David Johnston (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Senator Abetz, and all opposition senators, I express my support for and endorse completely Senator Evans’s remarks in this condolence motion.

Over a seven-week period Australia, tragically, lost five of its finest on the battlefields of Afghanistan, bringing our casualty list numbers, sadly, to 21 since the conflict began in 2001. On 9 July we lost Private Nathan John Bewes. He was serving with the Brisbane based 6th Battalion Mentoring Taskforce 1 when he lost his life from an improvised explosive device. Nathan was born in Kogarah, New South Wales, in 1986. He joined the Royal Australian Army in 2005 and in the same year successfully completed his recruit and infantry basic training period prior to being posted to the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment. This was his third overseas deployment and his second to the Middle East.

Just a month later, on 13 August, we lost Trooper Jason Thomas Brown from the Perth based Special Air Service Regiment. Jason was part of a combined Australian and Afghan patrol conducting operations in northern Kandahar at the time of the incident. His death was a very sad reminder of the dangers faced by our soldiers in Afghanistan on a daily, hour-by-hour basis and the risks that they take on behalf of our country to make Afghanistan a better place.

Seven short days thereafter, on 20 August, we had the terrible news that two more Australian soldiers, Private Tomas Dale, 21, and Private Grant Kirby, 35, of the First Mentoring Task Force in Afghanistan were killed in action when they were struck by an improvised explosive device. Both soldiers were also from the Brisbane based 6th Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment. Tomas and Grant had dismounted from their Bushmaster protected mobility vehicle when they were fatally struck by the detonation of the explosive device. The deaths of Private Tomas Dale and Grant Kirby so soon after the recent death of Trooper Jason Brown was a stark and tragic reminder of the dangers and courageous work Australian defence personnel undertake every day in Afghanistan.

However, further tragedy was to strike just three days later on 24 August when Lance Corporal Jared MacKinney, also from the Brisbane based 6th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment, was killed in a firefight with Taliban insurgents in the Tangi Valley. Jared joined the Air Force Cadets at Amberley as a youngster and was named most outstanding cadet before joining the Royal Australian Regiment. However, what makes Jared’s death even more pointed and tragic is that his wife, Beckie, gave birth to their second child on the very day of his funeral.

I attended these gallant Australians’ funerals with my colleague Senator Faulkner; my leader, Tony Abbott; and the Prime Minister. I have to say that each and every one of them was an extremely sad, tragic, draining and emotional event. However, in every case, the mums, dads, brothers, sisters, friends and relations, in their eulogies, said how proud they were of their son or brother. They also said how committed each was to taking the fight up to the Taliban in Afghanistan because they overwhelmingly believed that they were fighting a just battle for a just cause.

I share with senators our nation’s gratitude to these gallant Australians. Their contribution to our national security is forever acknowledged and be assured that they will be remembered by all Australians forever. On behalf of coalition senators, I offer heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of Private Bewes, Trooper Brown, Private Dale, Private Kirby and Lance Corporal MacKinney.