Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is also to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister update the House on recent commemorations of the Battle of the Coral Sea and the importance of a US-Australia alliance?

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. Seventy-five years ago the Japanese advance seemed utterly unstoppable. Pearl Harbor had been attacked. The pride of the US Pacific Fleet had been sunk or damaged. Singapore had fallen. Most of our Army was either in the Middle East or captives of the Japanese. The Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia, was taken. The north coast of New Guinea was taken. Japan's next inexorable advance was to seize Port Moresby, and from there cut Australia off from the United States and take us out of the war. They were dark times. Menzies described that time as the 'hinge of fate' and so it was.

Brave Australian and American sailors and aviators went into battle on the Coral Sea 75 years ago and they turned back that invasion force. They saved Australia in those dark days of 1942, and we have commemorated their heroism and their service in the last few weeks. In Townsville, where I was a week ago, and in New York, just a few days ago with President Trump, we acknowledged the service of those brave Australian and American sailors, who were there in their nineties. They turned the tide of war when they were teenagers. One of them, Norm Tame on HMAS Australia said the Japanese torpedo bombers flew so close he 'could have hit it with a spud.' They were so brave, at the very edge of the abyss of being cut off from the United States and taken out of the war. It set up the victory at Midway.

Those Australian and American sailors and aviators succeeded in sinking one Japanese carrier and disabling two others, at heavy losses on the allied side. The USS Lexington was sunk, an oiler was sunk and the destroyer Sims was sunk. Over 600 Australian and Americans were killed in that battle, but they turned the tide of war. It reminded everyone there on the Intrepid, as it reminds everyone today, of the absolute solidarity between the United States and Australia in freedom's cause. From nearly 100 years ago in the mud of Hamel, when Australians and Americans first went into battle together—led by John Monash—to the waters of the Coral Sea, to the sands of the Middle East—where I was on Anzac Day, thanking our troops for their service—we stand side by side with the Americans, our allies in freedom's cause, as we always have.

On the Intrepid in new York last week Australians and Americans, leaders of our nations, veterans and service men and women recognised and honoured the service of those who saved our nation 75 years ago, just as we honoured the service of those in uniform who defend our freedoms today.

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I acknowledge the Prime Minister's remarks. I would like to associate the opposition with the anniversary of the Coral Sea battle 75 years ago. 1942 is a year of significant anniversaries for us, now, 75 years on. Singapore had fallen. Australian troops were captured in Rabaul and on the islands there. Australian troops were hurriedly being sent to defend Port Moresby. Darwin had been bombed. It was a very grim time. Indeed, our troops in Timor had been stranded, and we should acknowledge and remember the sacrifice of the Timorese people who supported our troops there.

The Battle of the Coral Sea was the first occasion where the Japanese navy was defeated at sea. There is no doubt that the Japanese imperial forces planned to envelop Papua New Guinea, with the possibility then of invading the Australian homeland. It was the first time in our history up to that point—and, indeed, ever since—that Australia itself was threatened.

I had the opportunity to commemorate Anzac Day at Bomana, which holds 3,000 Australian graves. It is one of the largest Commonwealth war graves of Australian soldiers. At that fight on the Kokoda Trail, in the Coral Sea and in the skies over Port Moresby, Australia stood up and defended not only against the Japanese imperial forces but, for the first time, our homeland.

The Prime Minister is right to acknowledge the importance of the American alliance. It was the Americans who supplied the Kittyhawks which the famous 75 Squadron fought with over the skies of Port Moresby. But, for me, when I meet people who question the American alliance, there is one fact which speaks now, 75 years on, and helps explain why the American-Australian alliance is so important. One hundred and eighty-eight Japanese planes bombed Darwin in the first raid in 1942. More bombs were dropped on Darwin than were dropped on Pearl Harbor. Ten planes went up into the air to fight this armada of Japanese bombers. Nine crashed. In the case of four of them, the pilots were killed. But, for me, what sums up the importance of the American alliance and the ongoing relevance is that every plane was an American plane. American pilots went up against overwhelming odds in defence of this country, and from that day on, I believe, an alliance which was strong was made irrevocable.