Mary Aldred (Monash, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

West Gippsland has lost a favourite son. Keith Anderson was proud to be born and raised in Drouin. Keith loved the art and craft of feature writing. He was a keen student of journalism. At the tender age of 20, Keith started at the Warragul & Drouin Gazette before learning that, through a ballot, he had been selected for service that would send him to training in Puckapunyal and to the jungles of Vietnam as part of the Anzac battalion. This young Gippslander was straight of limb and clear of eye. Last year, in Nicholas Duck's excellent Warragul gazette article on Keith's service, Keith was asked if he were proud of what he had contributed. 'Proud?' Keith responded. 'I don't know if that's the right word. I think it comes down to your appreciation of the people you were with and all those who have gone before you in similar or worse circumstances.' I know that editor Yvette Brand and her colleagues are mourning his loss deeply.

The last time I saw Keith was only a few months ago. I was walking past the clubroom at the Drouin footy club, and Keith was standing inside, smiling with a glass of beer in hand while watching his beloved Drouin Hawks. To his family and friends I say, on behalf of the people of Monash, today we honour Keith and everything he gave our community and country. Vale, Keith Anderson.

See this speech in context