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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-11-27 Daily Xml
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ARMISTICE ANNIVERSARY

The Hon. G.M. GUNN (Stuart) (17:31): I am pleased to have the opportunity to add to what I said yesterday about the privilege I was given by the government and by parliamentary travel to attend the 90th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice at Villers-Bretonneux and to travel through, with an organised group, the Somme and the battlefields of World War I. It is a very chilling experience to think that thousands of young Australians (nearly a generation) was wiped out.

An honourable member: Terrible.

The Hon. G.M. GUNN: It is absolutely terrible—were wiped out in what is a beautiful part of the world in France; it is lovely agricultural country. They were all volunteers and, of course, the sad part of it was that many of them have never had a member of their family ever visit their grave. My mother said to me last night, when I was explaining to her about one of the graves I had visited, that her grandmother had said to her that when she saw the postmaster coming up the road with a telegram she knew what the message was that he was going to deliver and, of course, they never saw the grave of their 20 year old son.

It was a most chilling experience to walk through that Adelaide cemetery and look down that beautiful grove of trees and that lovely green countryside, as it is up on the hill at Villers-Bretonneux. The young Australian servicemen and women who were present excelled themselves in the way they carried out their duties. It was pleasing to see so many young people from Australia visiting those sites and paying tribute to the people who had given their lives in the service of freedom and democracy.

I sincerely hope that this parliament will continue to send a member to pay homage to those people, because they were young people from all over Australia. Most of them, of course, would have had no idea of what they were going in to. I think we also should be aware of what General Monash did. He changed the whole aspect of the fighting on the front when he used airplanes for the first time to drop ammunition. It was brilliant military tactics which assisted in the final outcome.

There were over 200,000 Australians on the front in the October, but they were pulled back at the insistence of Billy Hughes—who I think had had enough of the whole exercise—and were not actually at the front when the fighting finished. It took months and months to get them back to Australia because there was no adequate transport.

Another interesting aspect is that they had to pull those people who had served at Gallipoli out of the front because, if they had kept them there, there would have been none left to come back to Australia because of the intensity of the fighting. When you look along the Hindenburg Line and see those concrete bunkers and where they put the barbed wire, and then you think that people were ordered to go over the top in advance, it is absolutely mind-blowing and appalling, the results. When you walk along those cemeteries, you see headstone after headstone with no name, with 'Known only to God' written on them because they could not be identified. The medical facilities were inadequate where the clearing station was, and lots of lives were lost, clearly through not having adequate medical facilities. That in itself was a tragedy.

I also took the opportunity to visit the Scottish parliament. If members want to see how to look after themselves, they should pay a visit to that building—a building budgeted to cost $40 million ended up costing $400 million. I can say that it is not a building which is viewed with great enthusiasm by the constituents up in Scotland. They are not particularly impressed with the cost, because it is a clear example of what happens when you let academics and outsiders who have no experience make decisions that will affect the parliamentary process. They actually had architects and people building the parliament before they had any elected members of parliament. I will give you one example—

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson: Because they didn't know who they were going to be.

The Hon. G.M. GUNN: No. The windows in the building are all different sizes, so just imagine the cost. The library facilities are magnificent and the dining room facilities are great. There is a huge amount of space; it is all great, but I question the actual cost. I was very privileged to be taken to lunch by two members of the Scottish parliament. They explained to me the great things that they were doing, and it was most interesting.

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson: Did you find traces of your ancestors?

The Hon. G.M. GUNN: Well, no; my ancestors came from right up at the very top part of Scotland. They were crofters who were driven out.

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson: I hope they supported the Stuart Pretender in 1745.

The Hon. G.M. GUNN: They were not particularly keen on the British aristocracy. They were frugal, hard-working people and, like myself, of a conservative disposition.

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson: Supporters of the real royal family.

The Hon. G.M. GUNN: As a monarchist, we will have that debate. I also had the opportunity of visiting the Agent-General's office, and I must commend those people responsible for putting that window in the office. It depicts all the names of the towns around South Australia. I thought it was very impressive, and it will be very good when delegations are visiting and having meetings there. It is very prominent and I think it is an excellent facility and well and truly in the interests of the people of this state. I believe that the Office of the Agent-General plays a very significant—

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson: And you wouldn't refuse the appointment if asked.

The Hon. G.M. GUNN: I do not think I will get that privilege. I think the Premier will probably get it one day. I commend the staff there for the work they did and for the assistance they gave in making appointments for me. I wanted to talk to the Department of Agriculture and the National Farmers Union in relation to genetically modified crops, something which I think we will have to address if we want to look after mankind and make sure that we have adequate supplies of food and clothing. We need to closely examine and allow those developments to take place, because there is no alternative.

I was fortunate to have morning tea with the Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons. If one wants to see security, that is where it is. I never thought that I would see police officers walking around with machine guns in the House of Commons, but that is what we now have. You also get your photo taken when you go in, just as you do when you go into a government department. Your photo is taken as you go in and it is recorded, and you are under the strictest security. I have to say that I hope that it does not come to that here in South Australia.

I also had the opportunity of visiting the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association offices, and I am pleased to say that there is a painting of David Tonkin displayed there, recognising his term as Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. It seems that I entered parliament on the same day as David Tonkin. I was very pleased to be shown that painting and to be given a briefing in relation to the activities of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and its desire to improve the standard of parliamentary conduct, particularly to stamp out corruption and other anti-democratic activities which, unfortunately, some countries are involved in.

I commend them for the work they are doing. I did appreciate the opportunity to go on that occasion, as I believe that members of this house can learn a lot from talking to their opposite numbers around the world. I was taken to dinner at Edinburgh by Gavin Strang, a Labor member for Edinburgh who has visited South Australia. He and his good wife took me and my wife out to dinner, and he showed me some interesting things in Edinburgh. I greatly appreciated his hospitality. I sincerely hope he comes to South Australia so that I can return that hospitality.

Mr Speaker, I wish you and your family, and all members, the compliments of the season and hope you and they have a merry Christmas. I am looking forward to that particular time of the year, even though our time will be disrupted with other duties. Nevertheless, I am looking forward to the festive season. I sincerely hope that the economic downturn will not have the same effect here as it is having in the United States and the United kingdom. I was saddened to see that 140 people lost their jobs yesterday. There are difficult situations in rural South Australia. I hope that they are dealt with compassionately and that common sense prevails and undue stress is not put on those people.

Time expired.

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