Vince Connelly (Stirling, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week my colleague the hardworking member for Boothby in South Australia, Nicolle Flint, came up to me and said, 'Vince, I've just had the opportunity to drive a minitank.' After a few questions of clarification, I confirmed my suspicion that what the member for Boothby meant by 'minitank' was actually an M113 armoured personnel carrier or APC. I was familiar with the vehicle because, as a new platoon commander in my first career, I had the opportunity to command four of those vehicles and 30 infantry soldiers. I agreed with the member for Boothby and said, 'Yes, it is an awesome vehicle, great fun to drive.' You'll be particularly pleased now, as Nicolle will be, to compare the M113 with the new infantry fighting vehicle which will come into service soon.

As my fellow veterans can attest, sometimes it's a bit hard to describe what it's like operating as a member of the Australian Defence Force. Equally, it's difficult to articulate, and I would have had very little idea before coming into this role, what it's like to be a parliamentarian. This is why I was so excited to hear about the ADF Parliamentary Program. This is a program where ADF men and women get to experience a bit about what policymaking looks like and, equally, parliamentarians get to get their boots on the ground and live in the shoes of our service men and women. Both parliamentarians and ADF people have a common goal, that of service. We are here to serve our nation and to uphold its interests and, of course, the values upon which our democracy is founded. We also share the very real job description of making a lot of sacrifice, spending a lot of time away from family and loved ones and certainly not working normal working hours.

This is the 19th year in which this program has been running, which is testament to its success. There were 45 members and senators who participated this year, and it's great to see that expansion. It's also pleasing to note that, of the 10 new program participants this year, seven were, in fact, only just elected in May this year. I was one of those seven. In October I hosted Squadron Leader Lisa Hubbard in my office for a week. It was wonderful, because Lisa and I had the opportunity to learn a bit from each other about our various roles and processes. This helps us to consider that critical link between national policymaking and Defence boots on the ground or, of course, ships at sea or aircraft in the air. It's really important that we as policymakers understand a bit about the impacts of our decisions on service personnel. I'm very pleased to be part of a government that absolutely takes its service men and women, both former and current, very seriously, and I thank the Prime Minister and the Minister for Veterans and Defence Personnel for their support.

As a former member of Defence and now as a parliamentarian, I cannot commend this program highly enough. It's a wonderful opportunity for parliamentarians to pull on a uniform and experience a little bit about the Australian Defence Force, and it's also an opportunity for ADF personnel to see a bit of what it's like behind the scenes here in parliament. So I encourage absolutely all members of the House of Representatives and the Senate to take the opportunity, when the ADF Parliamentary Program rolls around next year, to pull on that uniform, spend a day in the life of our service men and women and get an understanding of the fantastic work they do and where our policy decisions are implemented at the coalface.