Mark Coulton (Parkes, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I move

That:

Paragraph 2 (e) omit"400" and substitute "1,000" and omit "between 3,000 and 6,000" and substitute "at least 3,000".

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the amendment seconded?

Janelle Saffin (Page, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion.

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question now is:

That the motion as amended be agreed to.

Mark Coulton (Parkes, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on this motion that I have introduced to the parliament. The timing of this motion is also to acknowledge the importance of Remembrance Day which is less than two weeks away. I believe that Remembrance Day is one of the days of true national significance in this country and I know that the towns in my electorate take Remembrance Day very seriously.

The commemoration of the armistice at the end of World War I, ending that horrible conflict, and subsequently the memory of other conflicts that have followed, is very important to the Australian people.

It is also important to remember that, as we stand here today, we still have Australian soldiers in overseas conflicts putting their lives at risk. It is important at times like this and on Remembrance Day that we acknowledge those who are still in harm's way. I would like to mention Nathaniel Gallagher, who was tragically killed in Afghanistan a couple of months ago and was laid to rest at Pilliga in the north-west of New South Wales. Attending Nathaniel Gallagher's funeral certainly brought home to me the danger and the impact that our soldiers who are serving overseas have on our community.

It is important to bring forward this motion not only to mark the importance of Remembrance Day, which will be commemorated in coming weeks, but also to acknowledge that there has been, in the past, a shortfall in the recognition of Indigenous people who have contributed to Defence services. This is particularly important to the Parkes electorate, which I believe has the second-largest Aboriginal population, second only to Lingiari in the Northern Territory. Indeed, I represent more than 20,000 Aboriginal people in this parliament.

This motion is an opportunity for the chamber to acknowledge the contributions of Indigenous service men and women. It is important to note that there is significant work being done to appropriately acknowledge the efforts of Indigenous service men and women. During Reconciliation Week in May 2012, services were held in major cities across Australia to acknowledge their efforts. Services for contributions in Defence forces were also held in Canberra this year, as part of NAIDOC Week celebrations. The federal government has also been doing work in this area, such as the creation of the National Indigenous Veterans' Liaison Officer in 2006 under the previous coalition government, and subsequently their state-based counterparts.

I believe it is very positive that the Defence forces are actively recruiting in Indigenous communities at the moment. Many opportunities are available and these opportunities will make a difference, should members of these communities take them up. What has changed, as the Defence Force actively recruits in Indigenous communities, is that during the two world wars and other conflicts there was an official restriction that prevented Aboriginal people from entering the armed forces. Many were still able to enlist, although due to limited information from the time, we now have an incomplete picture of how many Indigenous people have enlisted over the years.

The involvement of Indigenous people in the armed forces was, in many ways, an exciting time, as they were treated as equals for the first time. It was indeed unfortunate that, on their return, many people who had been comrades in arms could not celebrate together—that hotels had different areas for people of different coloured skin. Indeed, many Aboriginal people who returned from the war were quite devastated to find that not much had changed in the time that they had been away.

War is a unifying experience. The friendships formed over the years by Australians at war were strong and did not take into account a person's background or race. The bonds built during conflicts between whites and Indigenous Australians should be celebrated in our history. Remembrance Day is an especially important time to commemorate these bonds.

I would like to speak about some things relevant to my electorate, and indeed to your electorate as well Mr Deputy Speaker. The only Aboriginal fighter pilot during the Second World War was Leonard Waters, the son of Donald and Grace Waters. In 1924, Leonard Waters was born at Euraba, the mission near Boomi in northern New South Wales, just south of the Queensland border.

When Len Waters was an 18-year-old shearer working in regional Queensland, he joined the RAAF as ground staff and commenced his training as a flight mechanic. Within the next year, Leonard had been selected to undergo pilot training in Victoria. He excelled in training and went on to graduate as a fighter pilot. Leonard Waters served his country with distinction and was laid to rest at St George in the Maranoa electorate in 1993. There is a plaque commemorating Len Waters in the park alongside the Newell Highway in Boggabilla and he is mentioned at the war memorial at Toomelah, which I will speak about in a second. A couple of years ago, I had the privilege of meeting Len's widow, a very feisty and funny lady. She spoke about her courtship with Len Waters, which I think consisted of three dates just after he came home from the war. They were together for over 60 years before Len passed away.

I would also like to mention that at Toomelah, in the northern part of my electorate, is a memorial dedicated to Aboriginal service men and women who have served in all conflicts. I was very privileged to be part of its unveiling. Incidentally, it was constructed by local people under the CDEP program and in a place that has had some bad publicity of late. The community took a great amount of pride in the project and still do—they still care for that memorial. It is a wonderful effort from that community to commemorate past achievements of Aboriginal people.

Also, I would like to mention Councillor Victor Bartley, who is the chairman of the RSL sub-branch at Bourke. Vic approached me some months ago about the state of the war memorial in the township of Bourke. Vic is an Aboriginal chap, but he believes that all the service people in Bourke should be treated the same. Indeed, on that memorial are Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people, but he is concerned that, because it is in such a central location, the memorial is starting to show the signs of wear and tear just from a lot of public attention. He believes that an effort should be made to upgrade that memorial. Indeed, the local council has put some money aside and has started work on it. I am hopeful that the federal government will also contribute to the memorial, because it is important. Not only now but in 50, 100 or 200 years time the residents of towns like Bourke will understand what a contribution their forefathers made, particularly their Aboriginal forefathers, who were breaking new ground. They represented their country in conflicts and should be remembered for now and evermore.

Janelle Saffin (Page, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in strong support of the motion put forward by the honourable member for Parkes and commend him on bringing it before the House so that some members get an opportunity to speak to it. It is a commendable motion and one that I know all members would wish to lend their support to. I am happy to agree to the amendments to the motion. When it came to researching the subject, I can say that it was very difficult to get an accurate picture of numbers of service personnel from World War I and World War II or even information on entitlements from the Department of Veterans' Affairs. There were conflicting numbers, so I can understand that the honourable member for Parkes moved the amendment to try to get the numbers as accurate as possible, given we are dealing with inaccuracies in a framework. I looked at figures from the Australian War Memorial as well, but they are a work in progress.

I thank the Parliamentary Library for the great research that they did for me; I am going to rely on it heavily in my contribution today.

This motion is about respect, honour and recognition. This was something that I knew about but, having read and reread some of the research, I can only imagine how soldiers must have felt when they went off to be a soldier with their mates, either in the theatre of war or serving in some capacity, and then, having been in the Defence forces, stepping back into everyday life and suffering the discrimination that they suffered. It would have made even the most generous person feels some degree of bitterness. I know it was difficult for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to get into the Defence forces. If you read the Defence Act you will see there were certain prohibitions there which were relaxed because they wanted people to join, and there were different pay and conditions. They were discriminatory and not based, as far as I could tell from the research, on any legal grounds. I found that the numbers, which the honourable member for Parkes has put in the amended motion, are consistent with the later work that I found.

As to the First World War, paragraph 61(1)(h) of the Defence Act 1903 exempted from service in time of war persons who were 'not substantially of European descent'. So that Defence Act frustrated Aboriginal people's attempts to enlist, but those recruitment policies were relaxed after heavy losses in 1916 and 1917.

Another thing that happened—and I remember hearing about this and I remember talking to various people about it—was that after the war there were various parts of Aboriginal reserves, which used to be called missions, that were awarded to returning veterans as soldier settlement blocks, and in the records it shows only one Aboriginal veteran is known to have received a soldier settlement block. It was quite shameful that that happened. Reading it, I thought that that must have been a very difficult situation.

At the start of World War II, the Defence Act barred the conscription of full-blooded Indigenous people because it held that, since they were not enfranchised citizens, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders should not be compelled to defend Australia. The three services of the ADF had certain regulations which also could prevent persons who were not substantially of European descent from enlisting. However, despite this, some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men managed to enlist because they wanted to serve their country. The same thing that happened in World War I happened in World War II—there was a fair amount of discretion on the part of those dealing with enlistment and there was relaxation of rules, with the medical staff relaxing them, and that allowed a lot of people to get in. I will read something from the secretary of the Prime Minister's Department. It says, 'regarding the non-acceptance of full-blooded aborigines, I am to state that when this instruction was issued it was decided that no action was to be taken to discharge full-blooded aborigines who had already been accepted'. It goes on like that, and there were other such letters and instructions.

During World War II, the Torres Strait Light Infantry Battalion was formed was formed to defend the Torres Strait, and it had about 745 Indigenous Australians enlisted. That was in August 1943.

I would say there that nearly every able-bodied Torres Strait Islander male had enlisted by 1944, but they did not receive the same rates of pay or conditions as white soldiers; there was a lot of research done on that. It was the same with the formation of the Northern Territory Special Reconnaissance Unit that was created: the research that was done, particularly through the Parliamentary Library, shows that there were 51 Indigenous people who were in that unit, and they were paid three sticks of tobacco per week and only supplied with Army rations when on training. When on patrol, they were expected to find their own food. The unit existed for about 16 months before being disbanded. Similar units were formed on Melville and Bathurst islands and on the Cox Peninsula, and they were used in much the same way as the Northern Territory Special Reconnaissance Unit. There was the same sort of pay and conditions, and I was told that the Melville Island men were given very small act of grace payments during the 1960s. I remember that, from 1983, the Hawke government made the decision to pay veterans of these units compensation and proper disability pensions for their service, so there are certain actions that have been taken since. If you read the history of that, you can see that that has been done over a period of years. It was in 1991 that the Australian government awarded back pay and service medals to surviving members and families of particular units from Melville and Bathurst island, the Cox Peninsula et cetera, and I was pleased to see that happen. After the end of the war the services reinstated the ban on enlistment, but by 1949 the Army had changed that practice.

I was looking at how many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from my area were enlisted, and so far we have come up with eight from the Lismore, Casino, Kyogle, Grafton and Armidale area. Most of them enlisted in the Lismore area. I am just doing a little bit more research on that. I know some of the families I am reading about in here. I will not mention the names, because I have not had the opportunity to speak with the families yet, but it was really nice to see some of the names there and I realise who some of the families are. I know some of the families and know how proud they are of those men who were serving in the world war—and, of course, some of them never returned; they paid the ultimate sacrifice.

I will just finish in the last few seconds I have by again commending the honourable member for Parkes for bringing this motion to the House. I thank you. (Time expired)

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Every capital city, regional centre and remote one-horse town in Australia is immensely proud of its military heritage, and this is certainly so with Wagga Wagga in the Riverina. My progressive, vibrant home town is a tri-service centre and is renowned as the 'home of the soldier'. Every recruit soldier undertakes their initial training at Kapooka, south-west of the city, established in November, 1951. On the eastern side of Wagga Wagga, the Royal Australian Air Force base at Forest Hill has been an integral part of the local community for nearly 70 years. RAAF Wagga delivers technical and non-technical initial employment and postgraduate training which is fundamental to the delivery of military air and space power in support of national objectives. Four major training units are supported at the base: No. 1 Recruit Training Unit, RAAF School of Technical Training, RAAF School of Administration and Logistics, and the School of Postgraduate Studies. Since 1993, Royal Australian Navy personnel have been undertaking aviation initial technical training at the RAAF School of Technical Training at Forest Hill. Navy usually has an annual intake of 100 trainees undertaking ITT, which is evenly split between aviation technician aircraft and aviation technician avionics courses throughout the year. Military ties are interwoven with Wagga Wagga's economic and social development and have been since World War II.

Understandably, there is no more important an occasion than Anzac Day in Wagga Wagga. Air men and women, sailors and soldiers, watched by large numbers of grateful and solemn citizens, march in perfect step along Baylis Street to the cenotaph in the aptly named Victory Memorial Gardens, where wreaths are laid and speeches made. It is always a grand yet sombre ceremony. For we remember, as do all Australians on 25 April, the enormous price paid so that we may live free. We are mindful of the ongoing sacrifice being made by our troops in Afghanistan, where we have lost 39 of our best and bravest since 2002, as well as other peacekeeping deployments abroad.

Given the enormous significance placed on Anzac Day observances at Wagga Wagga, it was pleasing to see that the 2012 march, for the second year running, had that fine Aboriginal advocate Hewitt Whyman leading 6 Company at the front of the parade. Born in Deniliquin in 1947, Hewitt spent eight years in the Australian Army, called up first for national service in 1968. He served with the Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery's 1st Field Regiment in Nui Dat in the then Phuoc Tuy province in South Vietnam from 17 December 1969 to 4 February 1970, spending time as an acting gun sergeant in a combat support unit and with 5RAR as an artillery signalman. Back home, Hewitt was posted to Kapooka in 1974 as a drill and weapons instructor for recruits, holding the rank of lance-bombardier. He has lived in Wagga Wagga ever since and is thought of highly, not just among Aboriginal people but throughout the wider community.

'Aboriginal people were and are proud to wear the Australian military uniform,' Hewitt told me just yesterday. He acknowledges, however, that recognition of the service of the Indigenous servicemen was not the same as that of those whom they fought alongside. Hewitt referred to the publication Too Dark for the Light Horse, based on a saying from the Great War of 1914-18, when Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were seen as undesirable in the armed services. Researcher David Huggonson examined the involvement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the Defence forces. The book tells it straight in its introduction:

The invisible warriors

Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders have fought for Australia in all our wars through the last century, from the Boer War onwards. Often Aborigines' and Islanders' presence has been an invisible one. The services generally have not identified soldiers by race on enlistment records, and in general the Memorial has not noted a person's race in the photo captions in its collection.

But Aborigines and Islanders are there. We can find them in photos, or their families come forward with their names; often the families themselves still have old photos. Early in the 1930s, the RSL journal, Reveille, appealed for information about Aboriginal servicemen in the First World War. Since then, other researchers have added to our knowledge, and today the contribution of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders to Australia's defence is at last becoming fully recognised.

A change in attitudes:

Look, these blokes are just as good as us, they fought beside us in the [second world] war, they proved themselves. … This change in outlook is terribly important—revolutionary in a way. It has laid the basis for all the other changes that have occurred in the post war years.

That was said by Len Watson in 1974. The introduction continues:

Generally Aborigines have served alongside other races in ordinary units. Conditions of service have been the same as those for Europeans. This has helped to foster understanding and respect between the races.

In the short term, however, little was changed. Aborigines who had experienced equal treatment for the first time in their lives in the armed services came back to find that civilian society treated them with the same prejudice and discrimination as before.

Hewitt Whyman is the descendant of the Firebrace boys from Moulamein: proud Aborigines, dedicated soldiers, men who loved the Australian bush and who were proud to call the Riverina home. The blood ties are through Hewitt's mother, Lena Jackson. John Arthur Firebrace, 21, and his uncle William Reginald Firebrace, 22, were killed in action in France just six days apart in August 1918, only three months before World War I ended. They paid the ultimate sacrifice on the bloody battlefields of the Western Front.

'I visit the Australian War Memorial and place a poppy alongside their names every time I go to Canberra,' Hewitt said. 'Their service means a lot to my family, to our people.' Citing the difference in how black and white servicemen were treated upon their homecoming, Hewitt recounted the story of the late Tom Lyons of Narrandera. 'Tommy was a Rat of Tobruk but had been insubordinate to an officer, so he was not awarded his medals upon his return,' Hewitt recalled. 'When others who fought with him were allocated parcels of land to start a farm, Tommy missed out. He had to rely on his mates coming out the back of the RSL to have a drink. But eventually he was handed his medals after his son Cecil and I did some work to put things right. Tommy was presented with them by the Commandant of Kapooka at a special service, and it was such a proud moment.'

War memorials dotted throughout the Australian countryside, in just about every village and town and sometimes on isolated rural roads to mark the contribution made by a particular district, are a fitting reminder of service given, lives lost. Some are mere stone markers, monuments in time simply recording battles fought, campaigns won. There are those which list the names of locals who made the ultimate sacrifice, who did not come home. Others list all local names: those who served and returned; those who lie in foreign soil, including Flanders field, where, as Canadian Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae observed:

… the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row …

Sometimes the names are not always in alphabetical order, perhaps because someone with some sort of link to an area was overlooked when names were being collated for the stonemason, or, as someone once told me when he saw me taking a photograph of the memorial at Nimbin, because they were added later. Their Aboriginality, he claimed, precluded them from originally being placed on the memorial. I put that remark to Hewitt Wyman, who said he had heard the same thing. Thankfully past wrongs are being made right and I commend the member for Parkes, who has one of the largest populations of Indigenous people—second only to Lingiari of the 150 electorates in Australia—in his electorate, for putting forward this motion. It will, alongside other research and recognition work, help to appropriately recognise the marvellous contribution Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders have made to our nation's military and therefore to our freedom.

In the time remaining, I would like to also commend Mark Coulton for mentioning 'Black Magic', as he was known by his mates and as he himself liked to be known—that is, Sergeant Leonard Victor Waters—who was Australia's only Indigenous fighter pilot in World War II. He was the fourth of 11 children of Donald and Grace Waters, and he was born on 20 June 1924 at Euraba mission, between Boomi and Garah. He left school when he was just 13 years old and he spent four years working as a shearer.

He enlisted with the Royal Australian Air Force on 24 August 1942 and was trained as a flight mechanic. When the RAAF called for air crew trainees, he applied and he was one of the very few accepted for flight training. He undertook initial training at Narrandera in the Riverina, then graduated among the top five in his course, as a sergeant pilot, from Uranquinty, which is just south of Wagga Wagga. He received his wings on 1 July 1944. His training continued at Mildura, from where he was posted to No. 78 Squadron on 14 November 1944. He flew 95 operational sorties against the Japanese from Noemfoor, which is West Irian Jaya in Indonesia; Morotai, Indonesia; and Tarakan, Borneo, Indonesia. With 'Black Magic' painted on the fuselage of his P-40 Kittyhawk aircraft, he logged more than 103 hours of combat flying, and it is no wonder that the member for Parkes is so proud that Len Waters was from his electorate. Len was promoted to flight sergeant on New Year's Day 1945 and to warrant officer exactly one year later. His duty done, Warrant Officer Waters was discharged on 17 January 1946 and he married Gladys Saunders four weeks later. Len never flew again, returning to shearing to make a living. He died at Cunnamulla in Queensland, but his war service was commemorated with the issue of a stamp and an aerogram in Australia Post's 1995 series Australia Remembers. We remember Len Waters; we remember all of the Aborigines who have served our country so well.

Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Aboriginal servicemen and women have proudly served Australia for more than 100 years. Despite this nation's history of racism and prejudice, Indigenous Australians have enlisted and volunteered to represent Australia and to serve our national interests. Going back to World War I, more than 400 Indigenous Australians enlisted to fight overseas in the Great War. They enlisted to fight for their country even though they were prevented from voting, even though they were not counted in the census, even though they could not drink in a pub with their fellow diggers, even though they were not paid the same wages and even though they were not accorded the same rights as other Australians.

About 3,000 Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders served in the armed forces during World War II. When Australia was under threat during the Pacific campaign, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders enlisted by the hundreds. As the Australian War Memorial here in Canberra attests, many Indigenous Australians were killed in action and some were taken as prisoners of war. There were even special Indigenous units formed, such as the Torres Strait Light Infantry Battalion, which was constituted to protect the Torres Strait. I have been to Thursday Island, and there is a beautiful memorial in the centre of the town that takes great pride of place amongst the community there.

It recognises and honours those who served and sacrificed their lives in various wars. The community is very proud of its contribution to wars in the past and also to the ADF today.

It is with deep shame that we recognise that there were marked differences in pay and benefits awarded to Indigenous servicemen and women. It is to our collective indignity that it wasn't until 40 years after the war that this discrimination was rectified. But Australians have learnt a lot since then and we have grown up as a nation and now respect our Indigenous peoples. And this is reflected in the way Indigenous servicemen and women now operate and serve our country. In particular, I mention the operations of NORFORCE, which well reflect this.

NORFORCE, the North West Mobile Force, was established in the early 1980s. NORFORCE was raised to address our need for surveillance and reconnaissance in Australia's north and north-west. For many reasons NORFORCE is a distinctive part of our defence network. For a start, it is responsible for the largest area of operations in the entire world. Its role in surveillance is critical in maintaining our security but also in responding to issues in these remote parts of the country.

Not surprisingly, NORFORCE is reliant on its Aboriginal soldiers, whose understanding and awareness of the environment is pivotal to its success. NORFORCE has a very high number of Indigenous soldiers—about 500, or 60 per cent of the total contingent—and it is very much supported by local communities. Many of the soldiers are from local Aboriginal communities and being part of NORFORCE is a source of both employment and great pride. Their role as protectors of their land is esteemed and honoured. A few years ago, the Indigenous television program Message Stick showcased the importance of NORFORCE to Aboriginal people and their communities. NORFORCE has its genesis 70 years ago with the 'Nackeroos'. Back then Aborigines and whites worked together to patrol our northern borders against the threat from the Japanese. Much of this soldiering was carried out on horseback with primitive communications and few resources.

Today, many Aboriginal people see NORFORCE as providing opportunities to train, to serve and to help their communities. There are now hundreds of Aboriginal drivers, medics, patrolmen and signallers. This is what one soldier, Danny Rashleigh, told Message Stick about his work with NORFORCE:

With my job that I do with alcohol counselling in communities, I thought it could benefit communities, benefit the young boys, myself, and create a few role models especially with [the] problems … they have in the community.

I think what Norforce looks for in communities for soldiers is someone who wants to give it a go, self-development, and role modelling in the area.

I recruited a number of men from there last year who I thought showed those qualities, who I thought could excel in those qualities and I thought could also socially develop the community, within themselves, and pass on down to their family plus other young people.

It is now recognised that NORFORCE would not be able to function without its Indigenous soldiers. The knowledge and skills they bring, their passion and commitment, their connections to land and community, are invaluable.

I want to talk now about what Defence is doing for the Indigenous community. Defence was actually at the vanguard of reconciliation action plans. It was the first federal government agency to develop a Reconciliation Action Plan. The department did extensive consultation on the development of the plan across all services and also particularly with the Indigenous community in Defence, the Indigenous serving men and women. It is an incredibly comprehensive document and one of the real benefits of it is that it has a number of KPIs to ensure that Defence is constantly trying to improve the recruitment and retention of Indigenous Australians right throughout the country and throughout every service. One of the real benefits of it is the fact that it encourages an acknowledgement of country on bases if there is an event on a base. It also takes a broad view on compassionate leave for funerals and for other ceremonies.

In the past some of these could take quite a lengthy amount of time, particularly if you were on a ship. It could be a bit of a challenge getting off the ship to attend the ceremony. So Defence has got a new model—and it has been around for a number of years now—to accommodate those family responsibilities that a number of Indigenous members have.

In the course of my 10 years working with Defence, I also had the great privilege of working with a number of young Indigenous serving men and women in the Navy, Army and Air Force. What really struck me was their commitment to the service and protecting our national interest but also to being role models for the younger members in their communities. Not only do they play a very active role in the service but also when they go home they are very active not just catching up with family members but going out and talking to community organisations, mentoring young kids and building up the self-esteem and confidence of the young kids, hopefully encouraging them to move into the services themselves because they see the many, many benefits that serving in the Army, Navy and Air Force can bring. They have experienced it personally and they want to share it with their communities. They are very impressive young men and woman.

In closing, I just want to say that it is a tremendous achievement that NORFORCE is the largest employer of Indigenous people within the Northern Territory and the Kimberley area. I commend the ADF and all those involved, especially our Indigenous service men and women for the outstanding contributions that they have made in the past, that they continue to make and that they will make in the future. I would particularly like to commend and thank the member for Parkes for this motion that celebrates these significant achievements.

Debate adjourned.

Sitting suspended from 13:26 to 16:06