Ewen Jones (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the condolence motion for Corporal Cameron Stewart Baird MG. We have heard today a number of speakers talk about this man's bravery. I want to put on a record that he received: the Medal for Gallantry; an Australian Active Service Medal with clasp from East Timor, with clasp from Iraq 2003 and with clasp from the international coalition against terrorism; an Afghanistan campaign medal; an Iraq campaign medal; an Australian Service Medal with clasp, counterterrorism and special recovery; an Australian Defence Medal; the United Nations medal with ribbon from the United Nations transitional authority in East Timor; a NATO non-article 5 medal with clasp, ISAF and multiple tour indicator (3); an Infantry Combat Badge; and a Returned From Active Service Badge.

We are talking about a serious soldier here. He was a tremendous bloke. The people who come back from Afghanistan, as we have seen with 2RAR and 3RAR in Townsville, are quite ordinary people when you talk to them. But you know where they are going is no ordinary place. You know what they do is no ordinary thing. To say that he was a brave man is an understatement. To have won a Medal for Gallantry, it means he put himself in the line of fire to save another person.

When we speak on condolence motions is when I struggle the most in this place. When you speak to soldiers in Townsville and they talk about Afghanistan they say that they would go there 100 times before they would come into parliament and put up with what we do. To say that they are brave is one thing; to say that they are capable is completely another. These guys are highly trained. These guys are very, very effective machines. They have trained muscle memory. But Cameron Baird was 32 years old. That his death was glorious and brave is cold comfort to his partner and his family.

I was thinking on the way over here that when I was 32 years old I was getting ready for the birth of my first child. She has now just landed in London on her first overseas trip. I was two years into my new career as an auctioneer after 12 years in banking. This guy will not have those things. Cameron Baird will not have those opportunities. He will not have the opportunity to come home to peace time and find something else that he can do. He will not have the opportunity to find out just how good he could be at something else. He was an exemplary soldier. It was a tremendous effort. He was a credit to himself, his family and his unit, the 2nd Commandos. But that is cold comfort for his family now that he is gone. I do wish for a speedy recovery for the two others who were wounded in this engagement.

Every time I speak on these things I say that it is the people who come home who are wounded that we worry about the most because they are the ones who carry the scars. Some who come home to Townsville and other places around Australia do not have visible scars. They do not have scars on their bodies. Post traumatic stress disorder is a major issue for Australia and for Australia's defence forces, and it will be for the next 20 or 30 years. This is going to be part of our community and something with which we must be prepared to deal. It is something which we must be prepared to confront and man up on. The problem is that we have these soldiers, airmen and sailors who are not the sort of people who will put their hand up and ask for help. So as a community in places like Townsville, who see a lot of it, we must be aware of what is going on. Books like John Cantwell's talk about the stress of these guys are put under. If one in five of us in normal life goes through an episode of mental health issues then put yourself in a situation where you are in a battle zone—stress levels are going to be very, very high. It is not a sign of weakness to experience these things. Cameron Baird could say that he helped soldiers both here and overseas. God rest his soul. Lest we forget.

See this speech in context