Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd like to offer my condolences to the Pankhurst family. We have very few World War II veterans left, and Alister Pankhurst from my area was one of them. Alister Pankhurst found out that he'd been called up for service and rode his pushbike in from picking spuds in Guyra back down to Armidale, to join the defence of Australia in New Guinea. Alister fought through Bougainville and at times, in his time in the mud, had to spend the night as part of the 2/11th Field Regiment firing from the perimeter, into the dark, because he knew the enemy were there but couldn't quite focus on where they were. It was a mighty fight.

But the most important thing about Alister's life was that he came home to his beloved Vera, who he married, and had five kids. Alister came from Guyra and died in Armidale, so his love of New England was quite evident. The question we have to ask ourselves is: would we do what Alister did? Would we give up everything to defend our nation? I believe we would. The biggest thing about Alister's life is that when he came back he didn't ask to be feted. He just went back to work on the railways and did his job. He did his job all the way through as a humble man. I had the great pleasure of meeting Alister. I hope he's with his maker. All the best, and lest we forget.