Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to thank the member for New England for introducing this motion and also for the opportunity to speak on the importance of Remembrance Day on behalf of my electorate of Cowper. The Remembrance Day services right across my electorate bring the entire community together, both young and old. In the regions, you would be hard pressed to find a family without a set of war medals from a relative or a loved one. Patriotism and service in our country run particularly deep in rural and regional areas, and the communities that I represent right across the Mid North Coast are no exception.

At many of our events, our future leaders are invited to speak, like Samuel Reniers from Hastings Secondary College at the Port Macquarie service this year. The newly elected school heads are given the opportunity to reflect on what Remembrance Day means to them as young people, to them as schoolchildren, and how the sacrifice of so many has enriched their lives today. I'm impressed each year by the calibre of the speeches and the maturity shown by these school students. Most will remember a specific family member who served and will recount the effect of either the loss of life or the repercussions serving members and their families experienced upon returning home. All of them articulate in their own ways how thankful they are to live and to have grown up in modern Australia in comparatively stable and peaceful times as a result of their forefathers' sacrifices. All will express the importance of honouring and remembering those who have served in order to fully appreciate the freedoms in which we live today. Our young leaders have a firm grasp on why it is so important.

So it is sad to note that our current leaders do not appear to have that same sense of respect or care around recognising these very same sacrifices. Just two weeks before Remembrance Day on 11 November, this government confirmed the slashing of $2 million from a dedicated program to mark the private graves of First World War veterans. The coalition, by comparison, had dedicated $3.7 million in funding after a pilot program placed 1,189 markers on the graves of men and women who had served in World War I. The World War I war graves program enabled grave markers to be placed on the unmarked private graves of First World War veterans who had not been eligible to be commemorated formally by the Australian government, which usually occurred if they hadn't died in the war or from causes related to their service. That disrespect hasn't been limited to our First World War cohort. It is particularly alarming to note that, when forming cabinet, the current government decided to dump Minister for Veterans' Affairs, relegating the role to outside cabinet. Why should any current or future ADF member put their hand up to protect and defend this country if the very same government asking them to do so cannot show them the same level of respect?

In my own electorate, this lack of care and slashing of funds has been felt harder than most. The Mid North Coast veterans had devised a cost-effective and proven wellbeing centre, a hub-and spoke model, to better advocate for and support all veterans on the Mid North Coast, rather than having one centre that veterans need to travel significant distances to attend. They proposed four centres for $5 million to service the 11,000 or so current and former ADF members in the region, the same amount of funding that has been provided to other electorates to create just one centre. They were awarded this funding under the previous budget, by the coalition, and this money has since been taken away from them, meaning the entire Mid North Coast is now without adequate resourcing for veterans.

I would like to take this opportunity to reaffirm my commitment to the veterans' community in my electorate to continue to fight for the return of these funds. Lives are literally depending on it. I would like to thank all the veterans for your service to this country and the freedoms that we enjoy today, and, when we say 'Lest we forget', we should mean it.

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