Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

The coalition joins in support of the motion of condolence moved by the Minister for Defence. Australia has a wonderful Defence Force. Its reputation has been built on the generations, former and current, of service men and women who have donned the uniform. They have given this nation great pride. Today’s men and women in uniform follow in those footsteps and are worthy successors of their forebears. Our forces enjoy an unparalleled and deserved reputation. In part, that is because of their willingness to serve in the cause of freedom—a timeless and universal value which we all hold dear. Our enjoyment of freedom today has been bought with a price. Today’s condolence motion highlights that high price.

We mourn the loss of Privates Aplin, Chuck and Palmer. Their loss is felt by the whole Australian nation; a nation which is grateful for their willingness to serve. The loss is of course felt more personally, deeply and intensely by the families, personal friends and mates of our fallen men. It is the coalition’s wish that their families, friends and mates feel the thanks of a grateful nation at this time of loss to help ease their pain. We sincerely trust that this motion serves that purpose. On behalf of the coalition, I express our wishes for recovery to our wounded personnel and wisdom to the medical support teams caring for them in Germany. Those who are joined with us in the cause of freedom in Afghanistan also suffered loss in this incident, and the coalition expresses its condolences at their loss and its best wishes for those that were wounded and suffered injuries.

Privates Tim Aplin, Ben Chuck and Scott Palmer were all fine professionals with deep experience in Australia’s recent overseas military deployments. All of them were highly decorated and had served with distinction on previous assignments in Afghanistan, and Privates Aplin and Palmer had also served in East Timor and Iraq. Their exemplary service has been more fully outlined by the minister. I believe it is important that that was put on the public record and I thank the minister for doing so.

If I may, I note the association of Private Chuck with my home state of Tasmania. His former school, the Hutchins School, is, as we speak, flying the flag at half-mast in memory of their fallen former student. I acknowledge and applaud the school’s display of support.

The freedom we enjoy comes at a price. The cause of freedom comes at a price. Privates Aplin, Chuck and Palmer were willing to pay that price. They were engaged in the fight against international terrorism. They fought for our national security and, indeed, international security. In case our nation needs reminding, the Bali bombings, which devastated this nation with the loss of 88 lives, and indeed the international community with another 114 lives—202 in total—were undertaken by terrorists, as the minister said, with links to Afghanistan. I believe it is important to make mention of that because that is the context in which our brave personnel were serving in Afghanistan. We give thanks for their willingness to serve. We mourn their loss. We share in the grief that their families, friends and mates are experiencing, and we trust that this expression of thankfulness by this nation goes some way to easing their pain.