Ian Goodenough (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Members of the Joondalup City RSL Nev Maw, Bruce McDonald and Roger Howell presented me with a blue poppy, which I'm wearing on my lapel today, at a morning tea which I hosted last week to thank community volunteers in my electorate. The Battlefield Blue project aims to raise public awareness of post-traumatic stress disorder and support our service men and women and also first responders who still experience PTSD today.

Ballarat based artist Ron Davis raises funds by handcrafting poppies by melting and recasting the lead from spent bullets collected from battlefields and recycling them into beautiful remembrance pieces. Ron was given a handful of lead recovered from the battlefields of Passchendaele in Ypres, Belgium, by Kerry Stokes and Doug Baird at the Australian War Memorial, to make some very special remembrance and Battlefield Blue poppies to be auctioned to raise funds for Cam's Cause and the Commando Association. The funds raised through his works are donated to support those who have risked their lives and made sacrifices to secure the freedoms we take for granted. A poem complements the poppies—touching words to help us reflect on the human cost of battle, raising awareness of the daily effects of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression on veterans and their families.