Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the House record its deep sadness at the deaths on 28 July 2023 of Captain Danniel Lyon, Lieutenant Maxwell Nugent, Warrant Officer Class 2 Joseph Phillip Laycock and Corporal Alexander Naggs in Queensland while taking part in Exercise Talisman Sabre, place on record its appreciation of their service to their country, and tender its profound sympathy to their families and colleagues in their bereavement.

One of our most solemn duties in this place is to speak the names of those who have fallen in our nation's name, those who have stepped up for their homeland but have been unable to return home to their families. Today, we speak the names of four brave Australians: Captain Danniel Lyon, Lieutenant Maxwell Nugent, Warrant Officer Class 2 Joseph Phil Laycock and Corporal Alexander Naggs—four names eternally joined in the final moment.

It has been nearly three months since the tragic accident that cut short their lives. While our shock has slowly retreated, sorrow is a tide that never goes out. We say their names because each name holds within it the entirety of a lifetime. I say to their families, their loved ones and their mates: I did not share your privilege of knowing them—your husbands, your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your friends. I never saw Captain Lyons' smile light up a room, I never saw the way that Warrant Officer Laycock treated his workplace and his kitchen as equally worthy avenues for his precision, and I did not know Lieutenant Nugent's wicked sense of humour or his love of dogs, nor did I have the pleasure of experiencing Corporal Nagg's kindness and generosity. But I have had the honour of speaking with their families. The most difficult thing that I have had to do as the 31st Prime Minister of Australia is ring and speak with their families in the days which followed this tragedy.

I also had the great honour of meeting them, along with the Deputy Prime Minister and defence minister and the representative of the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Petrie, at the 6th Aviation Regiment memorial service that was held at Holsworthy Barracks. At that solemn occasion, we also had the opportunity to talk with their comrades, who all felt, understandably, that they had also lost multiple members of their family. That is the nature of service—how the men and women who proudly wear our uniform and risk their lives in order to defend our democracy, our freedom and our way of life feel about each other. So, while I did not share in the joy of their lives, I share in the grief over their deaths. These men were four soldiers in a proud army. They were also the heart of four families—the centre of four universes.

We speak of war's terrible toll, but, as this accident has so tragically reminded us, peace is also not without a price. There are no easy days for those who serve, no days without risk—or indeed for their families, for they also serve. We know each family feels such pride in the ADF member in their midst that they take on a burden for the rest of us. We cannot leave them to shoulder it alone. Our expressions of sympathy must contain the weight of our debt to them.

Today, as we remember these four fine Australians, we also remember the higher purpose that they served. Exercise Talisman Sabre brought together 13 nations and more than 30,000 service personnel. Captain Lyon, Lieutenant Nugent, Warrant Officer Laycock and Corporal Naggs were taking part because Australia was sending our very best. This was an exercise founded in a spirit of international cooperation, with the shared goal of a more secure and stable region and a more peaceful world. That is the noble ambition, the proud tradition and the high calling to which these four Australians were committed that day and every single day of their service. We honour them, we mourn them and, with their names held within our hearts, we will remember them. Lest we forget.

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