Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party, Leader of The Nationals in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to concur with the remarks of Senator Evans and Senator Abetz. Sapper Jamie Ronald Larcombe was on engagement high in the Charniston Valley as part of Operation Geelong with Mentoring Task Force 2. As part of that operation their Bushmaster, for reasons I do not quite understand, was stopped. They dismounted from the Bushmaster and in the initial volley of fire both Sapper Jamie Larcombe and an Afghan interpreter were killed. They were medivaced out almost immediately but were unfortunately pronounced dead on arrival. What this goes to show is the precarious nature of this work, which is nonetheless absolutely essential. It is vitally important that we reflect this to Jamie’s family—his parents, Steven and Tricia, and his three sisters—who obviously have an immense amount of grieving to go through as they deal with the loss of the family’s only son.

Jamie grew up in the country area of Kangaroo Island. He was a person who applied himself to the things that so many people relate to—to football, to an involvement with his local bushfire brigade. He was a person who had a community minded outlook right from the word go. He was known by his mates as ‘Larco’. On reading about him we find that he was very much a person whom people could rely on to lift their spirits when they were down—to get them down to the public bar and have a beer with them. For those who were under the pump and struggling with the pressure that the field of engagement can bring on, he was a person who would try to make sure they could tolerate it; yet he was only 21 years old when he was fulfilling that role.

Jamie Larcombe was held in high regard by the people around him because he was seen as a team player, a person who saw himself not as the centre of attention but as a crucial cog in the job that he did. He now becomes one of the 23 in this engagement who have given their lives, made the supreme sacrifice. This nation remains forever more in gratitude and will never forget the sacrifice that he has made and his family will continue to make. We do not presume for one moment that the speeches we give here will arrest their pain but we do hope that they show we are totally focused on the sacrifice they have made and will continue to keep Jamie in our hearts.

In an op-ed piece I wrote last week for the Canberra Times I said that, in those passing moments as we walk across the marble foyer once more and look up the street to the War Memorial, we will remember Jamie Larcombe. We will also remember Corporal Atkinson from the same 1st Combat Engineer Regiment based in Darwin, which has had two tragic deaths in such a short period of time. There is purpose to this: it is the defence of our nation; it is seeking out and closing with the enemy. If we do not engage with the enemy there, it is only a matter of time before we will have to engage with the enemy here. We keep Jamie Ronald Larcombe and his family in our thoughts and prayers. God bless them.