Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) on Friday 11 November, Australia commemorates Remembrance Day;

(b) the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month is a significant anniversary for this country as it signifies the ending of a war where over 60,000 Australians lost their lives;

(c) of these 60,000, over 16,900 Australians remain unknown or unaccounted for on the Western Front;

(d) it is on Remembrance Day that the body of an unknown Australian soldier from the Western Front was laid to rest in the Hall of Memories at the Australian War Memorial; and

(e) in July 2016 six formerly unknown Australian soldiers were given headstone dedications at the Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery;

(2) acknowledges:

(a) that many communities across the country pause to remember the sacrifice of Australian service men and women; and

(b) the significance of this day to all unknown Australians killed in action; and

(3) notes that during the 'Century of Service' that is occurring between 2014 and 2018 Australians are given a chance to remember the service and sacrifice of all who fought during World War I.

I will start by acknowledging your service, Mr Deputy Speaker Hastie, to our great country and saying how appropriate it is that you are in the chair for the moving of this motion. I am humbled to stand today to reflect upon those who gave their lives and service in defence of our freedom.

The outbreak of the First World War, in 1914, saw for the first time Australia, as its own nation, enter a major conflict. Volunteers rushed to enlist in this seemingly exciting war that was expected to be over by Christmas. Many of these volunteers were from the Goldstein community.

The first independent military operation carried out by Australia was the occupation of German New Guinea. The Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force were dispatched in an attempt to destroy all German wireless stations and coaling stations in the Pacific. This force of only 1,000 men included Arthur Morely of Pine Grove, Bentleigh, in my electorate. This operation was expected to take about six months but ultimately took less than one.

For four more terribly long years Australians found themselves battling a war in which 60,000 Australians were killed and 156,000 more were wounded, gassed or taken prisoner. It was not until the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918 that the guns finally felt silent on the Great War. Every year on the anniversary of this important moment we come together as a nation to commemorate those who made the ultimate sacrifice for the love of our country and the freedoms that we strive to uphold and honour. And we continue to honour them.

In Goldstein the Bentleigh RSL has written a local history book, Serving Then, Serving Still. It recounts the history of service to Australian involvements in war. The book details the 31 men from the area who gave up their youth and future during the war to end all wars. Five were lost for their service at Gallipoli. Ernest Beadle from Thomas Street in Bentleigh was killed in the Battle of Lone Pine, whilst Joseph Burgess was to die later of wounds received in the battle. George Shores of Pine Grove and Eric Smith of Patterson Road, Bentleigh, lost their lives due to the hardships of trench life. It took Lawrence Brewster from Buckingham Avenue two years to succumb to the wounds he received during the charge of the light horse.

Three more RSLs serve veterans in Highett, Sandringham and Caulfield—those like Captain Robert Grieve, from Brighton, who won the Victoria Cross for knocking out a concealed machine-gun post during the Battle of Messines. Captain Grieve's Victoria Cross is unusual in that it was conferred on the recommendation of his men, not the recommendation of officers. Captain Grieve later donated his Victoria Cross to his beloved Wesley College in Elsternwick.

Maurice Buckley was awarded the Victoria Cross while serving under the pseudonym Gerald Sexton. Sergeant Buckley is now buried at Brighton cemetery under his correct name with his fellow Victoria Cross recipient Warrant Officer Class 2 Walter Peeler. Both Sexton and Wally, as he was affectionately known, rest beside the great Australian Sir John Monash, who is an eternal constituent of Brighton cemetery.

There are so many others who served: Ralph Wollmer of Cheltenham, who served in the Korean War and serves on the committee of the Korean Veterans Association of Australia; John Moller from Beaumaris, who served in Korea and Vietnam and later as President of the Victorian Subsection of the Naval Association of Australia; John Douglas of Sandringham, who organises local Anzac Day marches; Steve Kyritsis of Black Rock, who served in Vietnam and is President of the Hellenic RSL; Grant Coultman-Smith OAM of Beaumaris, the former president of Beaumaris RSL; importantly, Major General David McLaughlin, who is a Beaumaris resident and retired head of RSL Victoria; Ambrose Crowe of Beaumaris, who served in Vietnam; Errol Driver, Terry Black and George Logan, who all served in Vietnam; Ted Moorcroft, Mac Roberts and Roy Watts, who served in World War II; Ian Liley, who served in New Guinea; and Chris Spence of Beaumaris, a retired air vice marshal and the current Chairman of Trustees of the Shrine of Remembrance. These people served amongst many other men and women of the Goldstein community, the Victorian community and, of course, the Australian community who stood proud and tall.

Today it is our turn to stand proud and tall in remembering and honouring the service and sacrifice of all who fought for our country and those who will do so in future in defence of our freedom. We are eternally grateful for their sacrifice and their preparedness to put a love of country ahead of themselves. For that we must always remember the eternal words 'lest we forget'.

Ross Vasta (Bonner, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his contribution. Is the motion seconded?

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

I second the motion. I rise to emphasise the importance of the nation's moment of reflection at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month every year. Remembrance Day is the day we commemorate the end of World War I and the loss of over 60,000 Australian lives. Our thoughts go to those 16,900 Australians who remain unknown or unaccounted for on the Western Front, those whose memories we honour and continue to honour through the body of an unknown Australian soldier laid to rest in the Hall of Memory. Every community in Australia has its own story, its own legacy and its own connection to the men and women who served and sacrificed in World War I.

The electorate of McEwen has one of the oldest and longest military histories in Australia. I work closely with our community to uphold the legacy founded in McEwen ensuring that we remember our rich military heritage. On Remembrance Day last year, the World War 1 memorial park at the Seymour District Memorial Hospital was unveiled after extensive efforts to preserve and refurbish it. We worked with the Seymour RSL to redo the gates at the entrance to the beautiful park. The park brings together people from all over the region including 11-year-old Sarah Moad whose poem sits proudly on a bronze plaque in front of a lone pine. I had the privilege of reading Sarah's poem in this chamber recently and was amazed by her bold words in honouring Lone Pine.

McEwen is home to so many reminders of our Australian soldiers, with our Vietnam Veterans Commemorative Walk, the Light Horse Memorial Park and the almost completed Craigieburn Centennial Park making just a few of our memorials. Of course, we cannot forget our military training facilities at Puckapunyal in Seymour which have served Australia for over a hundred years. Seymour has a military history starting back in the late 1800s and it continues to be its crowning glory even today. The Seymour camp was used as a training, holding, isolation and overflow camp during the build-up of the Australian Imperial Force. The camp was used throughout World War I to form and reinforce both infantry battalions and Light Horse regiments. The men of the 8th Light Horse Regiment became soldiers in Seymour before sacrificing themselves on the Nek at the attack in Gallipoli.

Some of those troops whose legacy lives on through the story of the charge of Beersheba in 1917 started their journeys in Seymour. To anyone who has had the chance to go to Beersheba and see the graves that are there, it really sticks in your throat when you start looking at young boys from the ages of 16 right through to men in their 40s lying in graves a long way from home, and I guess a long way from where they planned to be in their lives—I do not think anyone expects to go to war and not come home. This is a magnificent place of reflection and I appreciated the opportunity to go there and have a look for myself. As I said, the Seymour camp served as our largest military base in Victoria until Puckapunyal was built before the beginning of World War II. So both of these locations were at the heart of Victorian and Australian military training making McEwen home to so many soldiers past, present and into the future.

I have been lucky to be part of this history, observing a one hundred year strong friendship between the French towns of Villers-Bretonneux and our own town of Strathewen. On April 24 1918, 1,200 brave Australians fought to liberate the town of Villers-Bretonneux from the Germans. Our Aussies saved the town but the fighting destroyed the local school, so the children of Victoria started a campaign: 'By diggers defended, by Victorians mended.' The campaign raised 10,000 pounds sterling to rebuild the Villers-Bretonneux school which was matched by the Victorian education department. Above every blackboard in the French school, a simple phrase reminds us of the importance of the history we share: 'Never forget Australia.' It is a symbol of a promise made long before the current students were born. The loyalty between those two towns was shown again in 2009 when disaster struck in our own backyard and the school at Strathewen was burnt down by the Black Saturday bushfires. To express their gratitude and to strengthen the connection between our two towns, the people of Villers-Bretonneux raised $20,000 for the Black Saturday bushfire appeal. They were deeply humbled that the Villers-Bretonneux school along with two other schools, a kindergarten and a town council pledged to help fund the rebuilding of Strathewen Primary School.

The legacy of this war goes on in the hearts and minds of all those in our community. Only recently in July 2016, six formerly unknown soldiers were given headstone dedications at the Fromelles military cemetery as sign that we have never forgotten and we will never forget. We, as Australians, will never forget those who fought for our country. In this Century of Service, we pledge wholeheartedly to honour the sacrifice of all those who fought during World War I. Lest we forget.

Honourable members: Lest we forget.

Ross Vasta (Bonner, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member and, having spent a lot of time in McEwen driving around Puckapunyal, you have evoked very fond memories. Thank you.

Keith Pitt (Hinkler, National Party, Assistant Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The last shot of World War I was fired at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918. There were 300,000 Australians that went to the Great War; 60,000 died and 156,000 were wounded or taken prisoner. More than a third of those who died have no known grave.

In Australia, on the 75th anniversary of the Armistice in 1993, the remains of an unknown Australian soldier, exhumed from a First World War military cemetery in France, were ceremonially entombed in the Australian War Memorial's Hall of Memory. In July last year, six formerly unknown Australian soldiers were given headstone dedications at Fromelles, including a soldier from my electorate.

James Benson, who was born in Bundaberg, was killed at the Battle of Fromelles on 19 July 1916. He was married, employed as a linesman and lived in Cheltenham in South Australia. Private Benson enlisted in the Australian Army on 5 July 1915 and was attached to the 32nd Battalion A Company. The remains of Second Lieutenant Benson were identified in 2016 by the Australian Army's Unrecovered War Casualties Fromelles project, a team that is trying to identify 250 Australian and British World War I soldiers found in a mass grave that was discovered in 2009 at Pheasant Wood near Fromelles. Second Lieutenant Benson's name was unveiled at Fromelles at a ceremony as part of the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Fromelles.

The Battle of Fromelles, west of Lille in France, lasted just 24 hours and was the first major engagement of Australian soldiers on the Western Front in 1916. In the battle, the Australian 5th Division suffered 5,533 casualties in just 24 hours. It is Australia's bloodiest single day in military history.

I sincerely hope the identification of Second Lieutenant Benson brought some peace and comfort to his family. We have never forgotten the service of Australians who fought and died in the First World War. We should reflect on the sacrifice of Second Lieutenant Benson, who was one of 45,000 who lost their lives in World War I on the Western Front. We honour those men and their families 100 years later by finding out who they were and marking their graves. The Australian Army's Unrecovered War Casualties Fromelles project team has identified the names of 150 soldiers discovered in 2009, while 70 Australians are still unidentified.

The electorate of Hinkler is fortunate to have a very strong and active veteran population, one that is much larger than average. The Department of Veterans' Affairs currently provides direct financial support to almost 4,200 Hinkler residents. I would like to make mention of one local veteran, who has been a stalwart of the Bundaberg community for many decades: Tom McLucas OAM. Tom is now 91 and fought in the Second World War in the 2/24 Infantry Battalion. It was one of the four front battalions in the First Battle of Alamein. It was with the 2/48 Battalion, and solely defeated German general Rommel. In the Second Battle of Alamein, 720 of his battalion fought. Only 52 remained standing after the battle.

When he returned home, he devoted himself to the RSL, disabled veterans and the Legacy Pensions Committee for eight years. He spent 11 years as an advocate and was involved at a sub-branch, district, state and national level for 60-plus years. He has been granted honorary RSL state life vice-president, district and Bundaberg sub-branch honorary life vice-president, RSL Gold Badge life membership and Meritorious Service Medal, as well as an Order of Australia Medal, a British Empire Medal and an RSL bicentennial medal.

Tom is currently in hospital after a fall and doing it fairly tough. He is a gentleman that I see at every dawn service and in the afternoon at Burnett Heads, and I certainly wish him well. It is important that we keep the memory alive of service personnel like Tom and educate the next generation about the service and sacrifice made by men and women throughout the theatres of war.

The southern end of the electorate at Hervey Bay has had the honour of being chosen as one of three locations in regional Australia to host the international exhibition, The Belgians have not Forgotten. It was a year ago that I met with Belgian ambassador, His Excellency Jean-Luc Bodson in my office in Canberra to discuss bringing this exhibition to the bay. The ambassador had visited Freedom Park for the Centenary of Anzac memorial in 2014 and was impressed with the proud returned services community in the region. At the ceremony, he said:

We often have Australian visitors to our memorials and shrines, and I assure you that Belgium doesn't forget.

The exhibition demonstrates that the words spoken by the ambassador still ring true today and that the strong relationship continues between the people of Belgium and the people of Australia. The exhibition features wartime artefacts, photographs, maps and film footage from the Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917 in Zonnebeke in Belgium.

I encourage residents to visit the exhibition and tell family and friends about it. It is a very rare opportunity to have an exhibition of this scale in Hervey Bay, and people have already travelled from various locations to see it. I would certainly like to thank all of those involved—the Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917, the Zonnebeke council, the Flemish government, the Embassy of the Kingdom of Belgium in Australia and, lastly, the Australian government. Lest we forget.

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

I want to take this opportunity to thank the member for Goldstein for this private member's motion. Not a single community across Australia was spared the tragedy of the First World War. No matter where you go across this great nation, be it Thursday Island, be it Norfolk Island, be it a country town, be it a remote centre or be it a bustling metropolis, there stands an avenue of trees or a memorial remembering those men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in the many wars that Australia has participated in—the Boer War, the First World War, the Second World War, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, Iraq or Afghanistan. And, of course, they are all honoured, including the unknown soldiers, here in our nation's great capital at the Australian War Memorial—a memorial that according to CEW Bean is 'a monument to great-hearted men', because, to quote him:

What these men did nothing can alter now. The good and the bad, the greatness and smallness of their story will stand … It rises, as it always will rise, above the mists of time, a monument to great-hearted men; and, for their nation, a possession for ever.

In speaking on this motion, we remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice, those who have been identified and those unknown soldiers and we also remember the women—the mothers who were crippled with grief after losing their sons, sometimes more than one; the wives who lost their husbands and never remarried; the fiancees whose weddings were never celebrated, whose dresses were mothballed, whose hearts were broken; the fathers, the sisters, the brothers and the friends. And we remember the children—the children who had to bear the pall of grief cast over their home and family, who had to witness mothers whose lives had been shattered, fearful of their future, fearful of their security; the children who lost their fathers, or whose fathers returned from war broken, with missing limbs, or minds filled with confusion and rage and images of death, and with impossibly busy heads filled with demons. In remembering the tens of thousands who made the ultimate sacrifice, we must also remember those hundreds of thousands who came home, and have come home, wounded, be it physically or mentally. We must, as a nation, commit ourselves to providing every possible support to those who have served our country and have been injured in the process, be it mentally or physically.

Last week, I joined with the member for Herbert in Townsville to meet with the Quine group. I had met a number of the members of the group last year when I held a roundtable on the antimalarial drug mefloquine. As with last year, the trauma of the group was palpable. Along with my colleague the shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs, I continue to urge the government to listen to these people, and not just listen to them but to actually hear them. I continue to urge the government to reach out to these people in a genuine and meaningful way. Last year, the government committed to address concerns about mefloquine in four ways: it committed to community consultation to provide an open dialogue between DVA and Defence; it committed to a comprehensive online resource; it committed to a dedicated mefloquine support team; and it committed to an interdepartmental DVA-Defence Links Committee to discuss the issues and provide advice to the government by November 2016.

From last week's discussions, it would appear the consultation has all been one way and more a process of providing information from Defence to the community rather than a genuine open dialogue. The online resource is just a one-way information source, not a resource, and the hotline, I understand, does not operate for 24 hours and some people have found it very difficult to get through. November 2016 has been and gone, and if the advice from the committee has been given to the government it has not been made public. I urge the government to reach out to the Quinn group and other groups on the mefloquine issue. By reaching out, I mean listening to them, hearing them, and learning about their pain, their suffering and their heartbreak. We must care for and support all Australians who have served our country. Lest we forget. We will remember them.

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker Hastie, I too rise to support this important motion and thank the member for Goldstein and the other members of parliament who are speaking on this motion. I also take this opportunity to acknowledge your service to your country overseas in the theatres you served in.

The motion before the House today is about a date of great importance for our nation and its history. In mid-October of 1918, the Allied forces advanced and fractures showed between the Central Powers. By the end of the month, Turkey had signed an armistice, and Austria-Hungary quickly followed only days later. Germany felt the immense pressures of war and its power began to implode, with the Kaiser finally abdicating on 9 November. At 5 am on 11 November, the final armistice was signed, calling for an immediate cessation of fighting along the Western Front at 1100 hours. So, at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, after four brutal and bloody years of conflict, the Great War had ended.

No-one could have predicted the casualty rate of the First World War. Losses were heavy and gains were small. The war saw the mobilisation of over 70 million people, and around 17 million soldiers and civilians were killed. As many as one-third of these were left with no known grave. In addition to this loss, a further 20 million were wounded. From Australia, with a population of less than five million at the time, 416,809 Australian men enlisted, of whom 60,000 were killed. Over 16,900 Australians remain unknown or unaccounted for on the Western Front. A further 156,000 Australians were wounded, gassed or taken prisoner. The Australian War Memorial notes that for Australia the First World War remains the costliest conflict in terms of deaths and casualties.

As weapons were laid down on 11 November, the Allied nations chose this day to remember and commemorate those lost at war. It remains a significant day for all Australians, as communities across the country, from small towns to big cities, pause to remember the sacrifice of Australian servicemen and servicewomen. The period from 2014 to 2018 marks the Century of Service, a time where Australians are given a chance to remember the service and sacrifice of all who fought during World War I. The Battle of Fromelles on 19 July 1916 was the first key engagement of our Australian soldiers on the Western Front. The Australian Fifth Division suffered 5,533 casualties in the first 24 hours, making it Australia's single most bloody day in our military history. Almost 300,000 Australians served on the Western Front. Forty-five thousand Australians lost their lives, and more than one-third of those have no known grave. In July of last year, six formerly unknown Australian soldiers were given headstone dedications at the Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery. It allowed us as Australians to recognise the sacrifices they made and the hardships they endured to make this nation what it is today.

Closer to home, in my electorate of Swan, the City of Belmont remembers Private Robert William Mellor of Belgravia Street in Belmont. Private Mellor enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 4 September 1916 and left for France in the following June. Only three months later, Private Mellor was killed in action. He was shot by a sniper while delivering ammunition to the front line. Private Mellor's name can be found on the City of Belmont's War Memorial in Faulkner Park, alongside the names of 33 other soldiers from the Belmont district who also lost their lives in the Great War. In 2015 the memorial was upgraded after the City of Belmont successfully secured $50,000 from the federal government as part of the Anzac Centenary Local Grants Program. The funding contributed to a $280,000 upgrade project which saw the installation of ramps, additional flagpoles and panels for commemorative plaques. The Belmont War Memorial, originally erected in 1923 to commemorate those that lost their lives in the Great War, now recognises the service and the sacrifices of all our men and women who have been directly involved with all the wars and conflicts that have followed.

Similarly, the Victoria Park RSL sub branch also received $50,000, which saw the erection of a memorial wall to honour those residents of the town of Victoria Park who enlisted or volunteered for active service during the First World War. That particular RSL is on Fred Bell Parade, named for a Western Australian who won his VC for valour in action in the Second Boer War and then went on to fight in the First World War, so he is proudly recognised by the town of Victoria Park.

So, on this Remembrance Day past and on 11 November this year, I pay my respects and give thanks to all of our servicepeople for what they have done and continue to do for our nation, its values and our freedoms. I am confident all those present in this chamber will join with me in doing so. Lest we forget.

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

I thank the member for Goldstein for his Remembrance Day motion. Remembrance Day services are very moving events. From listening to some of the contributions today, we are reminded of all that we remember on Remembrance Day. Services are held around the country to mark the time when the guns on the Western Front fell silent after all the slaughter and the carnage. We use Remembrance Day to honour and remember the fallen and those left behind. Like you, Deputy Speaker Hastie, I am a proud former defence member. I am also the son of Vietnam veteran who lost some mates and the grandson of a World War II veteran who lost some mates. In recent times I have spent a lot of time with veterans and their families.

Recently in the Top End a great event was put on by the Defence Community Organisation to welcome new families to Darwin. We also commemorated the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Darwin. So, in the short space of a couple of weeks, there have been a lot of opportunities for defence families and veterans to get together and talk. What has really struck me is that we have a serious problem in our country when it comes to how our veterans are going.

Do not get me wrong: the majority of our veterans are soldiering on. They are either still in the Army, Navy or Air Force or they have got out of the military and are just trying to get on with life. Many are going into different workplaces and doing incredibly well because of the skills, attitudes and knowledge they have picked up during their service. I recommend soldiers, sailors and airmen to any prospective employer. There is no doubt that a percentage of those in the veterans' community are having some troubles. In my seat of Solomon and in Palmerston, I am struck at how few mental health services there are for these veterans. A lot of families and even some veterans who have been personally affected have come up to me basically asking for help.

The reality is that you have to fly interstate from Darwin if you want to get some focused psychiatric care. Often that is away from your family, which is difficult for people. I think we can do better. A lot of people in our community who were in the emergency services or who are veterans are suffering from post-traumatic stress or anxiety or depression. In the Top End we probably need a program that is veteran-specific, that has focused psychiatric rehabilitation at its core, with health professionals that understand PTSD. I think that is something we can work towards. I want to acknowledge the families, because obviously they often bear the brunt, not only those families who have lost someone but those families who have had someone come back to them who is not the same as they were before.

I spoke today to a widow who is a member of the ACT War Widows' Guild, and they have commissioned a glass work that will go to the new Canberra Services Club. I thought it would be fitting to read out the inscription on that stained-glass window:

We all belong to each other. We all need each other. It is in serving each other and in sacrificing for our common good that we are finding our true life.

They are beautiful words. On Remembrance Day we honour the dead and we remember the living. Lest we forget.

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to associate myself with the comments of the previous speakers on this motion about Remembrance Day that is before the House at the moment. Unlike the families of other members that have made a contribution in this chamber today, my family were not participants in any great war. We do not have, around our dining table, stories of grandfathers or uncles not coming back. I feel that there are many families in Australia and in my electorate that are in the same situation. But I ask the question of the House: with all these families like mine that do not have an affinity or connection through a personal contribution, why is it that we are seeing an increase in numbers at ceremonies for Remembrance Day and Anzac Day? I suggest that the Australian public are rolling out in great numbers because there is an enormous amount of work being done by Veterans' Affairs and RSLs in our community, and that is touching a lot of families, and that Australians more generally see the benefit and know that they now sleep under a blanket of security that those fallen soldiers have made for our nation.

Recently I had the pleasure of visiting Laidley, in the western part of my electorate, where we made a presentation of $34,000 to our veterans' affairs association to upgrade their kitchen and their clubhouse. These are incredible people who go about their business quietly in my community and work behind the scenes offering support to each other. Some of the stories they will tell you about the aftermath of their personal encounters, of their suffering as a result of their combat or service, are truly horrifying. I am proud that, as a community, we reach out and we put our arms around these people—and a lot of the problems that are out there are still unknown.

I wanted to rise and just let the House be aware that you do not have to have strong linkages or walk up the road with a medal on you to appreciate the work that has been done by the proud ex-service men and women of our nation. In closing, I would just like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of those in my electorate who have made a contribution, because, as I mentioned earlier on, it is that contribution that you have made to our nation that provides the blanket of security that we sleep under today. Lest we forget.

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

On the eleventh hour of 11 November 1918 an armistice was called and the so-called Great War came to an end, at least for some. For the Armenians, the Assyrians and the Pontian Greeks, the suffering, the torment and indeed the dying continued right through to 1923. The casualties of the Great War were 17 million dead, of whom seven million were civilians, and 20 million wounded. Australian casualties were 60,000 killed and 156,000 wounded. They are the worst losses of any kind in our nation's history. In fact, if you add together the casualties of all the wars after that, you still do not get to those losses.

On Remembrance Day we stop to remember those losses and the suffering that families right across the country endured. But we should also think about the value of living in peace and how over the centuries the greed and selfish egos of individuals have too often caused so much misery to others. It still happens today. For Australia, the end of World War I saw a new dawning. Not only did RSLs start to spring up around the country but we saw soldier settlements established right around the country. For many of the new migrants who came subsequently, those soldier settlements became their new home—just as right now, in South Australia's Riverland, one of those soldier settlements has become the home to many of the Indian people who have come here from their own country.

Remembrance Day is also the time to acknowledge all of the Australians who have served our nation over the years. It is something we do not do well enough in this country. A week ago I attended a 75th anniversary of the bombing of Darwin service at the Salisbury RSL. The member for Port Adelaide and the member for Wakefield joined me at that service. As we know, 240 lives were lost as a result of the bombing of Darwin, and the bombings continued for some 19 months afterwards. The Darwin Defenders were formed and military personnel and civilians both took part in security operations. Jeffrey Marr was one of those defenders. He enlisted immediately after the bombing of Darwin and in the months that followed he drove a truck in convoy carting 44-gallon drums of fuel from Alice Springs to Darwin. With the Japanese bombings continuing right across Northern Australia, he and his fellow drivers were under constant threat and risk of life. Yet his family's requests for recognition of Jeffrey's qualifying service have been denied and continue to be denied. In another example, in the Vietnam War Able Seaman Michael Ey risked his life as a naval diver to find and disengage explosives placed by the enemy in the vicinity of US naval vessels. Michael Ey's bravery was recognised by the US, who awarded him the Bronze Star—but no recognition by the Australian government.

The military awards system is failing our defence personnel, and we need to do better. There are many other cases that I could allude to and that at times I have taken up with various ministers ever since I have been in this place—on most occasions without any success whatsoever. Yet, having listened to these individual accounts of what these people did in service to this nation, it beggars belief that we do not afford them the recognition that I believe they are entitled to and that they deservedly should be granted. Perhaps this is a matter for another time.

Finally, I also want to acknowledge those people who served in the Korean War. Their service is often overlooked. Over 17,000 Australians served in the Korean War—340 were killed and 1,216 were wounded. Quite often when we speak in this place, and when I go to other services, including RSL functions, it seems that the Korean War is perhaps touched on but never given the recognition that it ought to be. In fact, the Battle of Kapyong, which saw 32 Australians killed and 53 wounded, could be described as a heroic effort that in some ways could be compared to the Battle of Long Tan—which we do acknowledge each year, certainly in my part of Adelaide. We have done that for many years, and rightly so—but we should be doing the same thing with other battles. There are other examples I would dearly love to touch on, but today we are talking about Remembrance Day. Every community in this country that I know has borne the pain of war—that is why Remembrance Day is so important.

Andrew Hastie (Canning, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I support and commend the member for Goldstein for moving this motion on Remembrance Day. It is very important that we remember those who have given their lives in the service of our country. In Australia we have remembrance everywhere. We have memorials, we have plaques; most small country towns have a memorial at the heart of their township which reminds us of the sacrifice that many have made.

I was struck by the amount of sacrifice this country made in World War I when I first visited the Western Front in 2004 with a group of Australian Defence Force Academy cadets. I was one of those cadets at the time. We visited Passchendaele, the Somme and Villers-Bretonneux—the mayor there popped champagne for us, very generously. We got to go to the school and Moquet Farm. It was the first time it had really hit me how much blood and treasure this country committed in World War I. There were 60,000 war dead.

Prime Minister Billy Hughes, at the Paris Peace Conference, stood up to President Woodrow Wilson and demanded heavy reparations from Germany—only to be denied by the President of the United States. He then replied: 'I speak for 60,000 war dead. Who do you speak for?' Well he might have said those words, because it is not until you get over there that you really appreciate how significant that sacrifice was.

Many young men who might have become parliamentarians, who might have returned to Australia and become doctors or teachers or factory workers, fathers, husbands—all those things that we look forward to in life—were denied these at a very young age. I think of all the women, some of the nurses who perished and the many nurses who served for four years treating our wounded. They are often overlooked, so it was greatly satisfying a couple of weeks ago to remember the nurses of Bangka Island who gave their lives 75 years ago. They were massacred—21 of them—by Japanese soldiers in a brutal war crime.

Then I think of those who survived the war, those who were crippled—psychologically, emotionally, mentally—with wounds that never heal. I think of my own grandfather in World War II who was shot on 31 March 1945 and kept alive only by a US medic aboard the plane he was flying and then a US surgeon on Morotai Island. He is someone who was scarred by that moment. He would never admit it and he never really talked about it, but I am sure he suffered from what we would call PTSD today.

At home in Canning we have remembrance all throughout my electorate. The township of Byford has a wonderful war memorial, and I was part of the ceremony there on Anzac Day last year. There is Pinjarra in central Canning. At Mandurah we have a beautiful war memorial overlooking the water. And then there are little towns like Coolup with only a couple of hundred people. Coolup is a town that has given much in the service of this country.

I think, particularly, of two constituents of mine, Mr and Mrs Bernie and Myrna McDonald, whose son gave his life on 30 August 2012: Lance Corporal Mervyn John McDonald of the 2nd Commando Regiment. Every time I see them I am reminded of that sacrifice. Lest we forget.

Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Canning, and I thank all members who have contributed to the debate on both sides of the House. The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.