Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I move:

That the House expresses its deep regret at the death on 19 February 2011, of Sapper Jamie Ronald Larcombe, while on combat operations in Afghanistan, and place on record its greatest appreciation of his service to our country and tender its profound sympathy to his family in their bereavement.

It is my sad duty to report to the House that on Saturday night Australian time Sapper Jamie Larcombe serving with Mentoring Task Force 2 in Afghanistan was killed in action. He was killed along with an Afghan local national who was employed as an interpreter. Both were struck by gunshots and, despite immediate first aid, were unable to be saved. As a result, there are two families in grief, two families in shock, and we mourn with them today.

Sapper Larcombe’s parents, Steven and Tricia, his three younger sisters, Ann-Marie, Emily and April, and his partner, Rhiannon, will be grieving for him very deeply indeed today. The small community of Kangaroo Island, which is a small and close-knit community, will be in mourning for him today. His second family, the 1st Combat Engineer Regiment, will also be mourning for him today, coming as this does so soon after the loss of Corporal Richard Atkinson, who was laid to rest just seven days ago.

I want to say a word about our combat engineers because they are some of the most remarkable individuals in the Australian Defence Force. These are soldiers who build bridges and roads for our forces. They clear landmines and other obstacles. They locate and disarm booby traps and roadside bombs. Their main weapons are patience, steadiness and courage and they stand in a very proud tradition. The 1st and 2nd Combat Engineer regiments trace their origins back to the first weeks of World War I in 1914, and in the past 12 months these close-knit units have been paying a high price. Jacob Moerland and Darren Smith were lost last year, Richard Atkinson and now Sapper Larcombe this year. Today in honouring Sapper Larcombe, I honour all combat engineers, whose work is so critical to the task at hand.

Last year when I spoke to this parliament about our strategy in Afghanistan, I wanted our nation to be under absolutely no illusion about the dangers that lay ahead. I warned then that there would be hard days, and this is one of those days. Every day we lose a soldier is a hard day and every loss hits us as hard as the first loss hit us. Our grief and our gratitude will never diminish, and neither does our determination. Jamie Larcombe knew why he was in Afghanistan and he did not resile from the job. Nor should we: our purpose in being in Afghanistan is very clear. Working under a UN mandate our forces are in Afghanistan to take the fight to the insurgents, to assist with building governance and capacity and of course to train the Afghan National Army. Jamie Larcombe died doing these three things. He was there to mentor and train, he was part of our efforts in Afghanistan, and he was taking the fight to insurgents. He was doing what he was trained for. He was doing what he signed up for.

As we mourn for Sapper Larcombe, let us never mix sorrow with pity. It is obviously hard from our safe and comfortable civilian existence to understand this, but this is the life our soldiers chose. They could do jobs here at home but they freely chose the life of a combat soldier with all of its dangers and with all of its risks, and despite those risks they go on.

The road is hard, but the cause is right. Sapper Larcombe’s loss was not in vain and we best honour his sacrifice by maintaining our resolve and backing his mates as they continue to do the job until the job is done. May this brave young soldier rest in peace and may his family and friends take comfort from the condolences today of a grieving and grateful nation.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the Prime Minister and to echo her eloquent words. Yes, Australia mourns another fine soldier, Sapper Jamie Larcombe, killed in action in Afghanistan. We grieve for him and our thoughts and prayers are with his friends and his family at this sad time. We also grieve for the Afghan interpreter who was killed by his side.

Above all though, we wish to encourage and support members of the Australian armed forces who are doing their country’s work in a very dangerous place. We owe it to our soldiers to ensure that their objectives are clear, achievable and important, and they most certainly are in this case. They are building a civil society in Oruzgan Province, training the Afghan army and effectively degrading the capacity of the enemy. It is most certainly in Australia’s national interests to build a safer and a freer world; it is one of the universal aspirations of mankind. Mr Speaker, there is no such thing as a casualty free combat commitment. Soldiers understand that and we should too. So we salute Sapper Larcombe and wish his comrades a successful campaign and a safe return.

Stephen Smith (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to associate myself with the remarks of the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in expressing condolence for Sapper Jamie Larcombe. It is another terrible blow for our nation, another tragedy for an Australian family. I express my condolences to his parents, Steven and Tricia; his younger sisters, Ann-Marie, Emily and April; and his partner, Rhiannon. At just 21 years of age, Sapper Larcombe was our 23rd death in action in Afghanistan, operating, as he was, south-east of Patrol Base Wali in the Mirabad Valley. As the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition have indicated, he was another member of our 1st Combat Engineer Regiment, which has a proud history of almost 100 years. Coming so soon, as it does, after the death in action of Corporal Richard Atkinson, this will be a terrible blow to the combat engineers and a terrible blow to our Army and our Defence Force personnel. It will also be a terrible reminder to 22 other families, in particular the Atkinson family, with Richard Atkinson’s funeral just one week ago.

At 21 years of age, Sapper Larcombe had been in the Army for just over three years. He recently saw his third anniversary of entrance into the Army. He conducted operations in Operation Padang Assist, in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and also as part of the Mentoring Task Force-Two. In addition to his death, we saw the death of an Afghan interpreter assisting Australian Defence Force personnel in Oruzgan Province, and we express our condolences to his family. Sapper Larcombe will have our deepest gratitude and our deepest respect, killed in action, as he was, under a United Nations mandate operating under the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, seeking to pursue Australia’s national security interests by helping to stare down international terrorism. Our thoughts are with his family, his loved ones and his friends.

Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence Science, Technology and Personnel) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I join the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the Minister for Defence to honour a fallen sapper, Jamie Larcombe, who, along with his Afghan interpreter, was tragically killed in Afghanistan just two days past. Too short has been the time since last we were here to honour one of our own. It is a poignant reminder that freedom is never free. We stand here, in the nation’s parliament, because fighting men and women stand there, on the battlefields of the world, where freedom, justice and liberty are scorned. Sapper Larcombe is the fourth engineer to be tragically killed in action in Afghanistan. He and his sapper mates bear a tremendous burden—nerves on edge, senses attuned to the slightest change in terrain, skills pushed to the limit. For all of the might of the Western world’s amassed armada in Afghanistan, it still comes down to a sapper to clear an obstacle, detect a mine or search a tunnel. As a combat engineer, it was Sapper Larcombe’s duty to go forward ahead of his mates to clear the path, his only companion the knowledge that every step forward kept his mates safe.

Ever since the 1st Field Company of engineers stormed the beaches of Gallipoli and within seven hours were building a road for ease of movement, sappers have been on the front line and have undertaken the difficult but necessary work with the skill and humour that only sappers can muster. Sapper Larcombe extolled the virtues of those original Anzacs, serving at the front, protecting those who come so closely behind.

As in ages past, so much of the burden falls on the loved ones at home. We offer our sincerest condolences to Jamie’s parents, Tricia and Steven; his sisters, Ann-Marie, Emily and April; and his girlfriend, Rhiannon. You have lost an only son, an only brother. Whilst you may never again follow his footsteps in the red soil of the outback, you can follow his heart, which, to the end, cared for those to whom he was entrusted. You as a family have paid a tremendous price so that our freedom can truly remain free. For that, our nation is indebted and we honour your only son as he joins the hallowed ranks of those who have fallen.

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

As a mark of respect, I invite honourable members to rise in their places.

Honourable members having stood in their places—

Debate (on motion by Mr Albanese) adjourned.