Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) 11 November is Remembrance Day;

(b) on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month Australians observe one minute's silence in memory of those who died or suffered in all wars and armed conflicts;

(c) 2016 marks the 98th anniversary of the Armistice which ended World War I; and

(d) on Remembrance Day we pay our respects and honour the memory of those who have served in our country's defence forces;

(2) encourages all Australians to attend a commemoration ceremony in their local community, and to pause for a minute of silence to remember those who have served in the Australian Defence Force and made the ultimate sacrifice;

(3) remembers:

(a) those who lost their lives serving their country; and

(b) all who came home, wounded, or bearing the hidden scars of war; and

(4) recognises that the return to life in Australia, the journey from battlefield to towns and suburbs, can be a difficult one for those who serve and for the people who love and care for them.

I am very pleased to move this motion, which recognises the importance of our national day of remembrance to honour the many service men and women who left their homes and loved ones to fight for their country, and to remember the sacrifice of those who never returned and those who returned but whose service left them physiologically and psychologically wounded.

As members are aware, this year marks the 98th year since the Armistice was signed, ending World War I. At 5 am, German government representatives agreed to the Armistice, which would see their forces withdraw and surrender at 11 am on 11 November 1918. And so, at 11 am on 11 November, silence fell on the Western Front for the first time in four years. Over the course of the four years of World War I, more than 416,000 Australians volunteered for service, with 324,000 leaving their families behind to serve overseas. At the signing of the Armistice, more than 60,000 Australians had lost their lives, including 45,000 who died on the Western Front in France and Belgium and more than 8,000 who died in Gallipoli. At 11 am, we pause to remember these men and the sacrifice they made. We remember both those who died and those whose lives were irrevocably changed. We remember the bravery of our Anzacs—the determination and courage of those who fought at Gallipoli, Fromelles, Pozieres, Bullecourt, Ypres and more. We remember the acts of bravery and endurance of our men fighting in these conflicts. This year marks 100 years since a number of these important battles, including Fromelles and Pozieres.

After World War II, Armistice Day was renamed Remembrance Day as an opportunity to commemorate all those who have died for Australia in wars and conflicts. The 11th of November is an important day for all Australians to remember the 102,824 Australians who have made the ultimate sacrifice in defence of our country over the past century. We pause to remember the sacrifice by those who put their lives on the line. We pause to remember their families and friends who were left behind. We pause to remember those who left and never returned. We pause to remember those who came home but whose lives were forever changed. And we pause to offer our thanks for and acknowledgement of their sacrifice.

The contribution and sacrifice of Australians has been and continues to be significant, with the First World War, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and conflicts in East Timor, Afghanistan and Iraq, amongst others. Indeed, we must remember the peacekeeping operations Australia has also contributed to. Remembrance Day gives us the opportunity to acknowledge and thank those who are currently serving both at home and overseas. It is a day to reflect on the sacrifice and courage of those current serving men and women who are deployed around the world. It is a day to reaffirm our commitment to support both our current and our ex-serving Defence personnel. I believe it is our duty to assist our veterans, who put their lives on hold to serve their country. To those whose lives are never the same again and to those who are no longer able to live their lives in the same way, we owe not only our gratitude but our unwavering support for them into the future.

Over the last two weeks, I was fortunate enough to join our Australian Defence Force parliamentary exchange program, which visited our operations in the Middle East. During my visit, I was reminded of the extent of the sacrifice made by our current serving Defence personnel. These men and women leave their friends, families and communities behind to serve our country. I was particularly struck by the professionalism of each and every person I met. It was a privilege to meet so many inspirational Defence Force members doing extraordinary things. The contribution they are making is incredibly valuable and they deserve our utmost respect and support. I have never been more proud to be an Australian than when witnessing the high calibre of our Defence personnel in action over my time in the last two weeks.

So this Friday, at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, let us remember those who never made it home. Let us commit as a nation to support those whose service has left them in need of support. And let us recognise those Defence personnel who have served and continue to serve our country.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Craig Laundy (Reid, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak in support of this very important motion moved by the member opposite. I congratulate her on doing so. It is a year after the Centenary of Anzac, but the commemoration of Remembrance Day—and of all days related to battlefields around the world where Australians have served, fought and died—is, ultimately, extremely important. Remembrance Day harks back to the end of World War I and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. I often think about the impact that World War I must have had on an infant Australia, with some 250,000 people dead out of a population of around five million at the time, if my memory serves me correctly from last year's Centenary of Anzac celebrations. Those numbers are indeed chilling.

I was one day taking a drive on the back road from Gundagai to Wagga, which passes through towns like Wantabadgery, Nangus and Oura on its way. I have long been a believer, when I pass World War I and II tributes and memorials, in stopping to have a look. You are talking about country which would have been so sparsely populated in 1914. The beauty of marrying a local is listening to her father's tales of those days—her family goes back seven generations in the area—and it turns out that a large proportion of the New South Wales light horse came from that part of New South Wales.

I will never forget stopping at Wantabadgery and looking at a particular war memorial. On the plaque were around 95 names of young men in their teenage years to early 20s that had died serving this country, fighting for this country for the freedoms we enjoy, in that period from 1914 to 1918. Just think for a minute about the impact that would have on a local community, a town like Wantabadgery, which today has in the vicinity of 400 people in it. I do not know what it had in 1914, but losing 95 people out of it would have not just decimated the local town that day but also impacted on that town for future generations to come. The succession plans of local farming families were thrown out of whack, because those young men would have taken up the family farm and moved forward, would have married, would have had children and would have invested back in their families in that local community. All of that was decimated.

So, yes, the numbers are staggering, but, when you drill down to the impact it had on Australia in 1914, you are talking about five per cent of the population. If you extrapolate those numbers to today, with some 23 to 24 million people here, you are talking about 1 to 1½ million people in comparison. The numbers, when you move them forward some 101 years, are staggering.

In today's modern society, we take warfare as being so mechanical, happening at the end of bombs dropped from planes and tanks and what have you. In those days it was labour intensive and it was deadly. It was frontline trench warfare. It was Gallipoli at the start and the Western Front from there. It has moved all the way around, unfortunately and sadly, to other theatres of war in the last 101 years.

But I agree with my friend the member for Kingston, Amanda Rishworth, when she said that this is an important time for politicians in their local community. I know that the Concord Repatriation General Hospital has its Remembrance Day ceremony later in the week. We still call it 'the Repat', although it was handed over to the state government in the early nineties. It is always a great time for the community to come together and for us as members of parliament to show our support, not only for the men and women in today's armed forces, whether they are here or serving abroad, but also for those who in the last 101 years have been prepared to place their lives on the line for the freedoms we enjoy in this country, of which there is no greater example than we as politicians getting to exercise democratic freedom in this magnificent place. Congratulations, Amanda.

Chris Crewther (Dunkley, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to pay my respects today to our many veterans—those who have served and those who currently serve, those still with us and those who have passed on, the many men and women who faced the stark horror of war and faced what to many of us are unthinkable challenges and suffering in the name of democracy and freedom. I thank the member for Kingston for moving this motion today. It is an important motion.

The member for Kingston and I, along with a number of other members, had the opportunity to go to Afghanistan and the UAE and to fly over Iraq and Syria over the last two weeks as part of a parliamentary delegation to the Middle East region hosted by Australian Defence Force personnel. We were able to gain a real insight into the work of the forces in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. We stayed at Camp Baird, named after Corporal Cameron Baird, posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross only last year. This incredible experience offered me the opportunity to literally stand shoulder to shoulder with our troops—while not in actual combat, at least in training and remembrance of the 44 Australians who made the ultimate sacrifice during our force's current presence in the region. We are fortunate today that we do not face a terrible worldwide conflict of the destructive nature of times past. Instead, our defence forces find themselves adapting to different forms of conflict, yet fighting for the same values that motivated our forces a century ago.

This week is the 98th anniversary of Armistice Day. The silencing of the guns on the Western Front has come to be associated with the commemoration of the price paid by our service men and women in the defence of our values and freedoms. The remembrance poppy, first known of the Flanders fields, is a symbol as old as Remembrance Day itself. The imagery of the fields covered in red reflects the many lost in those fields and has now been adopted internationally as a symbol of commemoration. The minute's silence acknowledges the sacrifices so many ordinary Australians have made, not only during World War I but throughout all armed conflicts. The men and women who gave their lives to enable us to live the lives we have today are owed an eternal debt, as are all those who sustained injuries that affected their lives once they returned but who are not always acknowledged.

Every one of us is connected somehow to those who have served our country. In Dunkley, both my father and grandfather were in the Australian Defence Force based on the Mornington Peninsula, meaning that for me Remembrance Day also has a very local relevance. In this, I am like many of you who gather, whether for Remembrance Day ceremonies or in this parliamentary chamber, to pay respect to grandfathers, grandmothers, cousins, friends or perhaps complete strangers through the upcoming remembrance services.

In Dunkley, Frankston Memorial Park is the final resting place of over 200 ex-servicemen. I was able to acknowledge their service yesterday. Dunkley itself has contributed many young people to the defence of Australia and Australia's interests and has a unique and rich military history. Sixteen soldiers from Frankston who were killed in action in World War I are listed on the honour roll at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, which I had the honour of visiting recently. There are many more recognised at the Frankston War Memorial, down the road in Beauty Park. Langwarrin Flora and Fauna Reserve brings history right to our doorstep, having hosted a prisoner of war camp, military training and a military hospital.

Many of us can never truly comprehend the hardship and strain undergone by our defence forces. It was incredible to have an eye-opening experience in the UAE and Afghanistan over the last two weeks, to see our defence forces and what they do in person. We are incredibly proud of and grateful to those who have returned and those who did not, whether their scars are physical and can be seen or whether their wounds are not only of the flesh.

The homecoming from the battlefield to suburban life can be a challenge, in that the person who went off to war is not always the same person who returns home. We recognise that the transition for those who come home can be difficult for both them and their families and loved ones around them. In this, we see the valuable work of the RSL, the Department of Veterans' Affairs and the numerous other support networks and organisations who aid our veterans and their families. As we come to Remembrance Day, we remember the saying:

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

Lest we forget.

Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Kingston for moving this Remembrance Day motion, and I acknowledge her commitment to our Defence Force and veteran community, which I saw writ large during the past week while visiting our troops as part of their Australian Defence Force Parliamentary Program to the Middle East. Her heart—and her considerable intellect—is in the job, and I know she is genuine about ensuring our country supports our defence personnel and veterans as best we can. God knows, they deserve it. I speak today as someone who has lost mates who died while serving, and also as the son of a Vietnam veteran and a grandson of a World War II veteran.

Remembrance Day is an important opportunity to remember those who have gone before us. As I mentioned, I have recently returned from the Middle East, including a visit to Afghanistan. It was a privilege to meet and talk to the men and women who are serving our country. At the joint task force headquarters I paused at the wall of remembrance, where there are the photos of over 40 Australians who have been killed in that area of operations since 2001, including the Territory's own Scotty Palmer, who was killed in Afghanistan in June 2010. His family will be in my thoughts this coming Remembrance Day, as they always are. This week the Territory will have great pride as one of our best known Vietnam vets, Frank Alcorta, is acknowledged for his role in the Battle of Long Tan. Frank was also instrumental in getting the national Vietnam Veterans Day commemorated on 18 August each year.

A ceremony at Government House tomorrow will see the long-belated acknowledgement of the courage of those men of 6 Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, during the Battle of Long Tan. Frank was with Alpha Company, travelling in armoured personnel carriers dispatched to assist Delta Company, when it suddenly found itself in the midst of a couple of hundred Vietcong. He was the only man sitting on top of an APC—an armoured personnel carrier. He rolled off the vehicle and, in an amazing act of bravery, charged the enemy. Although mentioned in dispatches, his courage is finally being recognised with the Star of Gallantry tomorrow. I send my heartfelt congratulations to Frank and the other members of A Company who are in Canberra to receive well-deserved honours. An old boss of mine at the School of Infantry, Glenn Willmann, was part of the company.

For years, many Territorians were unaware of this side of Frank Alcorta, but they knew of his courage as a journalist who helped set up Rupert Murdoch's Sunday Territorian in 1986, and as a fighter for returned servicemen. In 2013, Frank received an OAM for his services to veterans and their families as well as services to journalism. On the walls in my Parliament House office is a famous photo taken in 1969 at the site of the Long Tan Battle, where a cross was raised in dedication to the 18 Australians who fell there. That photo was taken by a journalist, Don Hook, the father Captain James Hook, himself a Territory journalist currently based in the Middle East with the Australian Army. James is a Territorian who worked with Frank Alcorta at the Sunday Territorian along with many others including NT News editor Jim Bowditch, who served with Z Special Unit in World War II. Jim—a well-known leftie, as Frank called him—was also a fighter for workers' rights. In his lifetime, he was awarded a Military Medal for bravery as well as two Walkley awards. These interwoven lives and histories are part of what I love about the Northern Territory—the stories, the strength of character, the people who have made the Top End. Frank Alcorta told me he believes very strongly in the history of this great country, which, over the past 100 years, has largely been shaped by the Anzac tradition and its associated values—in Frank's words, by 'mateship, sacrifice, duty, love of country and a profound belief in freedom and democracy, which makes us such an enviable society.'

On Remembrance Day we honour those who made the ultimate sacrifice. This week we are also finally honouring the bravery of D Company and men like Frank Alcorta. The Sixth Battalion is a very proud regiment. My father served in this battalion on the second tour in Vietnam with the legendary George Chinn DCM. George's daughter Francine is one of my staff and George's wife, Margaret, has just celebrated her 92nd birthday. We remember George and all our fallen, particularly those who need our help. Lest we forget.

Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Lest we forget. The time for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for a later hour this day.