Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise also to endorse the comments made by Senator Conroy, Senator Abetz and others. I speak with pride about a Western Australian VC winner, Corporal Benjamin Roberts-Smith, VC, MG. As Senator Johnston said, he is the 14th person from our state to win the VC, the first being Lieutenant Fred Bell, in 1901 during the Boer War, and the second being Lieutenant Hugo Throssell, in 1915, who remains the only light horseman to have won a Victoria Cross.

In joining in my congratulations I will not repeat the comments made by others, except to refer to Senator Joyce’s comments about Ben Roberts-Smith and his size. He is an enormous man, and, in seeing the most wonderful photograph of him with his two young twin daughters, one on each arm, on the day that he received his citation, I could not help but be concerned for any young fellows in 15 or 16 year’s time who might actually have some interest in those daughters, because not only the size of the potential father-in-law but his track record would cause them to think more than once.

If I may, I just want to quote from Ben Roberts-Smith himself because I think this is the significance and the depth of the man. He was asked to describe in exact detail the incident for which he had been recognised and he simply likened the situation to a football match with his mates. ‘I saw my mates getting ripped up and just decided to move forward because I was not going to sit there and do nothing,’ he said. ‘I thought I’d have a crack. I didn’t want to let my mates down. It was certainly an amazing squadron effort and a good result. We are always hearing these stories about ambushes and losing good Australians but we won and we hurt the insurgency.’ He said again, ‘It’s just like being on a football team. You don’t let your mates down. You go as hard as you can until the game is won.’

I will conclude with the reaffirmation of those comments. He is an old boy of Hale School, one of the colleges in Perth, and those of us who were interested and represented other schools at that time were always very concerned when the First XV was playing Hale, because he played in the second row and they did not need anybody else in their scrum. He was invited last week to Hale School to present the prefects awards to the prefects for this year and he reiterated this theme. He urged the next generation of students to strive for the pursuit of excellence, integrity and the team. He told the prefects, ‘We are representatives of Australia in all we do and must represent these values.’ ‘Remember,’ he said, ‘it is not a single act nor the grand final that you win and lose nor the exam that you pass or fail and not the Victoria Cross that defines you. It is who you are all the time that matters. You need to give 100 per cent always, however daunting it may seem and, to coin a phrase, have a crack at it, fellas.’

I join with my colleagues in congratulating Ben Roberts-Smith, his wife, their children and the family. As Senator Johnston has said, it is a very august family in Western Australia. All Australians are rightfully proud of this man’s contribution and the award that he has been offered.