Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The following are not my words but those of Tumbarumba Shire Council General Manager Kay Whitehead:

The Anzac Day commemoration in Tumbarumba was once again very well attended, with an estimated 100 people attending the dawn service and then approximately 300 people attending the 10.30 am service, despite bleak weather.

The ceremony was marred by the absence of the usual catafalque party, whose presence provides comfort to the Tumbarumba community that the nation values the sacrifices of so many of the community in past wars, and also provides a contemporary reminder that many young people continue to risk their lives in defence of the nation.

The Anzac Day gathering was informed that the Federal Government has decided that providing a catafalque party to small communities such as Tumbarumba is too expensive to continue. As a consequence there was little ceremony to add gravitas to the day, and no serving defence force member to give the Anzac Day address.

Many people in the community expressed disappointment and disgust about the perceived 'misguided penny-pinching' to councillors and it was discussed at the Council meeting held on the 26th April.

The community has every reason to feel angry and cheated. Tumbarumba and district gave mightily to Australia's war efforts and lost many good men. Only last November, I took part in a moving ceremony at the town's memorial park and I was privileged to unveil a splendid monument honouring three brave locals, prisoners of war, who died as a result of the Sandakan death marches in 1945. They, like many others from the region, gave their lives for our freedom and they deserve better than the shabby treatment this government dished out to Riverina towns this Anzac Day.

Temora and West Wyalong also missed out on Australian Defence Force representation. When the West Wyalong RSL Sub-Branch queried as to why the usual catafalque party could not and would not be provided, they were told that cutbacks to personnel attending district services had been made because of budget constraints. There is a new rule stating that only towns within a 100-kilometere radius of the nearest military base will now be eligible for ADF support. Tumbarumba and West Wyalong are more than 100 kilometres from Wagga Wagga, where the Air Force, Army and Navy all have bases.

Military members have always been keen to make themselves available to support local communities on Anzac Day. For recruits, this is an important and essential part of their training. Now, because the government is trying to cut costs—especially in regional areas—to bring about an illusionary budget surplus, these towns have had to unfairly miss out. In the case of West Wyalong, this is an insult to a town which lost 22 of its best and bravest in World War I during which the Anzac legend dawned, and to a town which counts among its favourite sons Reg Rattey, VC. It is particularly disappointing also because for the past two years I have run an electorate-wide writing competition for schoolchildren and for the past two years the towns with the most entries and the most winning entries have been Temora, Tumbarumba and West Wyalong.

Anzac Day is our most important national day and it is very important to the people of West Wyalong, especially the schoolchildren. Let us not forget that this is the same Labor government which recently spent $370,000 of taxpayers' money on a politically correct focus group which wanted Gallipoli centenary commemorations in 2015 toned down because of fear of creating divisiveness because of multiculturalism. And this is the same Labor government which unjustly stripped $5.5 billion from Defence spending in Tuesday's budget.