Sophie Mirabella (Indi, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I had the good fortune yesterday of bumping into Sir David Smith, a former secretary to five successive Governors-General and the last Australian to be knighted by the Queen. It was his birthday yesterday: he turned 73 and did not a look a year over 55. He is a man of immense talent, with a brilliant mind and a keen eye for accurately recording history. Recently, Sir David penned a marvellous book, a very riveting read, titled Head of State. Few people have contributed more to the important constitutional and political history in Australia than Sir David Smith. His book goes a long way to dispelling the myth-making created by those who wanted to set their own agenda and rewrite history so that any depiction of the 1975 dismissal venerates Gough Whitlam on an eternal pedestal. In his book, Sir David Smith says:

As for Gough Whitlam himself, there has grown up around him almost an entire industry devoted to polishing his image and turning him into a legend in his own lifetime. It is time we had a look at the basis of that legendary image.

One of the greatest crimes that we can commit in a civilised society is to twist and distort history so that a lie is passed on to future generations. It is this issue that is the rationale behind the groundbreaking History Summit convened for next week here at Parliament House. I commend the Minister for Education, Science and Training on facing head-on the need for a ‘root and branch renewal’, as the Prime Minister put it, of teaching Australian history in our schools. But, whilst the summit sounds good and some may even feel quite warm and fuzzy about it, it is highly imperative that we get it right, not just for us but for future generations.

Recently, I inaugurated an essay-writing competition for school students in the lead-up to the 40th anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan. Whilst there have already been some excellent entries from local school students, I was informed that a teacher at Wangaratta High School in my electorate belittled the concept, preferring not to engage their students in discovering more about a highly important military battle that illustrated the ingenuity, the skill and the courage of our soldiers in a relatively modern battle. It is this type of prevailing orthodoxy of the teacher in question that gave rise to the dreadful treatment of Australian soldiers who fought in Vietnam upon their return to Australia in the 1960s.

Another example is the landing place of Captain Cook at Kurnell Peninsula, recently placed on the national heritage register. In the monuments currently there, very little is told of the significance of the moment when Lieutenant James Cook and his crew, including Sir Joseph Banks and Dr Daniel Solander, first set foot on Australian soil in 1770. Even so, one of the participants in next Wednesday’s summit, Greg Melleuish, was commissioned to produce a paper that would be a discussion point starter. In it he talks about the sorts of things that students should learn, but he does say that the story of Australian explorers needs to be told ‘but not to excess, as I recall explorers as being the most boring part of Australian history when I was at school’. It is particularly disappointing that an associate professor from the University of Wollongong is so dismissive of our explorers.

The pioneering spirit of Douglas Mawson, the scientific achievements of his expeditions and not least the sheer human endurance should be an inspiring and proud part of Australia’s history. It is an integral part of the perseverance, the tenacity and the sense of adventure that makes this country the sort of nation that we should all be proud of.

I hope there will be others with very differing views at next week’s summit. A great Australian, Professor Geoffrey Blainey, who paid me a great privilege in 2002 when he gave the inaugural Indi lecture in Beechworth in my electorate, put it best when, recently, he said:

Australia is one of the oldest continuing democracies in the world, and I think the effective continuation of a democracy depends on the majority of Australians understanding a fair amount about their nation and its background.

Professor Blainey needs to be heard, unlike his time at the University of Melbourne where he was hounded from his position by the left-leaning intelligentsia. I close by wishing Sir David Smith a belated 73rd birthday and wish all of those participating in next week’s summit all the courage to be honest and not to give in to sectional interest groups. (Time expired)