromising yet with a spirit of fairness and respect for the opposition. Former club president Darryl Beitsch remembers he gave a hundred per cent on the field. At footy, his coaches remember him as being a well-liked, quiet, polite and respectful boy, and his mates recalled his sense of humour. He was a South Sydney Rabbitohs fan. He loved a cold Coopers pale ale on a hot day. His mum remembered that he was always smiling like the sun.

Jason only ever wanted to be a soldier. His work experience in Year 10 was with the Army. Before he joined the Army his dad asked what corps he wanted to join, and when he said infantry his dad said he should try for one of the corps where he could get a trade so when he came out of the Army he'd have something to turn back to. But Jason told him: 'I don't intend on coming out of the Army. I'm in for good.'

Jason signed up to the Army as soon as he finished school. Like his dad, he became an infantryman. Like his dad, he joined the 1st Battalion and did three tours of East Timor in 2001, 2003 and 2006. After his second tour of Timor, he decided to join special forces. In 2004, Jason passed the initial entry course and was posted to the 4th Battalion, RAR (Commando). Over the next year, he was kept busy with courses to qualify as a commando. Jason was promoted to lance corporal during his final deployment to East Timor. In 2007, Jason passed the gruelling SAS selection course and was trained to fight on land and water and in the air.

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