Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the House record its deep sadness at the deaths on 28 July 2023 of Captain Danniel Lyon, Lieutenant Maxwell Nugent, Warrant Officer Class 2 Joseph Phillip Laycock and Corporal Alexander Naggs in Queensland while taking part in Exercise Talisman Sabre, place on record its appreciation of their service to their country, and tender its profound sympathy to their families and colleagues in their bereavement.

One of our most solemn duties in this place is to speak the names of those who have fallen in our nation's name, those who have stepped up for their homeland but have been unable to return home to their families. Today, we speak the names of four brave Australians: Captain Danniel Lyon, Lieutenant Maxwell Nugent, Warrant Officer Class 2 Joseph Phil Laycock and Corporal Alexander Naggs—four names eternally joined in the final moment.

It has been nearly three months since the tragic accident that cut short their lives. While our shock has slowly retreated, sorrow is a tide that never goes out. We say their names because each name holds within it the entirety of a lifetime. I say to their families, their loved ones and their mates: I did not share your privilege of knowing them—your husbands, your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your friends. I never saw Captain Lyons' smile light up a room, I never saw the way that Warrant Officer Laycock treated his workplace and his kitchen as equally worthy avenues for his precision, and I did not know Lieutenant Nugent's wicked sense of humour or his love of dogs, nor did I have the pleasure of experiencing Corporal Nagg's kindness and generosity. But I have had the honour of speaking with their families. The most difficult thing that I have had to do as the 31st Prime Minister of Australia is ring and speak with their families in the days which followed this tragedy.

I also had the great honour of meeting them, along with the Deputy Prime Minister and defence minister and the representative of the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Petrie, at the 6th Aviation Regiment memorial service that was held at Holsworthy Barracks. At that solemn occasion, we also had the opportunity to talk with their comrades, who all felt, understandably, that they had also lost multiple members of their family. That is the nature of service—how the men and women who proudly wear our uniform and risk their lives in order to defend our democracy, our freedom and our way of life feel about each other. So, while I did not share in the joy of their lives, I share in the grief over their deaths. These men were four soldiers in a proud army. They were also the heart of four families—the centre of four universes.

We speak of war's terrible toll, but, as this accident has so tragically reminded us, peace is also not without a price. There are no easy days for those who serve, no days without risk—or indeed for their families, for they also serve. We know each family feels such pride in the ADF member in their midst that they take on a burden for the rest of us. We cannot leave them to shoulder it alone. Our expressions of sympathy must contain the weight of our debt to them.

Today, as we remember these four fine Australians, we also remember the higher purpose that they served. Exercise Talisman Sabre brought together 13 nations and more than 30,000 service personnel. Captain Lyon, Lieutenant Nugent, Warrant Officer Laycock and Corporal Naggs were taking part because Australia was sending our very best. This was an exercise founded in a spirit of international cooperation, with the shared goal of a more secure and stable region and a more peaceful world. That is the noble ambition, the proud tradition and the high calling to which these four Australians were committed that day and every single day of their service. We honour them, we mourn them and, with their names held within our hearts, we will remember them. Lest we forget.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Prime Minister for his fine words and I join him in reflecting on the terrible incident which occurred during Exercise Talisman Sabre on Friday 28 July. In that moment of disaster at 10.30 pm in the Whitsundays we lost four magnificent men of the Australian Army: Captain Danniel Lyon, Lieutenant Maxwell Nugent, Warrant Officer Class 2 Joseph Laycock and Corporal Alexander Naggs.

The ordeal of tragedy is to contend with loss most profound, heartache most intense and pain most enduring. Australians around the country can only imagine the ordeal which four families continue to endure. We grieve for them and we mourn for them. We think about the many people who were close to these four magnificent men: their friends, their communities, and their fellow service men and women, especially from Sydney's 6th Aviation Regiment in Holsworthy Barracks.

In the wake of a tragedy like this, it's the humble duty of those in this place, as the Prime Minister rightly pointed out before, to do the best to illuminate the meaning behind the tragedy, not because our words can diminish the sorrow—our words never can and never will—but because our words can cast a light on what made these fine Australians tick. In that appreciation we are reminded of the brilliance of our national character. In that recognition we look to the examples of these men to inspire the best in ourselves.

These four magnificent men were taking part in a training drill. The training drill was part of a broader 13-nation exercise. That exercise is one of many, many military activities which contribute to a critical mission: the mission to preserve peace and to deter aggression against our country and our friends in the region. These four magnificent men were not just doing their job. They chose to commit themselves to the most vital of endeavours during these most precarious times. They were duty driven, they were noble minded and they were brave beyond our imagination. And their sacrifice casts no doubt in the mind of any ally, or indeed any adversary, about Australia's commitment to preventing the horrors of history being repeated. This tragic event has rocked all our men and women in uniform. That's been the case for generations past wherever there has been a loss of life.

Some of those men and women in uniform, of course, have young children themselves. Many of those children at a time like this may themselves be asking, 'Will my mum or dad be safe when they're training or when they're away on deployment?' As parliamentarians we'd be dishonest if we were to make that guarantee to those children, as much as it might provide some reassurance. Instead may we say to those children that their mum or their dad, or in some cases their mum and their dad, do dangerous work to keep the rest of us safe. They are the few who protect the many. Their dad's or their mum's service is the definitive expression of love, the love of everything worth defending: their family, their country, freedom and peace. There is nothing more honourable. There is nothing more necessary. There is no-one we owe a greater debt to than our soldiers, sailors and aviators.

Two years ago I spoke at a 25th anniversary of the Black Hawk disaster, which claimed the lives of 18 Australians. That fateful night in June 1996, just like the fateful night on 28 July this year, reinforced the risks our service men and women face even when they're just training. We cannot eliminate tragedy in life, but it is our tragic sensibility which will see Australians provide the families of the fallen with the support, the strength and the solace they will need as they endure this terrible ordeal. It is our tragic sensibility which will see the Australian Defence Force carrying on doing what it has always done: serving Australia, safeguarding Australia, sacrificing for Australia.

I want to thank the Australian Defence Force, our partners, especially the United States, and the Queensland police and emergency services for their work in the initial search effort and the ongoing recovery operation. They've been doing delicate and difficult work in testing conditions. The black box has been recovered, and the investigation is ongoing. I hope Defence and the government will soon be in a position to release the findings for the sake of the families and colleagues of our deceased servicemen. Moreover I welcome the defence minister's decision on 29 September to permanently ground the entire Taipan fleet early, given the helicopter's chequered history. I also want to thank the member for Petrie, the shadow minister for defence personnel, who represented the coalition at the poignant memorial service on 27 September for our fallen soldiers.

On behalf of the coalition, I offer my heartfelt condolences and abiding gratitude to the families of Captain Lyon, Lieutenant Nugent, Warrant Officer Laycock and Corporal Naggs. May they rest in peace. Lest we forget.

Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition for their words. Sudden tragedy is arresting. It is literally unbelievable. There is an almost tangible feeling that the person who walked through the door yesterday will walk through the door again tomorrow. This is all the more so when that tragedy is playing out in public, when unexpected and unfamiliar cameras and news reports, which are normally telling the story of the world, are suddenly telling a story about you and your pain. For the families of these four man, this has been a massive tear in the fabric of their lives. It's been a chasm, a moment which will define a before and an after, and it has been completely surreal. Yet there are four very real people involved. There is real tragedy and there is real loss.

Danniel Lyon was a born leader. He lit up a room when he entered. He had a rare ability to connect and he touched so many people in his life. Be it on the football field or in uniform, people looked to Danniel, and they followed him. Max Nugent, with a wicked sense of humour, tall and gangly, not really the physique to fly a helicopter, was so determined, in a way which characterised his life, to pursue his dream of aviation that when he did actually sit in the seat those around him discovered that he was a natural aviator. Phil Laycock was the oldest of the group, mature and a father of three. 'Serious' and 'dutiful' are words which have been used to describe him. In 2014 he was the Army Aviation Corps Soldier of the Year, a man to be admired. And Alex Naggs was a private person but a person who was generous, hardworking and caring, the kind of person you'd want on your team. What's really clear in speaking with the families and reading their words is the presence that each of these four men had in their lives and, correspondingly, the hole which has now been left.

On the night of this accident, these four men were participating in Exercise Talisman Sabre. It is the biggest exercise of the Australian Defence Force, which occurs every two years. Obviously, in its exercise, the Defence Force seeks to replicate as much as possible what would happen in combat. Otherwise there's no point to the exercise. So this is dangerous. It carries necessary risk—on this occasion, flying a helicopter in the dark of night over water at very low altitude with stealth. We don't yet know what went wrong on that tragic night. We will find out.

What we do know is that this exercise was demonstrating Australia's capability and demonstrating it with our partners. As such, it had a strong deterrent effect and, accordingly, was playing its part in maintaining the peace and security of the region in which we live. On the night of this accident, those four men, in getting into that helicopter, were making a difference. Their sacrifice is as meaningful as that of any who have lost their life wearing our nation's uniform. So today our nation honours them. We honour them in the history of the Army Aviation Corps, we honour them in the history of the Australian Defence Force and we honour them for their service to our nation. Lest we forget.

Andrew Hastie (Canning, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a privilege to join with the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in honouring the lives and sacrifice of Captain Danniel Lyon, Lieutenant Maxwell Nugent, Warrant Officer Class 2 Joseph Phillip Laycock and Corporal Alexander Naggs, who were lost in waters near Lindeman Island on 28 July this year. We honour them today, as our hearts go out to their families and friends, who grieve their much-too-early departure from us; who now feel their daily absence; who miss their warmth, the sound of their voices; who fill the space they have left behind as much loved sons, brothers, husbands and fathers. The grief and loss is a heavy thing to bear for the families and friends of our last serviceman. We honour them, we mourn with them and we offer our deep thanks and gratitude for the sacrifice they have made in defending Australia.

Australia is a vast continent surrounded by oceans, and geography has always been a challenge for the ADF. That's why helicopters have been part of our Defence Force capability since their invention last century. Our uniform men and women use helicopters to protect our forces over land and sea, and it is not without risk. Over the last 30 years we have lost too many people in helicopter crashes. In 1996 in Townsville we lost 18 fine Australians in the Black Hawk crashes. In 2005 in the Nias Island Sea King crash we lost nine fine Australians. In 2006 we lost two fine Australians off waters in Fiji when a Black Hawk crashed off HMAS Kanimbla. In Afghanistan we lost six more fine Australians in helicopter crashes in 2010, 2011 and 2012. And today we remember the four men who perished in July of this year.

Helicopters are essential to our capability, but they are not without risks. Yet our ADF continue to fly them and embrace the challenges of protecting our country. That's what our four servicemen were doing on the night of 20 July—flying a special operations mission profile over water at night, because they knew our country needs men and women who can undertake the toughest missions we ask of them. They were part of the 6th Aviation Regiment, a unit that is directed for special operations tasking—short notice, complex missions in the national interest.

The motto of the Australian Army Aviation Corps is vigilance. That night they were living the motto; they were being vigilant on our behalf. They died serving us. May we, in this House, be vigilant as we care for their loved ones and make good on their sacrifice by ensuring we do our job in protecting this country we all love.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As a mark of respect to the memory of Captain Danniel Lyon, Lieutenant Maxwell Nugent, Warrant Office Class 2 Joseph Phillip Laycock and Corporal Alexander Naggs I ask all present in the chamber and the galleries to rise in their places.

Members in the chamber and those in the public gallery having risen in their places—