Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

My great-uncle Murray Charles Davies was killed on 15 August 1941. He was killed flying off the coast of the Northern Territory in a Hudson bomber, exactly the same aircraft you see on static display in Canberra. I grew up always hearing about Uncle Murray from my dad. My dad turns 90 next month, and he still tears up when he thinks about and talks about Uncle Murray.

That's just one example of the 103,000 men and women who, over a hundred years, have made the ultimate sacrifice for this country and laid down their lives. There is a debt of gratitude that we in this generation will never fully repay; nor will we ever really comprehend or understand the scale of human tragedy that has gone before us in two world wars. And I pray that we never have to.

What we've seen in the last few months, and, in particular, what we saw at the Australian War Memorial a month or so ago and then what we saw just on Sunday with the war memorials that line Anzac Parade in Canberra, is an absolute travesty. It is a tragedy. No words can describe how everyday Australians feel about the actions of these Palestinian protesters. They're not activists; they are criminals. We shouldn't refer to them as activists, as though we somehow hold them in some high esteem. They are criminals.

To deface, in such a shocking way, the memorials that this country holds dear can never be forgiven. To see Senator Jordon Steele-John talk about this as somehow being an act of free speech is an absolute disgrace, and it says more about him and the Greens political party, their ideals and their beliefs than it does about everybody else who doesn't support the Greens—the other 90 per cent of Australians. I don't really want to make this a political statement, but can I implore anybody who, at the next federal election, is going to walk into the booth and come up to the ballot box entertaining the thought of giving a vote to the Greens to stop just for a moment and think about what the Greens stand for. Stop and think about this week. Stop and think that you might be considering voting for a party that stands for everything that most common and decent Australians would find abhorrent.

The Greens are no longer the party of conservationists. They are a party of reckless indifference to the traditions that have held this country together for so long. They are wreckers. They are spoilers. They're not the Bob Brown party of yesteryear. They are a party of anarchists. Do not put your name down to be associated with these people. They deserve nothing other than our condemnation. I call upon every single good-minded, fair Australian to stand with me, to stand with members present and to condemn the Greens. (Time expired)

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