Julian Simmonds (Ryan, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a great pleasure to speak on this motion this evening. Firstly, I'd like to thank the member who moved the motion in my absence in a previous sitting week, because debating this motion gives me a great opportunity to express my unwavering support for the Australian Defence Force Cadets, their vital service to the country and the work that they do instilling values into our young people. Service, courage, respect, integrity and excellence—these are the values of the ADF Cadets that underpin their mission to lead and serve our local communities and our nation.

In particular, I'm very proud that the Ryan electorate has a number of ADF Cadet units, including at the Gallipoli Barracks at Enoggera but also located in a number of schools within the electorate. It's of course a community based youth development program, which focuses on preserving the customs and traditions of the Australian Defence Force. That's incredibly important for the Ryan community, because the Ryan community is, as I said, home to the Gallipoli Barracks, so it is home to many serving Defence personnel but also ex-Defence personnel and veterans who have chosen to stay located in the local area and those who have located there as part of their service at the Amberley barracks, further down the highway. We have a very proud tradition in the Ryan electorate of supporting our service men and women and veterans, and promoting the values and the ethos of the Australian Defence Force in the cadets is a tremendous way to do that.

Last year in May—I'm just trying to get my dates right; with COVID, things tend to blend together—I was very pleased to have the Assistant Minister for Defence, Andrew Hastie, come to the electorate. It was one of the few visits that he was able to successfully complete given the on-and-off border openings in Western Australia. He came to look at the site and to have discussions with those who are helping me lead the charge for the new Brookfield cadet unit in the electorate of Ryan. The Morrison government, at my urging, has already committed some $100,000 in funding to help get this new cadet unit off the ground. There is significant need in the local community. Brookfield is some distance from the existing cadet unit over at Enoggera, and already, since the call was put out that we were looking to establish this unit, over 40 young people have put up their hands and said they are keen to become cadets as this unit is started up. Assistant Minister Hastie is revered for his own service, but not many people would know that he was a cadet himself and he credits the cadets with instilling in him that love of service and that love of country and encouraging him as he got older to then join up to serve in the ADF. It was great to have him there to talk all thing cadets because not only is it his portfolio but he embodies everything we're trying to achieve with the program in terms of instilling those values in our young Australians and then, hopefully, inspiring them to go on to a career of service with the ADF.

I really want to give a shout-out to the local residents who are helping in this endeavour to put the new cadet unit together—that is, the president of the Kenmore-Moggill RSL Sub Branch, Lieutenant Colonel Rick Maher; and the sub-branch treasurer and a former officer in the Royal Engineers of the British Army, Richard Ponsonby; and Leonie Smith. These individuals have been instrumental in getting this cadet unit started. It was their initiative. They came to me and said, 'We'd really like to start this up. Can you secure some initial funding,' which indeed we have been able to do. As the unit progresses, ultimately, to its establishment, all three of them are working incredibly hard. Rick and Richard are obviously both servicemen themselves and are devoted to bringing that to our local youth, as I am. So I give a shout-out to them.

I also give a shout-out to the 129 Australian Army Cadet Unit, which, as I said, is based at the Gallipoli Barracks, at Enoggera. They have 144 currently serving cadets, so that unit is going very strong. Despite the COVID-19 restrictions, they've still been able to conduct regular parades and weekend activities together, including obstacle courses and other ways to build their skills as part of the cadet training program.

It has been a pleasure to deliver that $100,000 worth of funding. I very much look forward to welcoming our very first cadets in the very near future to the Brookfield cadet unit and to helping to see those values instilled in even more young people within the Ryan electorate.

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