Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I chose not to make a contribution to the Prime Minister's statement on Vietnam Veteran's Day; rather, I thought that I would use the opportunity of my adjournment speech to pay tribute to all those veterans who fought in Vietnam. To my local veterans' community, particularly those in the Hunter; to the Hunter Vietnam Veterans Association—the president John Pollock and the secretary Greg Jehn both come from the Shortland electorate. Both of them have been very instrumental in keeping me well informed of the issues that are important to local vets and, in particular, to Vietnam veterans. The war in Vietnam was a war like no other war. It had an enormous impact on the lives of those who were involved in that conflict. Each year, on Long Tan Day, Vietnam veterans are recognised throughout our communities and in this parliament because of that particular conflict, a conflict that the veterans were involved in. The veterans returned home but were not welcomed in the way that veterans usually are. They were people who were out there fighting for their country because their government asked them to do so. That was very much the case with Vietnam veterans and the young men who fought in Vietnam, some of whom I actually went to school with.

In addition to the commemorative service that was held in Newcastle, in the electorate of the Deputy Speaker, I attended another ceremony or a remembrance service down on the central coast at Doyalson RSL. I want to pay tribute to the Doyalson RSL's sub-branch and all those ex-servicemen who are involved in that sub-branch. The services held at the Doyalson RSL are a little different. Not only do they commemorate Australia's involvement and the involvement of our veterans in the Vietnam conflict but they also commemorate the victory in the Pacific.

Each year I make a contribution to that service where we remember the Second World War and the contribution made by the veterans involved in that war.

The Second World War was like most wars that Australia has been involved in—a war that defined our place in history. The Second World War was the first time that Australians actually had to defend their own shores because Australia itself was under attack. Gallipoli was the first time that Australians came together and fought as a nation; in the Second World War we protected our own country. It was a time that brought about a lot of change in our society. We saw massive industrialisation. It was a time when the role of women in our society changed. Women had to take up the jobs that were performed by many of the men before they were required to go to war. It was a whole-of-nation effort. Everyone joined together. Those who were left in Australia provided the food, the ammunition and the clothing for those who were fighting on the front in Europe or in the Pacific, in New Guinea, where the terrain and the conditions were such that no Australian had ever been subjected to before.

These are both major events in Australia's history and it is important that we remember the Victory in the Pacific on 15 August and Long Tan Day on 18 August. Both events played a very important role in Australia's history and both events were defining as far as our nationhood is concerned.