Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:–

That the Senate record its deep sorrow at the death of Sapper Jamie Ronald Larcombe on 19 February 2011 while on combat operations in Afghanistan, places on record its appreciation of his service to our country and tenders its profound sympathy to his family and friends in their bereavement.

Jamie Ronald Larcombe was born in 1989 in Kingscote, South Australia. He attended Parndana Area School, played football for Western Districts and was a local fire brigade volunteer. His life ambition was to serve his country. In 2008 he joined the Australian Army. Having successfully completed his recruit and combat engineer basic training in that year, he was posted to the 1st Combat Engineer Regiment based in Darwin. In 2009, Sapper Larcombe was deployed to Indonesia as part of the humanitarian Operation Padang Assist. In October last year he was deployed to Afghanistan as part of Operation Slipper.

On 19 February this year, while serving as a combat engineer with Mentoring Task Force 2, Sapper Larcombe was killed in action during an engagement with insurgents in the Mirabad Valley region of Oruzgan province. He was mortally wounded when his patrol was subject to a coordinated attack, which employed both machine gun and small-arms fire. Sapper Larcombe had just marked his third anniversary of Army life.

The commanding officer of Mentoring Task Force 2, Lieutenant Colonel Darren Huxley, says Jamie Larcombe was ‘a trusted sapper’, a ‘comrade in arms’ and a ‘mate’. During a service for Sapper Larcombe at Multinational Base Tarin Kowt, Lieutenant Colonel Huxley paid tribute in these terms:

Mateship is what defines the best in an Aussie Digger and Jamie was amongst our best. Jamie was a volunteer for his country, as we all here are. He knew the risks of his chosen profession and he accepted them. He shared the danger and austerity, but mostly, I am sure, he was driven by his desire to protect and support his mates. Jamie Larcombe is now part of our nation’s history and his name will echo in Anzac Day toasts long after all of us have gone.

At the conclusion of the memorial service, more than 2,000 soldiers from six nations stood side by side to pay their final respects to Sapper Larcombe. It was a fitting tribute to a fine Australian.

Sapper Larcombe was loved by his family and respected by his peers. He died doing what he wanted to do: serving his country as a combat engineer in the Australian Army. Sapper Larcombe’s life ambition was to serve and he will forever be remembered for his service. The pain of his loss will not be lessened by any words we speak in this chamber today, but we do want to acknowledge his contribution and sacrifice, and pay our respect. I hope his partner, his parents and his sisters take some comfort from the esteem in which his memory is held and will forever be held.

I also acknowledge that an Afghan national, who was engaged as an interpreter, died in the same insurgent attack that killed Sapper Larcombe. Those interpreters and other support personnel are vital to our operations and to our troops. We offer our condolences to his family and regret his death enormously.

Unfortunately, this parliament on too many occasions in recent times has had to acknowledge the passing of an Australian solder. Sapper Larcombe is the 23rd Australian solider and the fifth Australian combat engineer to die in Afghanistan. Combat engineers are soldiers who build bridges and roads, clear landmines, and locate and disarm roadside bombs. They have paid a high price for their service in this conflict.

Three weeks ago, the Senate extended its condolences on the death of Corporal Richard Atkinson. Corporal Atkinson was a member of the 1st Combat Engineer Regiment, also killed in action in Afghanistan. I extend my condolences to members of the regiment as they carry on with their dangerous mission in Afghanistan. I thank all our serving men and women in Afghanistan for the work they are doing in our name.

The government acknowledges that Australia’s participation in the International Security Assistance Force effort in Afghanistan has extracted a significant toll. The loss of life and the trauma of injury associated with this conflict is a lasting reminder of the dangers our Defence Force personnel confront each day. All of us in the parliament acknowledge the great responsibility we have when we support the commitment of Australian troops overseas and we certainly take that responsibility very seriously, and feel very much the loss or injury of Australian personnel. I know that a couple of senators have sons serving in the defence forces. Like all parents of those serving, I know they worry for them. Obviously the family of those soldiers who died pay a terrible price as well and our thoughts are with them. I want to acknowledge that we recognise not only their suffering but also the contribution that their children have made to the defence of Australia and its national interests.

I am sure I have the support of all the Senate when I say on behalf of the government and the nation that we convey our deepest condolences to those who knew and loved Sapper Larcombe.

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Saturday week Australia lost one of its finest, and with it a new name was added to our list of heroes. I talk of Sapper Jamie Larcombe, who was killed in action whilst serving in Afghanistan. The coalition joins the Senate in mourning the loss of this young Australian fighting to free Afghanistan from the bases and the curse of international terrorism. Sapper Larcombe’s life was taken too soon, in a worthy cause and in a selfless manner—as a volunteer. That is why his memory and legacy will live on forever not only in the hearts of his family but in an exceptionally proud and grateful nation.

Jamie Larcombe was born in September 1989 on Kangaroo Island in South Australia. He was a community-minded person who volunteered at the local CFS. He was a keen Crows supporter and a footy player himself for the local Western Districts club. By all accounts the 21-year-old was a fun-loving individual who loved life and loved to give where he could. Our thoughts are with his parents, Steven and Tricia, his three sisters, Ann-Marie, Emily and April, and his partner, Rhiannon, who are suffering unimaginable sadness and grief. We are also thinking of the members of the 1st Combat Engineer Regiment, who lost a good mate, and the close-knit community of Kangaroo Island, who lost one of their own, described and known locally as ‘an awesome bloke’.

It is right, it is proper and it is important that we give recognition to the young life laid down for our nation and the international community. We hope that no family ever has to experience that which Sapper Larcombe’s family has suffered. Yet he volunteered on our behalf so that we do not have to experience terrorism on our doorstep. I am again reminded of the words of Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith VC, our latest VC winner, when he said:

I want my children to be able to live as everyone does now without the fear of getting on a bus and having it blow up.

I do what I do because I believe in the country that we live in. I believe that we are making a difference in stemming the flow of terrorism.

I urge everyone to remember that Sapper Larcombe was a hero. He was a young man who made the ultimate sacrifice, a volunteer in the service of his country. We are proud to stand behind the men and women of the Australian Defence Force. In Afghanistan they are fighting alongside armed forces of many other nations to ensure that the country is never again used as a base for international terrorism—a mission to ensure the security of all Australians and to make the world a safer place.

Of course, in that task many Afghanis are involved, and we note the passing of an interpreter in the same incident. Similarly, our thoughts and prayers are with the interpreter’s family. Whilst that family are far removed from Australia, I am sure that the pain and suffering they are going through is identical to that which the Larcombe family is experiencing as we speak.

The commanding officer of Mentoring Task Force 2, Lieutenant Colonel Darren Huxley, summed it up perfectly when he said that Sapper Larcombe was a young soldier who epitomised the core values of an Australian soldier. Let me quote:

Jamie Larcombe is now part of our nation’s history and his name will echo in Anzac Day toasts long after all of us have gone.

It was Sapper Larcombe’s life ambition to serve our great nation. He made the ultimate sacrifice to serve our country, embodying every aspect of the Anzac spirit. Today we pause to recognise his service and to record our gratitude and the thanks of a proud nation. May his service and sacrifice in the cause of freedom be an inspiration to all. A thankful nation salutes his volunteer spirit, his service and his sacrifice.

Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party, Leader of The Nationals in the Senate) Share this | Link to 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.

Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to add the Greens’ support to this condolence motion. We concur with the other speakers and with all senators in sending our condolences to the family, the friends and the colleagues of Sapper Jamie Ronald Larcombe, who died tragically in a foreign land. Sapper Jamie Larcombe died in Afghanistan. He was there serving his country. His body has now been brought home to this nation, which he served so bravely and courageously. Sapper Larcombe was only 21. He was born at Kingscote on Kangaroo Island in my home state of South Australia. He has left behind his family, his parents, his three younger sisters and his partner Rhiannon. Our hearts go out to them. He was doing what he thought he should: he was serving his country.

While the Greens do not believe in the deployment of Australian troops to Afghanistan, we totally and unreservedly support our service men and women in the job that they do. We think of them as our ambassadors. We think of them as people who are doing their utmost to serve their country. When we look at the fact that Sapper Jamie Larcombe was the 23rd soldier to tragically die in Afghanistan from this nation, we also have to extend our deepest sympathies and thoughts to all of the families who are grieving now.

There are many more serving our country today and they are true patriots. Our thoughts are with them. We wish them safety and our hearts go out to their families, who are always worrying about how their loved ones, their children, their brothers, their sisters, their husbands, their wives, their girlfriends, their boyfriends or their partners are. On behalf of the Australian Greens I send our commiserations, our greatest respect and our concern for the comfort of all the families, the friends and the fellow unit members of Sapper Jamie Larcombe. We all aspire to a future world where we are rid of violence, war and destruction. It is no way for human affairs to be handled, but in the meantime it is still part of the way in which this world does malfunction. I send our deepest regrets to the family.

Steve Fielding (Victoria, Family First Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I also concur with the remarks that have been made in support of this condolence motion. Our heartfelt condolences, thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of Sapper Jamie Ronald Larcombe. There is no greater sacrifice than to lose one’s life for others. It is a big price to pay. It is a big thing to ask our kids, our fellow Australians, to go out there and make sure that we still enjoy the safety and security that we have here at home. It is a big sacrifice and our hearts do go out to Sapper Larcombe’s parents, his three sisters and his girlfriend as well.

Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At the outset I would like to offer my deepest condolences to Sapper Jamie Larcombe’s family and friends. While nothing we can say in this place can take away their grief, I hope the knowledge that our thoughts and prayers are with them can offer some small comfort. I further support the condolences for the life of the Afghan interpreter lost in the same incident.

The loss of a child is something no parent should have to endure and in war too many sons and daughters have been taken early from their parents. Sapper Jamie Larcombe came from Kangaroo Island—a wonderful part of Australia with a tremendous tight-knit community of some 4,000 residents. I know that that entire community has deeply felt the loss of Sapper Larcombe and they will offer all the support and love they can to his family. I hope that Sapper Jamie Larcombe’s family and loved ones will be able to draw strength from this support. It is hard for us to comprehend their loss. Many others have already paid tribute to Sapper Larcombe’s dedication to service, community spirit and love for his family, friends and country. I echo their sentiments.

At the ramp ceremony in Adelaide just a couple of days ago, the Chief of Army, Lieutenant General Ken Gillespie, is reported as saying:

… it is another very sad occasion for the Army.

“It gets exponentially harder each time you do it,” he said.

“Whilst I’ve been the Chief of Army, we’ve had 18 of the 23 soldiers die.”

“I’ve got to tell you, it doesn’t get any easier.”

I think that is very telling and powerful from the head of the Army and says something about his compassion for his troops. It is clear that we have lost a remarkable young man and it is truly a tragedy that he has been taken from his family so soon. My deepest sympathies and condolences go out to Sapper Jamie Larcombe’s family and friends and his colleagues in the 1st Combat Engineer Regiment. May he and his sacrifice never be forgotten.

John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too support this motion of condolence on the death of Sapper Jamie Larcombe. As we have heard, Sapper Larcombe was killed on 19 February, just one day after his third anniversary of joining the Australian Defence Force. He was serving on his first tour of Afghanistan. We know that Sapper Larcombe’s death is the 23rd operational death in Afghanistan on Operation Slipper. His is the fifth death of a combat engineer in Afghanistan and the second from the Darwin based 1st Combat Engineer Regiment within recent weeks.

Sapper Larcombe was killed while patrolling an area south-east of Patrol Base Wali in the Mirabad Valley of Oruzgan Province. An insurgent group engaged ISAF forces and Sapper Larcombe along with an Afghan interpreter was shot, having disembarked their Bushmaster vehicle. A Medivac helicopter was immediately deployed to rescue the pair, but both had died before returning to Tarin Kot.

Every Australian soldier killed in action in Afghanistan leaves a grieving family, grieving friends and grieving members of the Australian Defence Force. At a time like this our thoughts are with them—the people so terribly affected by the death of their loved one, whom we honour in a condolence motion such as this. Today it is Sapper Larcombe’s family, as well as others who are close to him—his parents, partner, three sisters, his friends and his mates from the 1st Combat Engineer Regiment. I can only hope, as other senators have said, that these words and the many others that have been written and spoken about Jamie are of some comfort to them. Finding the appropriate words when such an enormous sacrifice has been made is difficult, but I can say, particularly to those close to Jamie Larcombe, that we in the Senate join with very many other Australians who will always honour him and will never forget his sacrifice.

David Johnston (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the remarks and contributions of all senators with respect to Sapper Jamie Larcombe, particularly those of the Leader of the Government in the Senate, Senator Evans, and my leader, Senator Abetz. Twenty-one-year-old Sapper Jamie Larcombe was killed in Afghanistan when his patrol was ambushed on Saturday, 19 February. He was part of the Darwin based 1st Combat Engineer Regiment taking part in the Mentoring Task Force, which is helping to train the Afghan National Army. At the time of this engagement as part of Operation Geelong, Mentoring Task Force 2 was undertaking an unpartnered patrol in an area to the south-east of Patrol Base Wali aiming to extend our influence in the Mirabad Valley where we are building a new patrol base. Both Sapper Larcombe and an interpreter were struck by enemy gunfire and, despite the concerted efforts of his mates and colleagues, he was unable to be saved.

The hearts of all Australians go out to Sapper Larcombe’s family—his parents, Tricia and Steven, his younger sisters, Anne-Marie, Emily and April, and his partner, Rhiannon—friends and fellow soldiers on the tragic loss of Jamie. The same regiment, as we have heard, lost Corporal Richard Atkinson in a bomb blast just 17 days earlier. This is a double blow to our combat engineers. It is also a terrible reminder to 22 other families, in particular the Atkinson family with Richard’s funeral just a fortnight ago in Launceston.

We have lost another one of our brave and courageous young soldiers, all of whom have been doing an extremely dangerous job in very trying and hazardous circumstances in a very faraway land. This is a devastating time for Sapper Larcombe’s loved ones and his unit, and I extend my condolences and support to them all. He was a very fine soldier, a dedicated professional, a true and very real Australian hero.

Anne McEwen (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to incorporate in Hansard contributions to the condolence motion by Senators Wortley and Farrell.

Leave granted.

Dana Wortley (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The incorporated speech read as follows—

I rise today to express my deep sadness on the passing of a young South Australian man, a Kangaroo Islander—Jamie Larcombe. Sapper Larcombe, a member of the 1st Combat Engineer Regiment, lost his life when his patrol was attacked by insurgents in the Mirabad Valley in Afghanistan. That weekend I was on Kangaroo Island among a large gathering of islanders at a community event, when the news came through. The effect on the island’s closely-knit community was immediate—a great sadness descended. One of the island’s own was lost, and in a place far away. Sapper Larcombe was just 21 years old.

Born at Kingscote on Kangaroo Island, Jamie Larcombe attended Parndana Area School where his youngest sister April still attends. He was noted for his involvement in community activities. He had been active in the CFS since his early teenage years and in 2007 helped fight the bushfires that swept across sections of Kangaroo Island. He loved motorbikes and footy. He still played for Western Districts when the opportunity arose, and he was a great Adelaide Crows fan. He won an Australian Defence Force scholarship in year 12.

Despite his youth, Sapper Larcombe had just marked his third anniversary in the Australian Army. He had already been deployed in Indonesia, helping with the recovery following the Padang earthquake in 2009. He was an impressive young man with a great deal to contribute, and a great future ahead. Clearly, he was much loved and cherished by his family, his girlfriend, his friends and his regimental mates.

Sapper Jamie Larcombe was farewelled at a memorial service at Tarin Kowt. When it was over, more than 2,000 soldiers from six nations stood to honour him as his coffin was lifted into an RAAF Hercules. I offer my sincere condolences to Jamie’s parents Tricia and Steven, partner Rhiannon, sisters Anne-Marie, Emily and April, and his Kangaroo Island and Army friends and communities. Vale, Jamie Larcombe.

Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and Urban Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The incorporated speech read as follows—

It is with great sadness that I support this condolence motion. I cannot begin to imagine the profound sorrow of Private Jamie Larcombe’s family—his parents, Tricia and Steven; his sisters Anne-Marie, Emily and April; his partner Rhiannon Penhall; and of course his friends—a football-playing country boy from Parndana on Kangaroo Island will have plenty of them. As a parent myself, my heart breaks for Jamie’s parents. I cannot imagine the heartache of having to farewell a child in this way. In the normal course of things, we parents expect to precede our children.

Jamie Larcombe died in the proud and selfless service of his country. Born in Kingscote, Jamie Larcombe graduated from the Parndana Area School in 2007 and joined the Army soon after his 18th birthday. Those who knew him say he always had his eyes and his heart set on a career in Australia’s Army. Jamie Larcombe was on his first deployment to Afghanistan. He had only been there a short time—since September—that is, around the time he turned 21.

This war in Afghanistan, which has claimed 23 Australian lives, has now hit home in the tight-knit community of Kangaroo Island. Jamie is one of many brave South Australians to have faced the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan since the Australian Defence Force commenced Operation Slipper in 2002. Sergeant Andrew Russell died in 2002. We lost Sapper Darren Smith and Private Tomas Dale last year and, now, Sapper Jamie Larcombe. His passing serves to remind us, yet again, of the reality of what we ask our defence personnel to do in various theatres of conflict around the world. They wear their uniforms in our name and put their lives on the line, in a very real way, ever day.

Mr President, at another time in this place I spoke about Australia’s commitment to the war in Afghanistan. I said in that speech that unmitigated tragedies like the death of Jamie Larcombe are not just headlines in newspapers and radio and television news reports to be forgotten in a day or two. These tragedies are devastatingly real. Jamie Larcombe’s sacrifice is real, enduring and brutally painful—like those sacrifices made by the other personnel who have lost their lives in Afghanistan.

So, at times like this, we would not be human in we did not stop and ask ourselves whether we should stay in this conflict which is half a world away, a conflict that has taken 23 Australian lives and continues to bring so much grief and heartache to brave Australian families. But we stay to mark the courage and honour the sacrifice of Jamie and the other Australians who have died or been injured pursuing peace and security in Afghanistan. We stay to say to Jamie and his family that his was a fight worth having and a peaceful, safe, secure and just world is an objective worth pursuing.

The Ode of Remembrance is taken from Laurence Binyon’s poem For the Fallen, first published in The Times in September 1914. Over the decades, the third and fourth stanzas of the poem—more often just the fourth—have been recited as a tribute to all those who have died in war. We have all stood in RSL clubrooms around our nation and listened to it in respectful silence. I recite it now for Sapper Jamie Larcombe:

He went with songs to the battle, he was young.

Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.

He was staunch to the end against odds uncounted,

He fell with his face to the foe.

He shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary him, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember him.

And we will.

Question agreed to, honourable senators standing in their places.