Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Housing and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

’Australians all let us rejoice, for we are young and free.’ Those words have never meant more to me than when I walked the Kokoda Trail with my good mate the member for Blaxland and an extraordinary group of Australians who took part in the 2009 Kokoda Mateship Trek and who join us in the gallery this evening. The trek brought together young leaders from our electorates from very different backgrounds and with very different experiences of Australian life.

From the shire, our four Bate Bay surf clubs were represented by Kimberley Short, Kane Hughes, Ben Thompson and Matt Read. They joined their contemporaries from the Lakemba sports club, who were under the guidance of Dr Jamal Rifi—a great Australian—and Mr Jihad Dib, the inspirational principal of Punchbowl Boys High School. From the shire, the trek received strong support from Qantas, Servcorp, the NRL, our local Bate Bay surf clubs and the Miranda RSL. I would also like to thank John and Patricia Azarias for their generous support and to especially thank Jason and my staff for making the trek possible.

Our purpose was to build further bridges between our communities following the shameful events that took place in southern Sydney in December 2005. In contrast to these events, the Kokoda Mateship Trek demonstrated the true spirit of our communities, as these fine young Australians walked their memorial to our diggers in the original footsteps of the 39th Battalion—the first time they had been so faithfully retraced in more than 60 years. Most importantly, they joined to honour the courage, endurance, mateship and sacrifice of those who fought and died along this bloody, muddy track and provided the foundation for our unity as a nation.

Our diggers died for the future of all Australians, regardless of our backgrounds. We share in their sacrifice because we live together in the future that they made possible. The heroes of the Kokoda campaign are legendary: William Owen, Bruce Kingsbury VC, Stan and ‘Butch’ Bissett, Charlie McCallum, Lindsay Bear, Breton, Langridge, Ralph Honnor, Dr Geoffrey Vernon and, of course, the fuzzy wuzzy angels. In their day, on that unforgiving ground, they found something special within themselves to rise to the challenge—ordinary men called on to do extraordinary things. Having stood upon and walked the ground of their sacrifice, a new generation of Australians will carry forward their names and their stories in our communities, and Anzac Day will never be the same again.

Having observed closely the spirit of the young Australians who walked the trail, as they worked together, assisted each other and showed a moving respect in their tributes along the way, especially at Isurava, where we also honoured the memory of Sergeant Brett Till, I have no doubt that the spirit of Bruce Kingsbury and his comrades is alive and well in their generation. When we returned to the Bomana War Cemetery, the young trekkers stood and faced the graves of 3,000 fallen Australian soldiers and made a pledge to be the best they could be—to honour those who were denied their opportunity of life more than 60 years ago. In making this pledge they have decided to be the change we need for our future, and I have no doubt their pledges will be honoured, to the great benefit of our respective communities.

I hope that the Kokoda Trail will continue to grow as a pilgrimage for young Australians. We must not allow expressions of national pride to be reduced to a tattoo or a day of drunkenness wrapped in a flag. We must encourage real contact with the spirit of courage, mateship, endurance and sacrifice that defines our Australian character. For this to happen, many things have to change at Kokoda. First, we must protect the integrity of the trail. It is not an endurance sport or a wilderness adventure; it is a memorial pilgrimage. We must ensure that the stories of Kokoda and similar campaigns gain greater recognition in our national educational curriculum. A memorial master plan for the trail is needed to enable new generations to understand, appreciate and honour the sacrifices of our diggers as they walk the trail. Tougher mandatory regulation of trek operators must be introduced to keep the trail safe, or more Australians will die needlessly. This is a dangerous trek in a lethal environment. It should not be taken on lightly. We also need to make sure that our pilgrimage brings benefits to the local indigenous population. We must ensure that their communities and their environment are not exploited, remembering it was their grandfathers who came to our aid, to carry our grandfathers to safety, so many years ago.

These issues and many others have been the subject of an almost 20-year campaign by our trek leader, the Hon. Charlie Lynn, who completed his 55th crossing of the trail on our mateship trek. I pay tribute to his tireless and passionate work in this area. He is also a great Australian whose voice must be heard on these issues.

Whether you walk the trail or not, my hope is that Kokoda will continue to serve as an inspiration to all of us, especially in these tough times, and remind us all of what we are truly capable of when we are true to the values that made our nation great. Lest we forget.

Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There are turning points in life and turning points in war. One of those moments found Bruce Steel Kingsbury, a real estate agent from Melbourne. In 1942 in the jungle of Isurava he became a hero. The Australians were outnumbered five to one. Their headquarters was about to be overrun. At that moment, Kingsbury grabbed a bren gun and charged into the enemy, mowing down 30 before he was struck and killed by a sniper’s bullet. His actions halted the Japanese offensive and earned him the first Victoria Cross on Australian territory. His commanding officer said it could be argued that his actions saved Australia—an ordinary man who did an extraordinary thing.

In the public gallery tonight is proof that there is a Bruce Kingsbury in every one of us: young Muslim Australians from Bankstown, young surf-lifesavers from Cronulla, young people whose communities have clashed in the past, young people who helped to heal those wounds in the place where Kingsbury fell. They are the young men and women who on Anzac Day followed me and the member for Cook along the Kokoda Trail: Abdullah Albarq, Matt Read, Mariam Kourouche, Kane Hughes, Kim Short, Hiba Ayache, Ben Thompson and Mecca Laalaa.

Kokoda is a place that works on you. Over seven days we prayed together, we laughed together and we cried together. We cried tears of shame one day when we heard the heartache of an angel, a fuzzy haired angel whose efforts had never been deemed worthy of a medal. We cried tears of pride the next when we heard that this government would right this wrong. In the middle of the jungle we prayed for the soul of a young man who had died the day before, ripped from his village by a preventable disease. We cursed Charlie at night and his cooees at dawn. We found a panther in the mountains and we found something special in ourselves. It is inscribed in four words on four granite tablets at Isurava: courage, endurance, sacrifice, mateship—qualities that these young men and women displayed in bucketloads along the track. At Bomana they turned to face the graves of 3,348 Australians and promised to live a life worthy of their sacrifice. In truth, they already have. If those 3,348 are looking down tonight, I know they would be very proud. Looking up to the gallery, I could not be prouder. You have honoured their memory and left footprints for others to follow.

There are a lot of people who helped us make these footprints—people like Jamal Rifi and Jihad Dib; John Azarius and ‘Father’ Charlie Lynn; Chris Bowen and Tony Smith; Brett Mason, the first journalist to file a story via satellite from the jungle of Kokoda; companies like Qantas and Leightons; the surf clubs of Cronulla and the great community clubs of Bankstown; Malek Fahd Islamic School and the Australian Federal Police; and Tim Quadrio from my office—not just for helping us get there but for helping us along the track. Finally, I want to thank Scott. I guess we have proved that politicians really can be mates, and I think we really are mates now—a mateship forged in a place a lot hotter and uglier than this.

What began as a mission to bring two communities together became a pilgrimage to a lost part of Australia’s history, lost in the minds of too many Australians. Too few Australians know the story of Isurava or of men like Bruce Kingsbury. They should be as well known as Gallipoli or Simpson and his donkey. We have to fix this. As Paul Keating said 50 years after the guns fell silent on the Owen Stanley Range:

The Australians who served here in Papua New Guinea fought and died not in defence of the old world but the new world. Their world. They died in defence of Australia … That is why it might be said that, for Australians, the battles in Papua New Guinea were the most important ever fought.

It is our collective responsibility not just to live a life worthy of their sacrifice but to ensure their sacrifice is not forgotten. This is our solemn duty, lest we diminish as a nation. Lest we forget.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of all members, can I join with the member for Cook and the member for Blaxland in warmly welcoming the mateship trekkers who are in the gallery tonight. I congratulate them for their efforts, for their fine example of the future of Australia in the 21st century based on the deeds of fine Australians in the 20th century.