Nickolas Varvaris (Barton, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I cannot think of a date in our calendar year that unites us as a nation more than that of Anzac Day. Each year on 25 April schools and RSL clubs around Australia commemorate our fallen soldiers. And as a federal member of parliament it is deeply humbling to be able to honour Anzac Day with students, teachers and veterans, past and present, within my electorate of Barton. Anzac Day is a day of special significance to the Australian people. It is not a day of celebration but rather a day of remembrance, when we honour the sacrifices our forebears have made for the freedom that we all enjoy today.

The Gallipoli campaign remains one of the most brutal efforts in our military history, one in which our nation paid a heavy price. It was our first major commitment with the allied forces on an international scale, against the Ottoman Empire. For a country that had a mere population of just under five million people, more than 417,000 Australians volunteered to serve in the First World War. By November 1918 more than 61,000 had made the ultimate sacrifice and more than 150,000 had been listed as casualties. The shores of Gallipoli proved to be a place of high fatality for the many volunteers who ventured into the unknown. Young men, fathers, brothers, cousins, uncles and nephews faced terrible circumstances, endured unspeakable hardship and displayed courage and mateship during this time. Yet the worst of times for our soldiers also brought out the best in them. Their values and their commitment to one another and to King and country have come to define us as a nation.

The Anzacs fought at Gallipoli for eight gruelling months, and whilst we cannot ask them what they saw or how they felt, we are all indebted to them forever for the legacy that they have left us. The annual Anzac Day dawn service allows all of us to commemorate those who have lost their lives or their loved ones, and those who fought to protect the values that we all hold dear. Gallipoli was a national calamity—a source of much heartbreak for our meagre population at the time. I note that our regional and rural areas were hit particularly hard by the First World War, with many leaving in droves to serve as soldiers, sailors and airmen. The collective efforts of Australians were not in vain. One hundred years on, we feel enormous gratitude, albeit sadness, when we reflect on the terrible ordeals our forebears faced. But it is undeniable that our national identity and our shared values were fortified in the aftermath.

As a Greek Australian representing the diverse electorate of Barton, the significance of the Gallipoli campaign is felt every year on two occasions, 4 March and 25 April. For the many Greek Australians who are descendants from the island of Lemnos, 4 March is particularly poignant to them. However, the Gallipoli campaign was essential in establishing Australia's relationship with Greece. The arrival of the all-volunteer Australian Imperial Force at Lemnos on 4 March 1915 helped our Anzacs prepare for the Gallipoli campaign. I had the great honour of representing the Prime Minister at this year's Lemnos centennial dawn service at Martin Place cenotaph in Sydney, to honour the vital contribution of all the nurses of No. 3 Australian General Hospital and No. 2 Australian Stationary Hospital. Lemnos, in the deep blue Aegean Sea, hosted hospitals and recovery camps, and housed depots for the Gallipoli campaign. Over 50,000 troops passed through Lemnos, where civilians gave allies their donkeys as water carriers, ferried supplies in small boats and operated a canteen on the landing beach. The allied and coordinated efforts of Lemnos and Australia are forever entwined by the events of World War I, and today 148 Australians are buried at Lemnos in one of two Commonwealth war graves. I want to take this opportunity to thank the Lemnos Association of New South Wales for hosting the 100 year commemoration service at Martin Place in Sydney, in addition to the special commemorative program in honour of the Centenary of Anzac.

I want to make special mention of the coalition's Anzac Centenary grant, which was put to terrific use in the Barton electorate. The Arncliffe Men's Shed, as part of the Men's Sheds Association, used the funding to restore an old Arncliffe Methodist Church honour board which contained the names of servicemen from the St George region. This honour board, made from blackwood and maple, was found in a terrible state abandoned in a garage. Through the men's shed's tireless efforts over 10 months, it was restored to its former glory. None of this would have happened without Keith Boog, an outstanding resident from the Arncliffe Men's Shed, who has been an integral aspect of the men's shed's project and the special honour board restoration project. The board was donated to Rockdale City Council and now proudly hangs in Rockdale Town Hall for the community to see. I also acknowledge the members of the Barton Anzac Centenary grants committee, chaired by Emanuel Comino AM, and led by Major-General Raymond Sharp AO, RFD, ED, along with Warwick Cary ESM, Councillor Rita Kastanias, Councillor Stephen Agius and Mr Jack Passaris OAM, for their contributions in seeing the value in granting $7,000 for this important project.

Regrettably, I could not attend the Anzac Day services at all of the RSLs in my electorate this year. However, I acknowledge the huge effort they all invested in making this year's Anzac Centenary a special one for the community. I thank the organisers and sub-branches of Kingsgrove RSL, Earlwood-Bardwell Park RSL, Bexley and Arncliffe RSL, Brighton-le-Sands RSL, Kogarah RSL, Kyeemagh RSL, as well as Rockdale RSL and Ramsgate RSL for the services that they provided. I was delighted to be invited to the Ramsgate RSL club along with my son, John Varvaris, to commemorate the landings at Gallipoli during their dawn service, whilst John played the Last Post. I also note that Ramsgate RSL Club organised a special line-up of events in the lead-up to Saturday's dawn service, including a special photographic exhibition. Thank you to the outgoing president of the sub-branch, John Slender; new president Noel Callaghan, and Frank Crews and the dedicated staff at Ramsgate RSL for hosting the dawn service. I was very proud to attend this as a federal representative for Barton and see the many families there in the early morning as we honoured the Anzac spirit.

I am very proud that school students in Barton and right across Australia are taught the significance of Anzac Day to honour our fallen Anzac soldiers. I witnessed this during my many Anzac Day school visits, where students and teachers organised services to honour those who fought for our nation 100 years ago. Pupils at Clemton Park Public School, St Francis Xavier Catholic Primary School, St Thomas More Catholic Primary School, Kogarah Public School, Rockdale Public School, James Cook Boys High School and Sydney Technical High School displayed a deep sense of respect for our veterans, past and present. Indeed, mateship, hard work and selflessness are all values shared by the teachers and pupils of these schools, and I was honoured to be able to speak to them about the importance of Anzac Day. It is important that each year we pause to remember the deeds of all those who fought over the last 100 years to ensure our freedom. Their spirit has defined our national psyche; it has redefined us as proud Australians with shared values. The 100th anniversary of the landings at Gallipoli allows all of us to re-examine the simple things that are easy to take for granted: the opportunity to go to school, to go to work, and to live in peace and freedom. It is by the Anzacs' struggle that such things are possible.

Lest we forget.

Michelle Rowland (Greenway, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On Anzac Day this year I joined thousands of people in my local community to pay tribute to those who fought and died in service of our nation.

I attended the ceremony conducted at Riverstone RSL, and what an enormous day it was. The returned servicemen of Riverstone, Robin Young and his team put on an amazing morning for everyone, including such great organisation and a community breakfast. One of the official photographers showed me one of the images they had captured as dawn broke over Riverstone, and you could not see the roads in Riverstone for the sheer number of people covering every single vantage point. I do not think there has ever been that many people in the township of Riverstone at any given time.

My husband, Michael Chaaya, ably represented me at the Seven Hills RSL ceremony. I was so proud that a former member of this place, Frank Mossfield, one of my predecessors, himself a national serviceman, represented me at Blacktown RSL.

Together, we marked the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli landing, a day we will never forget; our identity has forever been altered because of the war. The Gallipoli campaign exemplified true Australian values. As Banjo Paterson wrote of Gallipoli: 'Through what you boys have done, our old world differences are dead. We are all Australians now.'

At this point I think it is appropriate to mention another service I was able to attend later on Anzac Day. This was a special multicultural service, conducted at the Wenty Leagues Club. It was supported by Holroyd Council and various community groups, including the very large Tamil population, who I am proud to represent, in the southern end of my electorate.

On that point of what it means to be Australian, I think it is appropriate that I quote from some of the words I shared at that ceremony:

In marking the 100th anniversary of the most sacred battle in our nation’s history, it is fitting therefore that we tell the story of all those who refused to allow adversity to diminish their sense of duty or extinguish their drive to make Australia live up to its promise of equality for all its citizens.

When the outbreak of war came, our young nation was stained by exclusionary policies based on race - with the Commonwealth Defence Act of 1909 barring any person not 'substantially of European descent' from enlisting.

And yet, in spite of this, men from an array of ethnic backgrounds and traditions chose to maintain an abiding faith in the possibilities of this nation and found a way to enlist.

In Rockhampton, for instance, in April 1915, six men came in unison to the recruiting depot to enlist in the AIF. Two of them were Belarusians, two Ukrainians, one Russian and one Ossetian. They were allocated to the newly formed 26th Battalion and sailed to Gallipoli.

On their voyage, they were integrated with Australians from all walks of life including Chinese Australian Billy Sing, Greek Australian Peter Rados, Charles Lautala, a fisherman of Finnish origin and Indigenous Australian Arthur Homer.

Each one of these men had suffered under the blight of overt and legalised racial discrimination but yet here they were, serving their nation as equals - with just as much patriotism and commitment as anyone else.

In doing so, they poignantly demonstrated that citizenship rests not on a person’s race or ethnicity but rather on a firm commitment to the social and moral values which underpin our society.

How relevant that is, as we consider issues of citizenship in our political discourse today.

We remember not only the First World War. We also remember the service of Australian service men and women in wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations. Through the Anzac Centenary grants program in the Greenway community, we were able to acknowledge this legacy. I want to applaud the work of our centenary committee for all the work they did. They were great people. We had diverse representation, including the RSL, some local historical societies, the Nashos and our local councils, to name but a few. And they did all this in their own time and in such an exemplary manner.

In Greenway we were able to partner with local RSL sub-branches, organisations and schools to deliver a couple of these outcomes, including: a plaque and photoboard of local women who made a contribution to the war effort; a replica of the Riverstone district First World War honour roll, which went missing a couple of years ago and was formerly a feature at Riverstone railway station; and publishing a book, Diggers from the Shire of Blacktown 1914-1918, an excellent book by the Riverstone Historical Society. It complemented the Riverstone and District Historical Society's book Riverstone and the First World War. As you go through both of these books, you notice the names of the people who served are in many cases not just one person but multiple people from the same family, and their names today represent not only prominent streets in our local area but even suburbs in our local area. Suburbs were named after these families whose members fell in the Great War.

We also had a participation by the Sikh Bagpipe Drums Band, which came over from Malaysia, and they participated in the Anzac Centenary celebrations across Sydney. As you would be well aware, Mr Deputy Speaker Jones, I have a large Sikh community in my electorate. In fact, the most prominent surname in Blacktown is not Smith or Jones; it is actually Singh. It is so important to recognise that the efforts included many people from subcontinent backgrounds, and that includes Sikh backgrounds.

I want to mention the outstanding contributions by local students, and not just for conducting their own Anzac Day ceremonies at their own schools and participating in ceremonies on Anzac Day itself; they also participated in the Greenway Anzac writing competition, which I organised for primary and secondary students across the electorate. I particularly want to thank the Greenway Anzac writing prize selection panel, which consisted of three local judges: Mr Chris Gammage, Mr Lauder Scott-Rogers and Ms Rosemary Phillis. I want to acknowledge all those who contributed.

In the senior division, years 9 and 10, the winner was Patrick Gleeson from Glenwood High School. In the intermediate division, years 7 and 8, the winner was Liam Lengronne, also from Glenwood High School. In the junior division, years 5 and 6, the winner was Jessica Couzins from St John's Primary School, Riverstone; runner-up Kate McInerney from Vardys Road Public School; highly commended, Olivia Coram from Barnier Public School. And I congratulate all the finalists: Mackenzie Goodrum, Ryan Sinclair, Kaitlyn Tavoletti and Cameron Chalmers from Rouse Hill Anglican College; Saxon Peter from St John's Primary School, Riverstone; Isabelle Jackson from Metella Road Public School; and Olivia Sienna Campos from Barnier Road Public School.

It was great to see the enthusiasm with which these young people chose to participate. It was also great to see the attendance of their families and teachers at the special ceremony that I held at Seven Hills Plaza. I want to place on record my thanks to the management of Seven Hills Plaza Shopping Centre for hosting us that day and also to the member for Blaxland who came along as a special guest speaker.

He has not only walked the Kokoda Track but also most recently went to Gallipoli. We had him share his thoughts. We had shoppers coming throughout the centre while it was going on and just about every person stopped and was engaged in exactly what the member for Blaxland had to say, so I am very grateful to him for being the special guest speaker.

The courage and immense sacrifice of those who had laid down their lives in defence of our nation must always be remembered. I thank the Greenway community for coming together in such large numbers and with such enthusiasm and respect to honour this sacrifice. Lest we forget.

Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Just before Anzac Day this year, I received a message from a woman in my electorate who had found an old book of quotes in her garage. Her grandfather had carried this book in his pocket throughout his service in the First World War. And while he had made many notes in the book, there must have been one quote that stood out for him amongst the rest because he had branded this with a big star. The quote says:

Their valour gave them a united death, History has given them a united fame, Posterity, a united monument.

I do not know who or what battle these words refer to, but they may as well have been written to describe our Anzacs and the sacrifice they made 100 years ago.

War was declared on 4 August 1914. Within weeks, more than 1,500 men from Queensland and New South Wales had enlisted. There was no social media back then. Not many people travelled long distances for work or holidays like we do today, and so joining the army gave young Australians the promise of adventure. They became the 9th Battalion and the 2nd Light Horse. They formed up at Enoggera and men of the 9th were amongst the first to shore on Anzac Cove on the morning of 25 April 1915.

When the First World War began, most areas in my electorate of Petrie, like the Redcliffe Peninsula and Deception Bay, were just tiny seaside settlements, and the region immediately inland was devoted to farming. But even these tiny settlements were touched by war. Men enlisted from Burpengary, the Redcliffe Peninsula and several other North Brisbane suburbs. One in five Australians who enlisted at that time would perish in Gallipoli, Belgium, France and parts of the Middle East. Throughout Australia and my electorate of Petrie, there are many people whose family histories have been shaken by the First World War and the Anzac's ill-fated landing at Gallipoli. On too many family trees, branches were cut short.

In my own family we had my great grandfather, John Patrick Sexton, who joined the AIF in Bendigo and was assigned to the 38th Infantry Battalion. John Sexton did his training at Epsom race course in Bendigo and was deployed to France 20 June 1916 at just 21 years of age. He set sail from Melbourne and arrived in Plymouth in Western Australia on 10 August 1916. From there, he and his battalion began the slow journey to Europe. My great grandfather fought in the bloody battles of Ypres and Passchendaele in Belgium. During his service, he was partially gassed and suffered greatly from the resulting injuries although he was one of the lucky ones. He passed away at the age of 65.

Their valour gave them a united death. History has given them a united fame. Posterity, a united monument.

In the speeches by my fellow colleagues, we have heard so much about the Anzac's valour. We have heard about the famed Anzac spirit. And I am proud to say that the freedom we enjoy today, the freedom that will be treasured in posterity, the freedom that is testimony of the Anzac spirit has been enshrined in numerous projects and memorials throughout my electorate.

On the Mousetrap Theatre stage in Redcliffe, locals told the story of the First World War through the songs of the period in the play, 'It's a Long Way to Tipperary'. I would like to congratulate Director Sandra Hines, Councillor James Houghton who acted in the play, as well as the Mousetrap board, the actors who performed and the volunteers at the theatre. Along Anzac Avenue, through Mango Hill to the Redcliffe Peninsula, Moreton Bay Libraries are filming a documentary of the avenue's construction. The project will also see the creation of a website with information about the returned servicemen who were involved in the construction.

A plan for the heritage-listed Anzac Avenue was drafted back in 1921 by Thomas Rothwell, a successful Brisbane businessman and then president of the RACQ. Around 50 returned servicemen were employed to construct the road. The opening of the route brought many tourists and settlers to the Redcliffe Peninsula and surrounds, playing a large part in the evolution of Moreton Bay from an inaccessible location to the thriving area north of Brisbane that it is now. Thank you to Moreton Bay Libraries historian Pat Gee, and Kelly Ashford from the Pine Rivers Library for your hard work in getting this project on its feet.

On the Deception Bay foreshore, the Deception Bay RSL Sub-Branch is building a beautiful memorial to commemorate the service of the Anzacs. Prime Minister Tony Abbott recently came up to Deception Bay along with me and we announced this project would proceed. I would like to acknowledge the work of Deception Bay RSL Sub-Branch President Peter Jones, as well as Councillor Peter Flannery and his staff, and, of course, Eddie Budgen, the author of the grant application. On the Redcliffe foreshore, at Anzac Place, the Redcliffe RSL Sub-Branch installed a commemorative plinth and dedicated the memorial at this year's Anzac Day service. I should mention Redcliffe RSL Vice President, John Martin, for his hard work in putting the grant application together.

At Clontarf Beach State School, a commemorative garden was planted outside the school hall, inspired by the nearby Ted Smout Memorial Bridge, which was named in honour of one of Australia's last surviving World War I veterans. I would like to recognise the school's groundsmen, Rick Hayden and Jason Lorde, who built and planted the garden. At the Redcliffe Museum, new display cabinets have been installed to make sure residents and visitors are able to view historic, local artefacts from the First World War. Congratulations to the Moreton Bay Regional Council for getting behind this project.

In Mango Hill and surrounds we saw re-enactments and entertainment at the Mango Hill Anzac Centenary Festival, which was held in the afternoon on Anzac Day this year. Well done to the Mango Hill Progress Association President, Laurence Christie, and his team of volunteers for organizing such a memorable afternoon. I would also like to acknowledge Pine Rivers RSL Deputy President, Ms Judith Kranen OAM, and the Anzac Day Commemoration Committee Vice President, Mr Darryl Neild OAM, for their tremendous support of the festival.

All of these projects were funded by the Australian government's Anzac Centenary Local Grants Program. I would like to thank the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Senator Michael Ronaldson, and all the facilitators of the Anzac Centenary Local Grants Program for making these projects possible.

The Centenary of Anzac commemorates what is greatest in the human spirit, what is noblest in our character, and acknowledges that the worst of times can bring out the best in us. Let us never forget those who gave so much.

Debate interrupted.