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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-04-07 Daily Xml
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ANZAC ACTIVITIES

The Hon. R.B. SUCH (Fisher) (12:44): I move:

That this house requests all schools in South Australia to hold commemorative ANZAC activities to acknowledge the more than 100,000 Australian men and women who have given their lives in the service of their country.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The Hon. R.B. SUCH: The member for West Torrens says, 'They do, don't they?' Unfortunately, they do not. I wrote to minister Weatherill—and I understand that the government and he support what I am trying to do. Schools are not required to commemorate ANZAC activities, as I call them. ANZAC Day falls usually in their school holidays, so it is hard for them to come back just for ANZAC Day. So, I have used the term 'ANZAC activities'. It goes beyond commemorating ANZAC Day; it is to commemorate all those who have given their lives, more than 100,000 men and women.

I wrote to the Minister for Education, who informed me that schools are not required to acknowledge or commemorate ANZAC activities and I think that is unfortunate. Most of them almost certainly do something, but I believe they should all do it. The media reported it as mandatory; it is not. This is not a bill, this is a motion, and it says 'requests'. I would be very disappointed if any school chose not to acknowledge that sacrifice.

It is not about glorifying war. War is hideous and evil, except in some rare situations where people are fighting for a noble cause and they have no choice but to take up arms. I have probably mentioned before in this house that my uncle was killed in New Guinea in World War II on his birthday. That is where I get the name Robert from—Harold Robert Wescombe, a young man killed in the prime of his life. My English grandfather fought in the Battle of the Somme; he was gassed, but he survived that. Another relative was involved in the Boer War and he died shortly afterwards from, I think, disease contracted there.

My father was on the earlier Sydney. He knew a lot of the men who were on the Sydney that went down. He never talked about it, but it must have had a significant impact. I think 642 men drowned or killed when the Sydney went down, but he never ever talked about it, other than to say that he believed, as did most of the people in the Navy at the time, that the commander of the ship allowed the Kormoran to get too close, to get under the big guns, because they could have blown the Kormoran out of the water any time they liked. In defence of the captain of the Sydney, I think it needs to be pointed out that if he had blown up the Kormoran and it had turned out to be full of POWs, then people would have condemned him, so in some ways he was between a rock and a hard place, because those sorts of accidents did happen in World War II.

It is not about glorifying war. It is not about anything like that. It is about acknowledging that young men and women in particular gave their lives in large numbers so that we can enjoy the freedom we have here today. The least we can do is acknowledge that, and our schoolchildren should be part of that. When I went to Coromandel Valley Primary School as a kid we had special assemblies, and I can remember they were quite emotional and moving because in that little school, before my time, they had lost quite a few students in World War I.

In the Uniting Church at Cherry Gardens, which is now in my electorate, there are 39 names on a plaque on the wall of those who went to war in World War I, and I think about 10 or 11 were killed. In places like Coromandel Valley and Cherry Gardens nearly every family lost at least one son; in some cases they lost more than one. Recently, I think it was the member for—I am trying to think who brought in the motion commemorating or recognising the sacrifice of the nurses in World War II, but—

Mr Sibbons: Torrens.

The Hon. R.B. SUCH: The member for Torrens. Once again, it is not about glorifying what was an evil act directed against those nurses but recognising that those people gave their lives. I think it is true to say that in Australia, in the First World War, we lost over 60,000 young people, and that had a very significant impact, I believe, on this country, because many of those young people thought they were going on an adventure, which turned out to be a nightmare, whether they went to Gallipoli or to the Western Front. Thousands of them died and, in many ways, we lost some of our top young people.

Whilst we are focusing naturally on our own who lost their lives, the loss to German, Italian and Russian mothers is just as painful as it is for people here. Someone in response on radio said that this is jingoistic; it is not. If you do not learn from the past, you do not have much of a future in terms of trying to avoid war. I think one of the best things any person can do in politics is to try to ensure that there is no war unless it is absolutely essential in order to defend your country. I commend this motion to the house. As I said earlier, it is in the form of a request—it is not a law, it is not mandatory—but I would be very disappointed if any school chose not to remind young people that the freedoms we enjoy in this country have been obtained at great cost and that, wherever possible, we should commit ourselves to ensuring that we have peace and that we have peaceful relations with other countries. I commend the motion to the house.

Ms THOMPSON (Reynell) (12:50): The government is pleased to support this motion. At the same time, I am personally quite bewildered as to why we are considering it. I am disappointed that we are considering the motion in this form because it implies that our schools are not undertaking appropriate recognition of ANZAC Day, and nothing could be further from the truth. The government does not actually control what happens in Catholic and independent schools, and even within its own area it does not go into each classroom to make sure that something is said about ANZAC Day, but, from my own knowledge, I know what happens in my schools on ANZAC Day and I know how this is supported by various government agencies.

For instance, each year the DECS chief executive sends a circular to schools reminding them about the significance of ANZAC Day. The chief executive via the circular asks all public schools and preschools to recognise and commemorate the bravery and sacrifices Australian men and women have made in times of great adversity. All preschools and schools are encouraged to take the opportunity to engage in learning about and celebrating the significance of the ANZAC Day spirit to Australian society. The government supports that learning each year by distributing to schools from the Department of Veterans' Affairs a package of information that can be used as additional resources to what is already available in schools.

Madam Deputy Speaker, as you know, our first resource in schools is teachers and it has been my experience that our teachers also recognise the importance of ANZAC Day within the community environment, and within the context of Australian studies and society so that it is not just on ANZAC Day. They go out of their way in the south during school holidays to escort children who participate in ANZAC Day activities, particularly through the ANZAC Youth Vigil. There are other opportunities to increase even further participation in ANZAC Day events and, more importantly, this spirit of ANZAC Day to ensure that this is a sacred trust that goes on to our children. I know our teachers recognise this and I know they recognise the importance of it for children and the community.

There have been additional initiatives taken by this government to enhance our learning even further. The Premier's ANZAC Spirit school prize for years 9 and 10 students has been conducted since 2007. This initiative has been developed by the state government in an effort to encourage young South Australians to understand, connect with, and maintain the ANZAC spirit made famous by the diggers during the Great War of 1914-18. Nine students and two teachers from DECS, independent and Catholic schools participate in a state government funded study tour to Europe to commemorate ANZAC Day. It will happen this year, as it has for the last few years.

Then, the History Teachers' Association of Australia through its state affiliates conducts the national Simpson Prize competition for years 9 and 10 students on behalf of the Australian government. Through this competition, students are required to write an essay or prepare an audiovisual presentation related to a set statement, with winners travelling to Gallipoli or the Western Front to attend ANZAC Day ceremonies.

The state government has also established an ANZAC Day Commemoration Fund to enable various community organisations to participate in the commemoration of ANZAC Day. In my electorate, the Morphett Vale East Primary School applied for a grant in order to erect a new flagpole. Unfortunately, the school was too late to get its entry in qualifying for the grant, so the Minister for Veterans' Affairs (thank you, minister Kenyon) has instead made a special grant to enable Morphett Vale East to have an additional flagpole.

It is a very interesting story, because, during their much-admired BER works, a stone was uncovered that contained a plaque recognising those from the Morphett Vale area who had served. They did not know it was there. So, having discovered that treasure, the school went about making the most of it. They did not want to move it. They do not know yet why it is where it is, but they thought that it was a special spot and that it should be maintained.

Instead, they asked for money to erect an additional flag next to the stone, and they have decided that, on the last Wednesday of term each year, they will have an ANZAC Day ceremony conducted by the local RSL; and the Morphett Vale RSL could not be more cooperative in assisting schools to commemorate ANZAC Day. Children will learn the ode and all the basic concepts about the formal recognition of ANZAC Day.

As I have already mentioned, the ANZAC Youth Vigil in the south now provides an opportunity for schools—in addition to what they have already done during term time—to come along out of term time to participate in the ANZAC Youth Vigil ceremonies. This year, at least 24 schools (and possibly more) are coming along, despite the fact that ANZAC Day as we know coincides with Easter and so many families are away and many teachers are away.

Nevertheless, 24 schools are sending at least two children to the ANZAC Youth Vigil in the south on Sunday 24 April. They will participate in the ceremony and lay a token of respect on the war memorial. I consider this quite amazing, as I saw the students last year sitting in the rain with their teachers, getting absolutely drenched. But, as one of them said to me, 'Well, this is putting up with nothing compared with what those diggers had to put up with. I'm not worried about being drenched.' Children understand what is happening. They understand why we are so proud of the ANZAC spirit. They are going out of their way to participate. At the dawn service there are more and more children. In Morphett Vale we now have the second largest dawn service in the state. As I look around, it is full of children.

Of course they are there because they have learnt about ANZAC Day in their classrooms and in their schools. We know that their parents are supporting them and that probably their parents have encouraged them, but I do not think they would be getting out of bed at 5 o'clock in the morning if they did not already know through their school curriculum and the respect shown in schools that ANZAC Day is important to us. It is important as Australians.

As I said, I completely support this motion, but I am disappointed that it has been brought forward in such a way that implies that this is not happening, and I am disappointed that the media that I have read from the member for Fisher is also failing to give credit to the huge amount of activity that occurs in schools.

I do hope that FIVEaa, in particular, takes note of the fact that our schools are very active in the way in which they recognise the ANZAC spirit, commemorate ANZAC Day and ensure that future generations know how important this is to us—and how important it is for them to think about the relevance of ANZAC Day in their current lives, to make that translation from 1914 to 2011-12 and how they can live up to the spirit of ANZAC in their everyday lives.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mr Pederick.


[Sitting suspended from 13:00 to 14:00]


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