Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to present the government's second ministerial statement on the Centenary of Anzac. The government committed to delivering regular and informative updates to the Australian people about the progress and centenary preparations. Today's statement, coming at the beginning of the parliamentary sitting year, will further update Australians about the progress of the ballot for the 2015 Gallipoli dawn service and further commemorative events across the centenary period.

Since coming to office, the government has set about taking the hands-on approach necessary to ensure that the centenary commemorations are the success they must be. This has included addressing funding shortfalls for the National Anzac Centre in Albany, of which the Commonwealth has provided a further $1.35 million, on a 75:25 funding split arrangement with the Western Australian government.

The Commonwealth is confident that the Western Australian government, together with the Albany City Council, will deliver the Anzac Interpretive Centre on time to mark the 100th anniversary, on 1 November, of the departure of the convoy of ships which carried Australian and New Zealand troops to the Middle East in 1914. The government has also increased funding for local community based commemorations, lifting grants under the Anzac Centenary Local Grants program to $125,000 per federal electorate.

In this ministerial statement I will outline the government's agenda in the lead up to centenary of, arguably, one of the most defining moments in our nation's story—the landing of Australian and New Zealand troops, the Anzacs, at Gallipoli.

Last Friday, I had the opportunity to meet with my New Zealand counterpart, the Hon. Michael Woodhouse MP, to discuss preparations for the Centenary of Anzac. Our discussion reinforced the importance of our two nations' working together with a common purpose to deliver commemoration of events of fundamental importance to each nation's story. Minister Woodhouse assured me of the New Zealand government's ongoing desire to see the centenary marked in a solemn and dignified manner. New Zealand will be an active participant in Australia's major commemorative events in 2014, particularly the Albany convoy commemorative event on 31 October and 1 November this year.

I now turn to the 2015 ballot. The ballot for the 2015 Anzac Day dawn service at Gallipoli is now closed, with more than 50,000 applications being lodged by Australians and New Zealanders. The government, working with Ticketek, is aiming to advise applicants in the ballot on or around 31 March this year of the outcome. The strong response from first-generation sons and daughters of Gallipoli veterans will result in the ballot for the direct-descendant category considering only these applicants in the first cascade. All other direct descendants who registered will be considered in the veteran category, if they are also veterans, or otherwise in the general public category.

Anzac Day 2015 will not be confined to the Gallipoli peninsula. Events will take place not just in Australia, but across the world. Those who do not receive a ticket through the ballot may wish to explore other options for commemoration of Anzac Day in 2015. In addition to commemorative ceremonies which will take place in towns and cities right across Australia, major commemorative events will occur in the state capitals and in Canberra at the Australian War Memorial. With Anzac Day falling on a Saturday in 2015 this may present families unable to travel overseas with an opportunity to visit places in Australia normally out of reach.

On an international level, the Australian government will also be organising an Anzac Day dawn service at the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux, in France. There are annual Anzac Day services held in London, in Belgium, in Papua New Guinea and throughout South-East Asia. Services will also be taking place in New Zealand.

To ensure the safety of the Anzac commemorative site, and the dignity and solemnity of the Anzac Day dawn service and other commemorative events, it is anticipated that restrictions on travel to and from the Gallipoli peninsula may be in place on and around Anzac Day 2015. For those Australians without tickets to the dawn service on 25 April 2015, the Australian government strongly recommends against travel to the Gallipoli peninsula around this time. Access will be carefully and strictly managed. As noted in my earlier statement, Australians are encouraged to consider visiting the Gallipoli peninsula at times other than Anzac Day.

Anzac Centenary Public Fund

On 12 December last year, I was honoured to join with the Prime Minister and Mr Lindsay Fox AC to officially launch the Anzac Centenary Public Fund. I acknowledge again the tremendous work of Lindsay Fox. Mr Fox has given a great deal of his personal time and energy to work with corporate Australia to encourage them to give generously to the fund. The Australian government is grateful to Mr Fox for his efforts and thanks him most sincerely for his ongoing generosity.

The government's first fundraising priority is the Centenary of Anzac national travelling exhibition. The travelling exhibition will enable Australians, particularly those living outside the capital cities, to share in the Centenary of Anzac and to learn about the Australian experience of the First World War and our century of service since. Earlier this week, the Australian War Memorial, who are managing the exhibition on behalf of the government, signed a contract with Imagination Australia Pty Ltd to develop the creative content for the exhibition. The Centenary of Anzac exhibition proposal is an exciting one and I will be working closely with the Australian War Memorial and Imagination Australia Pty Ltd to ensure the exhibition accurately tells the story of Australia and Australians during the First World War.

If I can deviate briefly: on behalf, I am sure, of senators and members in the other place, I thank the chairman of the Australian War Memorial and the Director, Dr Brendan Nelson, for the last post service that so many of us attended last night. I know we were all very grateful for the opportunity to do so. I know that the director and the chairman were absolutely thrilled that so many of our colleagues took the opportunity to go to that event.

In addition to the travelling exhibition, and based on promises already made, the government expects that funds will be available to assist state and territory governments to develop their own commemorative infrastructure. To aid this, the government encourages corporate Australia to dig deeply and give generously to the Anzac Centenary Public Fund. In the tabled statement I have made reference to those companies who have generously supported the fund to date. Through their generosity more Australians will be able to share in the Centenary of Anzac.

Centenary of Anzac merchandise

As minister, I have responsibility to ensure that use of the word 'Anzac' is dignified and in line with rules established under legislation. I can assure all Australians that I am using this responsibility diligently and that I will approve merchandise for sale only where it is appropriate and dignified. I can report to honourable senators that there have been a number of occasions in the last two months where I have refused to give recognition because I was very strongly of the view that the test of being appropriate and dignified was not met.

2015 and beyond

The Australian government is determined to ensure that the sacrifice of all 61,512 Australians who made the supreme sacrifice in the First World War, and whose names are recorded on the roll of honour at the Australian War Memorial, is appropriately honoured and recognised during the Centenary of Anzac period. Later this year we will remember Australia's first battle of the First World War, at Rabaul in New Britain in September 1914, and our first battle casualties of the war.

The Centenary of Anzac goes beyond just the events which took place at Gallipoli. As is recorded in the history books, following the withdrawal of Australian and New Zealand forces from the Gallipoli campaign in December 1915 Australian forces then went on to fight on the Western Front in France, where more than 46,000 Australians were killed in action and another 130,000 were wounded.

From 2016 onwards, Australia will ensure that the efforts of our men and women on the front line in France, Belgium and the Middle East are appropriately honoured. In France, in 2016, commemorative services will be held to mark two of the most significant battles of 1916—the battle of Fromelles, on 19 July, and the battle of Pozieres, on 23 July.

In September 2017, a service at the Buttes New British Cemetery in Belgium will commemorate the service and sacrifice of Australians who served in the battle of Polygon Wood, a campaign during the third battle of Ypres. The service will commemorate all who served in Belgium during this period. Also in 2017, and together with New Zealand, we will commemorate the Australian Light Horse and the desert campaign with a commemorative service planned for Beersheba in Israel.

The year 2018 will see services conducted to commemorate the extraordinary service of Australians on the Western Front in 1918. These services will focus on Villers-Bretonneux, the site of the Australian National Memorial in France. The Australian attack at Villers-Bretonneux, which took place on 24 and 25 April 1918, played a vital role in preventing a German breakthrough at a critical time in the war. Later, on 4 July 1918, at nearby Le Hamel, Australians led by General Sir John Monash would secure a stunning model victory which would become a much studied template for further Allied success. Both of these events are proposed to be marked in 2018, along with a suitable day of commemoration on 11 November—the 100th anniversary of the armistice which was to be the end of 'the war to end all wars'.

Over coming years, the Australian government will continue to provide all Australians with advice about official commemorative events to mark the Centenary of Anzac and the First World War, both at home and overseas. We will also ensure that commemorative events are held to mark significant anniversaries of the Second World War, such as D-day, VE Day and VP Day, along with events to remember the 65th anniversary of the Korean War and the 50th anniversary of battles during the Vietnam War.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Australian government is committed to ensuring that the Centenary of Anzac leaves a lasting legacy for all Australians. We will honour the extraordinary deeds of ordinary men and women: men and women who did not go to battle to seek glory but who, by their deeds and actions, achieved greatness.

It will be a legacy not just of bricks and mortar but, and perhaps more importantly, a legacy of understanding. It will be an understanding of what we fought for, where we fought and why we fought. It will be an acknowledgment of our defeats and an awareness of our stirring victories and decisive achievements on the field of battle, on the seas and in the sky.

Equally and importantly, it is an opportunity to reflect on the horror, tragedy and waste of war. As a nation, we have a responsibility to ensure that the service and sacrifice of past generations is never forgotten. The Centenary of Anzac is not a period to glorify war but to reflect on its horror. We will remember those who made the supreme sacrifice in defence of our beliefs and our way of life. We will remember those who came home wounded in body and spirit, and we will remember their families.

The Centenary of Anzac is not just about the past but also about the future. It is the understanding that tens of thousands of men and women continue to serve our nation today, upholding a tradition that started a century ago. These men and women, and their families, devote their lives to the protection of ours and we owe them—as we owe their forebears—our gratitude and respect for the work they do in our country's name.

Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Centenary of ANZAC) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I have stated in this house before that if there is anything on the Australian landscape that is above politics it is the celebration of the Centenary of Anzac. The opposition certainly appreciates the update that Senator Ronaldson has just given us in the house this afternoon; but we also want to ensure that we do not forget the work of the former minister Warren Snowdon, who has laid much of the groundwork for this monumental occasion in Australia's history.

The Centenary of Anzac is above political point-scoring. Rather, the Centenary of Anzac is truly a great opportunity to unite to honour the Anzac spirit and the sacrifice and bravery of those who have served over the past century. It is an opportunity to remember and give thanks for the 416,000 Australian volunteers in World War I, including the 61,522 Australians killed in bloody battle. We will honour, in a special way, the 5,482 Australians who were killed in action at Gallipoli and the 2,677 who subsequently died from wounds or disease. We will not forget the one million Australians who have served and continue to serve in our defence forces.

I welcome, on behalf the opposition, today's announcement outlining the ongoing ballot process. A response of over 50,000 applications lodged by Australians and New Zealanders is extraordinary proof that Anzac Day, and in particular the Centenary of Anzac day in 2015, will be considered one of the most important events to occur in Australian history. Making sure that successful ballot applicants are informed of their place as quickly as possible is very important so that they can then make their arrangements to attend this event next year.

It is accepted on both sides of parliament that the Anzac commemorative site on the Gallipoli peninsula can safely hold up to 10,500 people. This will comprise 8,000 Australians, 2,000 New Zealanders and approximately 5,000 official representatives of all countries that served in the Gallipoli campaign. The ballot process represents a fair and transparent approach. Widows of World War I veterans were rightly offered special invitations to attend Anzac Day at Gallipoli and do not need to enter the ballot.

In the lead-up to these commemorations, it is particularly important to remember the hospitality and the generosity of the Turkish government. Every year, they allow thousands of Australians to make a pilgrimage to the hallowed beaches of Anzac Cove on the Gallipoli peninsula. It is wonderful that more and more young Australians join the annual pilgrimage to the birthplace of the Anzac legend. Another example of how this event in Australian history will live on through the generations and will never be forgotten is the 400 places set aside for students and their chaperones to attend the centenary event. That will ensure that the event is shared with all generations of Australians. Braving the cold, as well as a harsh landscape with few facilities, they connect with the Anzacs and the horrors that they endured.

Unfortunately, the downside of having such a large response is that it means some people are going to miss out. Those who do not receive a ticket should make an effort to explore other more local options for the commemoration of Anzac Day in 2015. They may also wish to attend the Anzac Day dawn service at the national memorial at Villers-Bretonneux in France.

Locally, across cities and country towns in Australia there will be Anzac Centenary projects, which were funded by the government's Anzac Centenary Local Grants Program. These are available through every federal electorate in Australia and, as we have heard, the Department of Veterans' Affairs is administering these grants. I encourage all Australians to become involved in centenary commemorations, because the Centenary of Anzac is for and about the Australian people and the Australian way of life. It is about ordinary Australians remembering those brave men and women who left their cities and towns to join theatres of war in unfamiliar and unkind lands.

I would also finally like to mention and congratulate those companies who have committed to the Anzac Centenary Public Fund. I was at the launch late last year with Mr Fox and the minister. The fund has gained financial support from some of Australia's largest businesses. The minister read these out, but I think it is worth repeating them. They include BHP Billiton, Woodside Petroleum, the National Australia Bank, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the ANZ Bank, Telstra, the Australian Football League, Crown Resorts Limited, Horizon Holdings Ltd, News Corp, Leighton Holdings, James Packer, the Linfox Group and Boral. Mr Lindsay Fox has been instrumental in campaigning for the support of corporate Australia and in encouraging them to give generously to this fund, and I would like to extend my appreciation to Mr Fox for his terrific work in this regard.

Also, I put out a call to any other businesses who have been approached but as yet have not committed to the fund to give generously to this great cause, as the legacy the fund will leave will mean a very great deal to many Australians.

Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I rise today to thank the government for the update that the Minister for Veterans' Affairs has provided with regard to the Anzac Centenary. It is, as the minister has said, a commemoration. It is to honour and respect those who have served our nation in both war and peace in the past and in the present. It is actually about the last hundred years of service to our country. And it is about framing that experience of our service men and women and of our nation and of our community in their response to war and about working out how that will influence the way we approach this century in the pursuit of peace.

This centenary event is not a hundred years of glorification of war or any kind of 'reductionist jingoism', as Paul Keating put it once, but in fact it is—and I borrow the name of a play that has currently opened in Sydney—The Long Way Home. I think this centenary is the long way home to our hearts, minds and national story of what the sacrifice has meant to us.

The years 1914 to 2014 has been a bloody, violent century. It was dominated by war, not least because the nature of warfare and the weapons of war became ever more powerful, ever more destructive. We went from the Light Horse, for example, in the First World War through to nuclear bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki through to the drones that are used in modern warfare today.

When we think about this Anzac Centenary covering the hundred years of Australian service, we are talking about the first and second world wars, we are talking about Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan and we are also talking about Australian service men and women trying to facilitate peace everywhere from Indonesia in 1947 through to Cambodia, Rwanda, Somalia, East Timor, Darfur and so on.

So much has been written of Anzac Day and the sacrifice at Gallipoli in World War I, but I think it is important to put it in the population context of the day. Australia's population at that time was less than five million people, and 416,809 enlisted. For a population of fewer than five million, it is clear why people were so profoundly impacted, because, if you think of a population of that size, you realise that everybody knew someone. In that war, 61,512 died but 156,000 came back wounded, gassed or with the experience of having been taken prisoner. It is why part of the national identity is the small-town memorial. I want to read for a moment from a poem by a Canberra based poet, Geoff Page, Smalltown Memorials:

No matter how small

Every town has one;

Maybe just the obelisk,

A few names inlaid;

More often full-scale granite,

Marble digger (arms reversed),

Long descending lists of dead:

Sometimes not even a town,

A thickening of houses

Or a few unlikely trees

Glimpsed on a back-road

Will have one.

…   …   …

Unveiled;

Then seen each day —

Noticed once a year;

And then not always,

Everywhere.

The next bequeathed us

Parks and pools

But something in that first

Demanded stone.

It is certainly my experience in Tasmania, but also as I move around the country, that every town has their war memorial, and the First World War did demand stone from communities to commemorate the sacrifice.

I did study the First World War at university and travelled in my youth to many of the allied cemeteries on the Western Front, and then in 2005 I visited Gallipoli. I have to say it was a profoundly moving experience, but I was really distressed at the time about the changes that were being made to the site at Gallipoli to facilitate greater numbers of visitation. Bulldozers ripped into the cliff face behind Anzac Cove, spoil was dumped straight over the side onto the beaches, and the result is that you now have a terraced effect at Anzac Cove. You have lost the physical context of the troops arriving and facing those cliffs, as it was when they arrived at Gallipoli on, as we refer to it, Anzac Day. I find it really disturbing that we have lost that physical context, but we have not lost the context of the emotional engagement with our nation or the respect for the bravery, the sacrifice and the human characteristics of mateship, courage and humour and everything else we have come to understand about Australians serving in any war—World War I but other wars as well. They did not fight for some old idea of empire, what they did fight for was the future of our country and the defence of the values which we regard as important as Australians—freedom and our future.

I would like to finish by saying I am pleased the government is saying that this year is not about a glorification of war, but rather it is about recognising the horror, the tragedy, and the waste and futility of war and recognising the bravery and courage of those who follow orders to fight on our behalf. It is in that context that I would say that as parliamentarians we want to make sure that we change the law in this country to ensure that it is only the parliament which can commit young Australians to serve in war, because there is no greater responsibility for a parliament than taking that decision.

I want to end with The Long Way Home. I went to the opening in Sydney on Saturday night and I would encourage all members of parliament to try and see this. It will tour the country. It is a play which is a collaboration between the Defence forces and the Sydney Theatre Company and it is about the experience of the war in Afghanistan. It talks about the trauma of the experience, the difficulty in coping on returning home and the grieving for a military identity that defined the lives of troops at that time. It is an important part of this Centenary of Anzac to look at the experience of our troops in that war and to support them now in every way we can to help with the healing process. The Long Way Home certainly does that.

I want to thank the government for the work they are doing on the Centenary of Anzac, and I am certainly proud of the bravery, courage and humour of the Anzacs. I am grateful for their sacrifice; and I am mindful of the responsibility as a member of parliament to honour that sacrifice but also to move to make sure that in the future it is the parliament that takes that responsibility.

Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I want to congratulate the minister on the tabling of his statement and congratulate the government on the work that they have been doing to commemorate the very significant Australian involvement in World War I generally. There are stories all around Australia, fortunately given firsthand by just a few of the children of the original Anzacs that need to be recorded. I did not see the minister's statement before he delivered it a little while ago, and I am delighted to see the work that minister and the government is planning post-2015. It brings to mind a constituent of mine, who is also a friend, whose father, Lieutenant Thomas Dwyer, was very much involved in the Western Front. I am pleased that the minister is acknowledging that, whilst Gallipoli was almost the birthplace of our nation, other elements of the fighting in World War I were particularly important to Australia and Australians. Indeed, by far the greatest casualties occurred on the Western Front. For example, Lieutenant Thomas Dwyer enlisted in March 1916; he embarked in November 1916; he was wounded at Polygon Wood in September 1917; he was then wounded again at Villers-Bretonneux in April 1918; he was wounded a third time at Corbie in June 1918. He was wounded again in the Battle of Hemal near Vaire Wood in July 1918, and as a result of that particular incident he was awarded the Military Cross. He had the honour of having that Military Cross presented to him directly by His Majesty King George V.

My friend and constituent is hoping to get to the Western Front next April, mainly because, whilst it is not the 100th anniversary of his father's activities at Polygon Wood, Villers-Bretonneux and Hemal, he fears that he may not be alive if he waits until the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Hemal, which is particularly close to him. Whilst this is an individual example that I am citing, I am sure that there are literally thousands of other cases across Australia of relatives, and indeed first descendants, of those who participated in those battles who do want to be part of the very significant commemorations of the First World War, starting next year. I was pleased to hear the minister say that there will be further commemorations for these significant battles post-2015. I want to congratulate the minister for doing that, because it is important that the minister is aware of the circumstances of my constituent and thousands of other immediate descendants and is able to do something to commemorate those very significant battles and the contributions of so many Australians, and to allow those descendants to be part of those commemorations.