Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the Prime Minister for his fine words, and I join him in commemorating this 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings. There were many turning points in the Second World War: Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, Pearl Harbor, Stalingrad, Midway, El Alamein—to name but a few.

To this day, historians have different opinions about what events marked the end of the beginning and the beginning of the end, but one thing is certain: victory against the German war machine, the defeat of Nazi tyranny and the liberation of Europe would not have been possible without Operation Neptune, the Normandy landings; and Operation Overlord, the Battle of Normandy.

D-Day, 6 June 1944, was the day of days. Winston Churchill said:

This vast operation is undoubtedly the most complicated and difficult that has ever occurred.

He described it:

It involves tides, wind, waves, visibility, both from the air and the sea standpoint, and the combined employment of land, air and sea forces in the highest degree of intimacy and in contact with conditions which could not and cannot be fully foreseen.

Churchill said:

Thank God, we enter upon it with our great Allies all in good heart and all in good friendship.

What can be forgotten is that Operation Overlord was years in the making. Supreme commander General Dwight D Eisenhower said:

This operation is planned as a victory, and that's the way it's going to be.

Indeed, no effort was spared in planning, arms buildup, training, secrecy and one of the most sophisticated deception operations in military history: Operation Fortitude. Hitler kept some of his best forces in Norway and around Calais and awaited an allied invasion that would never come.

D-Day saw a combination of night-time airborne drops behind enemy lines to secure key crossroads, causeways and bridges; pre-assault bombardments of the German defensive positions; and five beach landings. By the end of the day, more than 155,000 Allied troops had secured a foothold in Normandy, from which they would go on to win the war in Europe. But the first day of the great crusade, as Eisenhower called it, came at a terrible cost, with more than 4,400 Allied troops killed.

Today, it's our honour as a nation, it's our privilege as a parliament, to acknowledge, to commemorate and to pay tribute to the 3,200 Australians who were involved in D-Day, including the 13 Australians who were killed By extension, we pay homage to the thousands more Australians who helped to liberate Europe from tyranny following D-Day and the hundreds killed over the course of the campaign. Those who served and sacrificed in the Second World War were truly the Greatest Generation. So many young men set aside their futures to ensure the future and freedom of others. On the Normandy beaches, some didn't make it one foot out of their landing craft. In the skies above Normandy, some didn't make it out of their aircraft. So many more fought and fell on European soil in the days and months that followed. Others made it all the way from D-Day to VE Day, returning home from the horror of war to find what peace they could, each in their own way.

On this 80th anniversary of D-Day, we are reminded that democracy and freedom are the result of neither luck nor natural occurrence. We are the beneficiaries and custodians of the great inheritance of democracy and freedom, which the Greatest Generation defended and preserved through their service and their sacrifice. Our gratitude to them must never wane. Our duty to them is to never drift into complacency when peace is threatened in our times. Our memory of them must never fade. Their lives and endeavours are a reminder of the commitment needed to repel tyranny, of the courage needed to preserve liberty. May they continue to be an inspiration, to our generation and those that follow us, of the importance of such commitment and courage. Lest we forget.

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