James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I start by thanking the member for Solomon for moving this motion. In fact, I had intended to move a similar motion, specific to the 80th anniversary of the culmination of Kokoda and the Battle of Buna-Gona. I very happily instead speak on this motion. The reason I make that point is that my great uncle served and was awarded the Military Cross at Gona Beach in December 1942. He was Major Hugh Dalby. My grandfather, Frank Stevens, also served in the Pacific theatre, in the Royal Engineers. Prior to that, he served in North Africa. We're very lucky in our family that he got on the boat that went to Egypt and not the one that went to Singapore, because I don't think I would be standing here today if he had. My mother's mother was a nurse during the war and served at the Heidelberg hospital in Melbourne. She nursed and cared for many, many returned POWs and other Australian service personnel who had horrendous wounds, sometimes torturous, and other awful experiences, psychologically, that they endured through that whole period of time. It's very appropriate that we as a parliament always take an opportunity to remember the unbelievable service that has been done for our nation by so many brave Australians. That service has put us in a position to live in the free society that we live in right now and to have a vibrant democracy where we can come together and talk about the issues and challenges of the day.

I always find that, when people from overseas come to Australia, one thing that strikes them in every town in this country—unless they're English—is that, when they drive through the towns of this nation, there is not a single one that doesn't have a war memorial at some prominent location. Most of them, first and foremost, were built after the Great War, and they have then been supplemented, tragically, of course, by the need to also memorialise those who served and those who were killed in the Second World War. The way in which service to our nation through those wars was so ubiquitous across this country is spectacular. Not a single community was untouched by both service in those wars and death in those wars. It goes to show the mentality and the bravery of the young men of this nation who, from every single corner, took the opportunity to join and serve, to fight for liberty and freedom and to give us the society that we have today.

I very much join in commemorating the service and the 80th anniversary of those who served in New Guinea, including the two members of my family whom I've mentioned and the tens of thousands who served there, and the many who died there—both there and subsequently, because, regrettably, the statistics don't properly reflect the casualties and the fatalities from service in Papua New Guinea. A lot of people were repatriated to Australia but succumbed to their wounds and to other challenges that came from the brutality and the torment of serving in those conditions.

We also thank the people of Papua New Guinea—the 'fuzzy wuzzy angels' and others who provided such unbelievable service in support of Australian and allied troops in very challenging terrain. That, of course, gave our soldiers such an edge over Japanese forces. I think it was Paul Keating who was a little bit dismissive of Gallipoli—I don't support his view—but he very much held the view that Kokoda was the true birth of the fighting spirit and heritage of the Australian Army because it was very much us defending against the risk of invasion of our nation and us having to be at the vanguard of turning the tide of the Japanese advance through the Asia-Pacific. We remember the service of all those Australians and many other friends from many other nations which ensured that we stopped that tide and that we live in the free democratic society that we take for granted today.

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