Guy Barnett (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Chairman of the Scrutiny of Government Waste Committee) Share this | Hansard source

I am moved, like others in this Senate, by Senator Adams’s speech. On behalf of all of us, I think, I associate our thoughts with the remarks made by Senator Adams regarding the late Jeannie Ferris. On behalf of us all, I wish to put that on the record.

In the time I have in this matters of public interest discussion, I want to firstly congratulate the Australian War Memorial for its announcement yesterday of a rare and unique initiative to take an exhibition of Victoria Cross medals around mainland Australia to mark the 95th anniversary of the landing at Gallipoli. It is an excellent initiative in that it wishes to highlight the importance of the service of our armed men in previous conflicts and to remember in particular the service of those men at Gallipoli. The Victoria Cross medal is of course the highest award for acts of bravery during wartime, with the most recent being awarded to Trooper Mark Donaldson in January 2009 for acts of bravery in Afghanistan. Trooper Donaldson was further honoured on Australia Day as Young Australian of the Year for 2010.

But—and it is a very significant ‘but’—it is a great disappointment that, from this tour of our great nation of Australia, Tasmania has been excluded, together with New South Wales. We will get to the bottom of why that is in due course. I do not fully know or understand why it is. I do know that Tasmanians draw just as much pride and inspiration from these brave men as any of our mainland cousins do.