Mark Butler (Port Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I rise to thank and recognise RSLs and the other service organisations in the electorate of Port Adelaide for convening the Remembrance Day services on 11 November this year—from Salisbury RSL to the Seaton RSL, from the West Croydon RSL to the Largs RSL. And, being a port electorate, we also host the Naval Association of South Australia and a very active Merchant Navy Association as well. All of those organisations worked very hard to convene Remembrance Day services this year. But I want to pay particular attention to the Semaphore and Port Adelaide RSL service, which I attend on Anzac Day every year. It is the biggest service in the area; at times, it is the biggest service in South Australia. On Anzac Day it convenes 10,000 people at the Semaphore Angel of Peace. The other reason I attend that service is that in 1924, on behalf of the RSL, my great great uncle laid the stone at the angel at the historic settlement at Semaphore.

I want to congratulate the sub-branch and President Colin Johns for their service this year. It was a beautiful service that was very well attended by the community. Importantly, it was attended by a number of the school communities in the area. The Alberton Primary School was out there in force and Lucinda Wetherill made a great speech on behalf of young people in the community. Songs were sung by the Dominican Choir and there was generally a very strong level of support demonstrated by the community. As was pointed out by President Colin Johns, this year is the 100th anniversary of the RSL in Australia. I want to pay tribute to the extraordinary work that that organisation has done on behalf of our nation and, in particular, returned service men and women.

The theme at Semaphore on 11 November was 'Passing the torch'—the importance of RSLs continually thinking about refreshing their organisations. The point was made that, in spite of that extraordinary work—support services to returned servicemen, advocacy for things like the campaign that my great-uncle Charlie led in the 1920s to ensure that returned servicemen had preference in employment within state public services, and a safe place for returned servicemen to go and be among comrades who understood what they had gone through—it needs to be recognised that it has not been perfect. The Largs Bay RSL in my electorate was set up because returned servicemen from World War II did not feel welcome at the RSL club at Semaphore. My father is a Vietnam vet and was among 50,000 Vietnam vets who too often did not feel welcome when they returned. The message from president Colin Johns was to recognise the importance of looking to the present and the future, as well as the past. We have 40,000 men and women returning from service in the Middle East who must be the subject of our ongoing attention.