Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House condemns the act of defacing war memorials by pro-Palestinian protestors which is deeply insulting for current and former members of the Australian Defence Force and undermines the significance of these memorials as symbols of national pride and remembrance.

This motion mirrors the motion that was moved and agreed to in the Senate on Monday, and I want to be crystal about this: Labor's position on this motion is very clear. We supported that motion that was agreed to by the Senate on Monday. On Tuesday the Prime Minister spoke about this very issue, condemning these acts in question time, and his comments were endorsed by the Leader of the Opposition at that time. The member for Spence also spoke in this place yesterday condemning this vandalism, and I spoke in relation to an attempt to suspend standing orders by the opposition, also condemning these acts.

It is unfortunate, however, that the opposition attempted to politicise this matter by trying to proceed in moving a motion without notice to the government, where, if they had proceeded according to the normal form of this House, we could have dealt with this matter without adjournments earlier. I will say, also, that I would have thought that the content of the motion before the House today, as it was before the Senate on Monday, is a position that would have been agreeable not only to all members of the House but to all members and parties in the Senate. I think it is grossly unfortunate—and, in fact, abhorrent—that the Greens political party decided to vote against this motion in the Senate, because, as the motion says, what has occurred here 'undermines the significance of these memorials as symbols of national pride and remembrance'.

The starting place has to be: what are these memorials? These memorials are the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, the centre of our commemorative activity as a nation; they are memorials to particular conflicts and service that line Anzac Parade, such as the Korean War Memorial and the Vietnam War Memorial; they are the memorials that are dotted around our country in communities, in cities, in towns and in rural and regional areas; and they are the commemorative gates or plaques at schools. Our country is covered in memorials. Why is that? It's because we as a nation respect and honour those people that have put on our nation's uniform, those that have made the ultimate sacrifice, and those that have fought on our behalf. The names of members of our community are on these memorials, as they are on the Australian War Memorial. They are the names of the sons that went off to war. They are the names of families, so prominent in those communities that suffered such great loss, whether they be the children, the partners, the brothers or the sisters of those people left in those communities to mourn.

When we think about what it is that's being commemorated in that service, it's a dedication to our nation, and it is a dedication to the ideals and values of our nation—ideals and values that these people have fought to protect. Core to that is the concept and the actuality that is our democracy: a democracy that doesn't just happen in this place, in our parliament, but a democracy that happens in the living rooms, in the town halls, in the local government council chambers, in our state parliaments, and even on our streets. It is a freedom that comes with our democracy that allows people to protest, to express their views freely, and, yet, what has happened here is that protesters have decided to abuse that freedom, to undermine the memorials that stand for the people who actually fought to protect those freedoms in the first place. That is what is so abhorrent about what has happened not just on Sunday here in Canberra, not just what happened a month or so ago in similar places but what has also occurred in local memorials around our country.

I don't want to speak to the arguments being run by those protesters or the things that they scrawled across those memorials because I don't want to amplify their message, because we condemn what they have done. We stand, I think, together in this place in condemning that.

I endorse the comments that were made previously in this place by the Prime Minister and the member for Spence and the Leader of the Opposition and the member for Canning and the member for New England and others who have spoken in relation to this issue in this chamber, as well as in the Senate. What is really important here is that, in coming together today in this House of Representatives to debate this motion, we have an opportunity to be very clear not just to the Australian people at large but especially to those people who think that what they have done is in any way appropriate that we as a nation regard these places as sacred, as special because of the values that they represent for us as a nation.

These memorials not only commemorate individuals and our Defence Force at large but they also commemorate the values that those people fought for, put on a uniform to protect. Indeed, in some cases, they are memorials that commemorate wars that at the time were politically contested but, as a nation, regardless of that particular contest as to the engagement in those conflicts, we have all come together to recognise the sacrifice, to recognise the commitment of those people that put on our uniform, as we continue to do through to this day. It is why we don't just have those memorials and ignore them. It is why we come at the dawn on Anzac Day. It is why at 11 o'clock on 11 November every year we have silence. It is why we have special days of commemoration throughout the year like Vietnam Veterans Day. Because we recognise that service. We recognise that sacrifice. We recognise that loss. We talk about those that may be feeling absolutely a sense of loss in other parts of the world right now and we understand that. But we also recognise the sense of loss in communities felt by families, by wives and husbands, by children and parents, by nephews, by cousins—a hole that will never be filled, that will never be replaced.

In fact, a new memorial was recently dedicated at the Australian War Memorial.

To those who have brought home the scars of conflict and war, to those who feel the suffering of their loved one who wore the uniform and have had to support them, whether that is from active conflict or from any part of their service, that is what these memorials or stand for, individually and collectively, and it is why they hold such a sacred place in our community. It is why we regard them with reverence, it is why we gather at them at multiple times throughout the year and it is why we do well to remember their significance, not just for the individuals they represent but for the values of our nation, and how doing damage to these places undermines the very values for which they stand and for which these people fought and wore a uniform. We all collectively agree that the individuals involved in these acts, these senseless acts of graffiti, of damage, will feel the full force of the law coming at them—if anyone is ever caught doing things. Because that is a reflection not just of the law but of the values of this country.

I hope the motion being passed today—as I expect it will be—as it was passed in the Senate earlier this week, rings as a Clarion bell throughout our country not just what our lawmakers feel about this issue but how our entire community feels about any denigration ever being made of any of our war memorials and places of commemoration in this nation. For that reason, I commend this motion to the House and look forward to full agreement to it.

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