Brett Whiteley (Braddon, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is an honour to speak today on behalf of the people of Braddon in support of the Prime Minister's motion of remembrance and commemoration of the Centenary of Anzac. As a parliament we are acknowledging that 25 April 2015 marked 100 long years since Australian and New Zealand troops landed at Gallipoli, and we do pay our respects to the 60,000 Aussies who fought in the Gallipoli campaign, including the nearly 9,000 who died, the 20,000 who were wounded and the thousands more who carried the unseen scars for the rest of their lives. We do remember the brave soldiers of Great Britain, France, India and Newfoundland who fought alongside the Anzacs 100 years ago. We do note that on 25 April solemn services of remembrance were conducted at Anzac Cove and Lone Pine in Turkey, and they were attended by some 8,000 Australians, including the widows of Australian veterans. We extend our thanks today to the people and the government of Turkey for their support of the centenary commemorations and their ongoing faithful care of the battlefields of Gallipoli. We do note today that on Anzac Day millions and millions of our fellow Australians in each one of our electorates gathered to remember the Anzacs and all those who have worn our uniform and served in the name of Australia. The people of every electorate are represented in this parliament and they honour this milestone of the centenary of the landings at Gallipoli. I have previously in this parliament echoed the words of the Prime Minister. I have recalled the valour, the heroism, the horror, the pain and the sacrifice of all those who have served this nation in peacetime and in war, and I have focused particularly on the conflict at Gallipoli.

In 1916 an 18-year-old young Methodist farmhand from Longford enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force. His name was William Henry Mason. Whilst Longford is in the electorate of Lyons—the electorate of my colleague Mr Hutchinson—William Henry Mason was in fact my grandfather. It is wonderful how over many years all of us, all Australians, have had access to the phenomenal support services of the Australian War Memorial. With the technology available, each and every one of us is capable of discovering little bit by little bit the minutiae of the details of our relatives and friends and neighbours and leaders—where they served, on what days, when they went into hospital, why they went into hospital, whether they were seriously ill. My own grandfather, as I read the records I have here in front of me, certainly had his ups and downs as a member of the Australian Imperial Force. He was in and out of hospital, convalescing in England and then in France—it went on and on. Thankfully my grandfather quite obviously survived. I am sure that each of my colleagues across the parliament can sell stories of their own relatives and friends and neighbours. That is what makes this opportunity to speak so very special for us all—we are all linked not that far back to the story of Anzac. A hundred years may seem a long time, but really it is only three generations for many of us. This is an exceptional opportunity for us to speak not only about our own family lineage and its connection to either World War I or any other war but also in an honourable way on behalf of our electorate.

Today, following the Centenary of Anzac that we celebrated just a few months ago, I want to direct my few remaining remarks to the many ex-service men and women throughout the north-west of Tasmania, the west coast and King Island who worked tirelessly for a year or more to ensure that the many thousands of people who turned out on Anzac Day 2015 to commemorate the centenary could do so in a respectful manner that was worthy of the remembrance our forefathers deserved. Like all other members of this parliament and all other community leaders, I attended multiple services. I suspect that all of us as local members wished we had cardboard cut-outs of ourselves or genetically modified replicas so that we could have been in every spot in every electorate—that might not be the case in some of the inner suburbs, but in rural and remote areas where we had 10 or 15 or 20 or 30 Anzac Day services it was physically impossible to be at them all. But I attended a number, commencing of course with the dawn service and moving through the day right through into the afternoon. What a tremendous opportunity to fellowship with all the people of Braddon as we came together for an hour or so on one day of a given year to be on the same page—across party lines, across political lines, across religious or cultural lines—to remember together those who have served.

I did especially enjoy my time at the Devonport service, the Somerset civic service, the Burnie service and the North Motton service. Each of the services were unique, yet similarly moving. The older generation remembered their own service in some of the wars that we are aware of. They remembered the sacrifice of their mates. Many of them are now physically struggling to even attend the services, but they are both stubborn and courageous and wanted to be there no matter what the sacrifice or the pain. Middle-aged men and women thought of their parents. Young children, schoolchildren, proudly took part in the services through speech, song, poem and readings—and they rose to the occasion.

It has been an honour, since my election, to work with many of the local RSLs, in particular, and some other community groups to utilise the Anzac Centenary grants to upgrade existing memorials and, in some cases, to erect the first and only memorial in an area; to assist schoolchildren in their remembrance of this great anniversary; and to see taxpayer money well and truly spent in honour of those that have gone before us—some of the best taxpayer money that I suspect has ever been spent.

One of the special aspects of the new memorials is that while they may not be on the grand scale that you would expect to see in a capital city or a major regional town, they are no less meaningful—and they came about using local creativity and input. In finishing, I want to give a couple of examples. There was the small community of Tullah on the west coast—the mining area—of Tasmania, which placed a very small but memorable memorial using large boulders around a flagpole, with plaques commemorating local servicemen and servicewomen. And there was the Gunns Plains community, which repaired honour boards and also built a chair—a seat—in a beautiful setting, which can be used by anyone to take a moment to reflect on the sacrifice of others.

I thank the House for the opportunity to pause in the robustness of this place to remember the courageous service of those that have gone before us.

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