Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to pay my condolences, and condolences of behalf of my constituents, to the families and friends of those Australians who recently lost their lives in Afghanistan: Sapper James Martin, Private Robert Poate, Lance Corporal Mervyn McDonald and Private Nathanael Galagher. Our local community on Brisbane's south side is in a state of shock over the loss of one of our own in Afghanistan as well. Lance Corporal Stjepan 'Rick' Milosevic was the father of two little girls, Sarah and Kate, who attend one of our local schools, Camp Hill State Infants and Primary School. He was a loving husband to Kelly and was an active member of our local community. Just as the whole country has been in a state of shock over the loss of five of our soldiers in one day in Afghanistan in recent weeks, everyone that I have spoken to in our local community feels so deeply about this impact, and it has had a profound impact as well across all the families connected with this important family in our local community.

The war in Afghanistan has become very personal for many Australians. As a former Prime Minister and foreign minister of Australia, I want to place on record the nation's deep gratitude for their service. In those capacities, I have seen on the ground on many occasions what these brave men and women have done in Australia's name in Afghanistan. We went there in the first place to deny al-Qaeda a safe operating base in that country—a base from which they launched the September 11 attacks which brought about such bloodshed in the United States. We are there also to train an entire brigade of the Afghan National Army so that they can look after their own defence—a task we are about to complete. And we are there to make the province that we have been given responsibility for as governable as possible for the local administration once we leave, to make it as hard as possible therefore for al-Qaeda to return. As these missions are completed, our troops will be coming home—most of them during the course of next year.

These brave soldiers have therefore not died in vain. They have been an essential part of this mission and so too has our local hero, Lance Corporal Rick Milosevic. Lest we forget.