Michael Forshaw (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The incorporated speech read as follows—

I draw the attention of the Senate to significant events occurring on 13 and 14 March 2009 in the city of Sydney.

On Friday 13 March the Royal Australian Navy will conduct a ceremonial fleet entry into Sydney Harbour featuring up to 16 warships. This number of naval vessels has not been seen in Sydney Harbour since the 1988 Bicentennial celebrations .

It will be the culmination of the Fleet Concentration period, one of the navy’s largest exercises conducted off the coast over recent week.

There will also be a flypast of navy helicopters and the RAAF.

The Commander of the Australian Fleet Rear Admiral Nigel Coates AM, RAN will conduct a ceremonial inspection of the ships at anchor.

The Fleet Entry will be a feature of Sydney Harbour Week and a huge armada of small vessels is expected to turn out for this rare event.

Thousands more Sydneysiders will watch the morning’s proceedings from vantage points on the shoreline.

The following day, Saturday 14 March, the Royal Australian Navy will exercise its rights to the Freedom of the City of Sydney. This will be the first time this has occurred in over 20 years.

Following ceremonial activities a parade will commence at 10am.

Up to 4000 Navy personnel supported by Naval Cadets will take part in the march and will be the largest parade of naval personnel since World War II with over one third of the Royal Australian Navy’s personnel participating.

It will indeed be a big weekend for the City of Sydney.

Australians and overseas visitors tend to see Australia as the wide brown land, the bush and the outback.

They do not see this country as a maritime nation. Yet that is what it is.

Australia has over twenty thousand kilometres of coastline and if we add the offshore islands we find we are caretakers of one of the largest maritime economic zones in the world.

Ninety seven per cent of the volume of all our imports and exports travel by sea.

Any military movements by or against Australia depend very much on the use of the sea. As a consequence of this our naval forces are a crucial part of our nation’s defences.

As early as the 1830’s Sydney was an important British naval base and even more so by the 1860’s when a fear of Russian ventures into the Pacific was in the public mind.

However in the 1870’s there was a growing concern about the defence of the Australian colonies from naval attack and commerce raiders.

Colonies paid a subsidy to London to support a British naval presence, the strength of which however was often questioned.

Some colonies purchased their own naval vessels and all had coastal defence (or artillery) units. Indeed colonial naval forces saw service in the Boer War and the Boxer Rebellion,

After Federation the pioneer legislators of our island continent became increasingly concerned about Australia’s naval defence for which they were subscribing an annual subsidy to Britain.

This was brought about by the appearance of strong German naval units in the north Pacific and the emergence of a strong Japanese Navy.

Australians feared that in time of a European conflict Britain would not have the naval resources to defend the antipodes, the most remote outpost of the Empire.

This belief proved to be well founded in two world wars.

Australia was becoming aware of its isolation on what was even then a shrinking planet.

In the early 20th century there were calls for a small Australian fleet operating in home waters. It was an important political issue with the general public.

Although politicians argued about the exact nature and funding of naval defence there was cross party support for establishment of an Australian Fleet - our own small navy.

And so it was that in 1911, King George V granted the title of Royal Australian Navy and the acronym HMAS.

On 4 October 1913 Sydneysiders in their thousands witnessed an impressive sight as the new Australian fleet led by its flagship the battle cruiser HMAS Australia followed by the cruisers Sydney and Melbourne steamed into our nation’s greatest harbour.

Almost a century later similar crowds of Sydneysiders will witness the entry of a much more modern fleet on 13 March this year.

The Royal Australian Navy has distinguished itself in the 98 years of the history.

It has served in two world wars, numerous regional conflicts, peace keeping missions and disaster relief operations. Its ships have seen service in all the oceans and most of the world’s seas.

The history of the Royal Australian Navy is filled with great stories and adventures, victories and tragedies, hardships and achievements in the face of adversity.

It is now a service which depends on and utilises some of the latest technology in day to day operations.

The Navy has always been a highly specialised profession which carries on its activities without fanfare or fuss.

And much of this occurs beyond the horizon, out of sight of most Australians.

Most Australians would probably not relish the idea of going to sea for long and lonely periods as do our sailors but of course we have an admiration for the men - and women - who go down to the sea in ships.

Admiral Sir Louis Hamilton, Chief of Naval Staff in 1948 said:

“… a navy does not drop from the clouds. It is a miraculous and delicate instrument, a creation of nerves as well as steel, united with blood as well as rivets, it is in many ways the greatest expression of a nation’s genius.”

All too often though, unless you live near a major harbour the navy is the least visible of our services.

On 13 and 14th March the people of Sydney will be reminded of the importance of the navy and the men and women who serve in it and will welcome them to the harbour city accordingly.