Sally Sitou (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's with great sadness that I rise to mark the passing of Mr Ernie Walker OAM. Ernie was an extraordinary man. He served in two significant campaigns of the Second World War—Tobruk and Kokoda. Ernie made an incredible contribution to the defence of our country. Most recently, he lived in Bundanoon, in the electorate of Hume, but Ernie also forged a great connection with my electorate of Reid. After serving in Kokoda, Ernie contracted malaria and was repatriated back to Australia, to the Concord Repatriation General Hospital in Concord, in the heart of the electorate of Reid. The hospital was founded to care for veterans returning from conflict. Since the 1970s, the Rats of Tobruk have regularly met at the Five Dock RSL Sub-Branch.

In April of this year, I had the great honour of briefly meeting Ernie at the Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway in Rhodes. He was as bright then as I imagine he would have been when he first enlisted to serve. So today I'd like to send my condolences to Ernie's family and friends, and I'd like to take the opportunity to salute him for his service as well as all those who have risked and lost their lives in defence of our country. They represent the very best of us. Lest we forget.