Alan Griffin (Bruce, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on indulgence: I wish to speak briefly on the 110th birthday of Mr Jack Ross. There are some 375,000 veterans from all conflicts in Australia today. Some 115,000 are from World War II and around 49,000 are from Vietnam but only one is from World War I, Mr Jack Ross, who some 90 years after the end of the conflict that was meant to be the war to end all wars has today celebrated his 110th birthday.

Honourable Members:

Honourable members—Hear, hear!

Alan Griffin (Bruce, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Ross is a resident of the seat of Bendigo and is known well to the member for Bendigo, Mr Steve Gibbons. Steve says he has known Jack since he was a young bloke—he was at his 100th birthday. Jack is the last of over 400,000 Australians who enlisted in the Great War. He enlisted at the age of 18 in January 1918. He did not serve overseas because, at the time his training was underway—thankfully for all of those who were left—the war finished.

We should remember at a time like this that some 61,000-plus Australians died in that war and some 156,000-plus were wounded or taken as POWs—that from a population of fewer than five million. He was the last of the generation that gave so much at a time when a country needed it. He was part of that generation which was the first of the Anzac tradition.

Jack is an unassuming man, so I am told. He has not been fussed by the kerfuffle that is occurring around his birthday. He has been concentrating on spending the day with family and with close friends, and for that he has certainly earned our respect. But I believe we would be remiss if we did not acknowledge in this chamber that this is a very special milestone. As I understand it, according to the Minister for Health and Ageing, he is also Australia’s oldest man. I want to assure the House that it is something that I will not achieve.

Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We’ll make sure of that!

Alan Griffin (Bruce, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to say on behalf of the entire House that I am sure that is the case. I would also like to say: Jack, happy birthday. It is a day that I am sure you will enjoy with your family and your loved ones. It is something that I am sure you will remember into the future. I want you to know that we remember here in this place and throughout this country what your generation did. We remember it as the commencement of the Anzac tradition. We see it in line with what has occurred subsequently and with those who have served in World War II, Korea, Vietnam and those serving today in places like Afghanistan. You have our respect. You have our best wishes for the future and our acknowledgement and deepest debt for what you did as part of a generation that gave so much so long ago.

Louise Markus (Greenway, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on indulgence: I rise to support the Minister for Veterans Affair’s remarks. Such a milestone is worthy of not just our attention but also our recognition. I acknowledge firstly Mr Ross’s service to a nation not just during the First World War but also during the Second World War. I extend to Mr Ross our very best wishes for his 110th birthday. In contrast to the minister’s comments, I would hope that I would reach that milestone.

Mr Ross’s experiences over 110 years, no doubt, would be vast and varied. I am sure he has seen many changes in our great nation over that period of time. As the minister has mentioned already, Mr Ross enlisted at 18 in the AIF in January 1918 and, I understand, trained as a wireless operator. Mr Ross is our last connection with a generation of men who served selflessly, willing to lay down their lives for our freedoms. He knew of the massive casualties and deaths that had occurred on the battlefields of Gallipoli, Palestine and the Western Front, yet he still signed up—willing to go to the frontline and lay down his life. During World War II he served as part of the Volunteer Defence Corps. Now, as has already been mentioned, he lives in Bendigo. I acknowledge his daughter Peggy, son Robert, his four grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. Together let us acknowledge with pride the service and great Australian spirit of Mr Ross.

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I understand that the Leader of the Opposition will join me in a few remarks as well. What an extraordinary day. It is 2009 and we have with us this last living connection with the extraordinary events of the First World War. I would like to join with other honourable members in simply saying to Jack Ross: happy birthday from the Australian Parliament and the Australian people. It is not just that Jack Ross put on the uniform of Australia as a member of the first AIF and that he is with us still today. He also saddled up for the second one as well. He was a member of the Australian Volunteer Defence Corps second time around. It is an extraordinary story of the calibre and fabric of that generation of Australians. So, on his birthday, we salute him, and through him we acknowledge this extraordinary human bond with the events which so much shaped the Australian character in the battlefields of Western Europe and on the beaches at Gallipoli.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On indulgence, I join the Prime Minister, the minister and the shadow minister in conveying very best birthday wishes to Jack Ross. One hundred and ten not out! That is a very big score in anyone’s language. The generation that defended Australia in the Great War was the greatest generation for the greatest war our nation has ever fought. None of us who have been around Australian country towns can fail to be amazed at the war memorials there and the enormous lists of names—name after name, often of brothers, and sometimes three brothers, all dead. It was an extraordinary toll that this nation paid in the First World War. It was a price paid in blood. It made a nation of Australia. Our national identity was forged in that war, and it was forged with the courage and the perseverance of men like Jack Ross. He is the last of that generation and as we salute his birthday—as we salute your birthday, Jack—we salute all of his comrades; all of our grandfathers, fathers and great-grandfathers that served in that war. We salute all of those men and women who were so brave. So many of them—like you, Jack—served in the Second World War as well. They were brave in two wars, defending Australia and making us the nation we are today. We are humbled by your service. We are in awe at your longevity, and we congratulate you on your 110th. Well done and happy birthday.