Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to join with the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Paterson and others who will speak on this condolence motion in expressing my deep regret and sorrow for the loss of Corporal Mathew Hopkins. Again I offer my profound sympathy to his family and again I would like to extend my sympathy and thanks to his very young wife, Victoria. As the member for Paterson indicated, they had not long had a child—a son—and I too am very pleased that Corporal Hopkins had the opportunity to see his son and spend some time with him before giving his life in the name of his country. I also again extend my sympathies to his mother, Bronwyn, and his father, Ricky. It is a very sad and difficult time for them and I hope they find some comfort in the recognition the parliament is giving to Corporal Hopkins today. Like the member for Paterson, I spent time with them at both the ramp ceremony and the funeral service. Both occasions were very moving and great tributes were paid to Corporal Hopkins, not only by his family but also by those who served alongside him.

I have met many of the men and women of the Australian Defence Force and I am always most impressed by their professionalism and their courage. Corporal Hopkins made a significant contribution while serving in the Australian Army. He enlisted in the Army in March 2005. After initial training, he was allocated to the Royal Australian Infantry Corp and qualified as a rifleman in September 2005. Corporal Hopkins first deployed to Afghanistan on Operation Slipper, when Operation Slipper was formed, from November 2006 to April 2007. He was promoted to lance corporal in April 2008 and to corporal in August 2008. On 16 March 2009 Corporal Hopkins was serving with the Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force when he was tragically and fatally wounded in an engagement with insurgents. He was a valued member of the Darwin based 7th Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment. Corporal Hopkins was conducting a patrol near Kakarak when he and his team were engaged by a group of around 20 Taliban insurgents.

Corporal Hopkins died serving his country and is owed a special debt of gratitude that can never, ever be fully repaid. He was an outstanding soldier, displaying courage and professionalism in the most demanding of environments. Many members will know that I saw that environment firsthand in recent weeks when I travelled to Afghanistan. I visited forward operating base Buman at the entry to the Baluchi Valley and, with the assistance of binoculars, I was able to look out to the area where Corporal Hopkins lost his life fighting alongside members of the Afghan National Army. I was able to speak with members who were serving with him there, and they were so visibly and obviously still feeling the pain of the loss of their comrade and their friend.

While visiting forward operating base Buman and forward operating base Loch, I learned a lot more about the detail of the work that the men and women of the Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force are doing. It is really meaningful work that those like Corporal Hopkins are doing, embedding themselves with kandaks, or the Afghan National Army, and helping them to build their skills and their capacity so that eventually they will be in a position to take care of their own local security. For Australia, that is the focus of our task: to bring the Afghan national security forces to a capacity and skill level which allows them to take care of their own security. While there, I had some very good briefings by our people, in particular from Major David McCammon, who leads the operation there. I cannot speak more highly of the leadership and of the real work our men and women are doing on the ground.

When the government reconfigured and created the Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force, we said that the risk would be higher, that our men would be going out with Afghan kandaks, and that would be doing not only meaningful work but also quite dangerous work. Very sadly, the loss of Mathew Hopkins confirmed that to be the case. Sometime very soon we will be seeing off Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force 2, and we keep them in mind as today we reflect on the loss of Corporal Hopkins and thank him for what he did for his country.

On behalf of the Australian government, I offer my prayers and my support to the family of Corporal Hopkins. His passing brings the total number of fatalities in Afghanistan to nine ADF members. The other fatalities are Sergeant Andrew Russell, Trooper David ‘Poppy’ Pearce, Sergeant Matthew Lock, Private Luke Worsley, Lance Corporal Jason Marks, Signaller Sean McCarthy, Lieutenant Michael Fussell and Private Greg Sher. It is a tragic loss for the Australian community. Whenever we have a loss in Afghanistan there is a constant message from the families that their loved one—their husband, their son or whatever the case might be—fully understood what he was doing and fully understood the risks involved but really wanted to be doing exactly what he was doing. I think that is an important message. It is another reason why we can be so proud of our people who are serving in Afghanistan and of those who have served or are about to serve. They do so with great determination and dedication to their country and for that we can be eternally thankful.

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