Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

on indulgence—Seventy years ago the war in the Pacific concluded. Unlike some of the other anniversaries this parliament has been acknowledging with the First World War, there are many Australians still alive from that time and many children and grandchildren who in our own lifetimes have spoken to the participants in that amazing struggle.

The war in the Pacific marks the end of what I think changed Australia's sense of its own security. With the war by Japan we saw war coming to our own shores and to our own communities in a way which we did not see with the conflict in Europe and North Africa. The war in the Pacific saw great horrors for Australian troops, from the fall of Singapore and the campaign in Malaya right through the Dutch East Indies to the conflict in Papua New Guinea, be it the Kokoda Track or the fierce battles at Milne Bay. It was a war at sea with our Navy and our merchant marine, it was a war in the air and, of course, it was a war on land. Australian troops and military forces fought with great valour throughout this conflict of the war in the Pacific, from the remarkable victories at Kokoda right through Papua New Guinea and South-East Asia. Indeed, our troops served in the occupation in Japan.

It was a war which brought conflict and bombing to Australian shores. It was a war which saw our foreign policy change forever as we moved from our reliance on Great Britain to the forging of our strong ties with the United States. It changed forever the way life was organised in our home communities, with many more women being absorbed into the workforce right through the decisions of financing and relations between state and federal governments. It was a remarkable challenge to re-absorb so many hundreds of thousands of returning Australian servicepeople into our economy. It also saw, I believe, the development of the generosity of the Australian spirit, with the over-time forgiveness of the conflict and atrocities which had happened to Australian prisoners of war.

Australian men and women came back from that war forever changed, and indeed their families were forever changed. As Prime Minister Curtin said at the opening of the War Memorial about all our servicemen:

These men were individuals fighting as a community, for something they understood and cherished, the right to rule themselves like civilised human beings.

He said:

Let it be Hitler's boast that every citizen is a soldier; it is our pride that every soldier is a citizen. In such a community it is right that the soldier and the statesman should be honoured together in the capital city of our democracy.

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