Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Manufacturing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This Saturday, 7 June, when I will be attending a service to commemorate the role of military working dogs, is referred to as Military Working Dogs Day. The Salisbury RSL has been holding this service for some years and I understand there will be similar services in other parts of the country. The day recognises and commemorates the invaluable role of dogs within our defence forces and also within other national security and police forces. Some amazing stories have been documented about the service of these dogs and I have little doubt that many defence personnel owe their lives to them. Many of the dogs, regrettably, have been killed in the course of their duty to our nation.

I particularly want to commend and acknowledge the work of the dog handlers and trainers of military working dogs. They commit an incredible amount of time to training of these dogs and teaching them all that they need to know in order to be of service to the defence forces and the broader community. I know we often acknowledge defence personnel in a whole range of places, but we quite often fail to properly acknowledge those people who spend time with these dogs, many of them being in the three forces—Air Force, Navy and Army. I have met many of them, I have spoken with them and I know how much they are committed to the military working dogs that serve our nation.