Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. This holds significance to my electorate of Solomon and the Northern Territory as a whole, where the war reached our shores in the devastating bombings of Darwin and Northern Australia. I always fight for the recognition of our Defence Force and our veterans, like getting the Meritorious Unit Citation for those who served in Somalia, keeping the Meritorious Unit Citation for the 3,000-plus ADF personnel that served with the special operations task group in Afghanistan and, of course, pushing for long-overdue recognition with the Victoria Cross for World War II hero Teddy Sheean.

Our World War II veterans are getting on these days. Most of them are approaching or already are 100 years old. There was a commemorative medal struck for the 80th anniversary of Armistice Day for First World War veterans, so I think that's worth looking at now that we've reached the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. It shows our respect for these great Australians who served abroad and defended our shores 80 years ago. We remember them and we remember their mates, members of the greatest generation who, for some of them, did not make it home. We honour their sacrifice every day.