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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-11-22 Daily Xml
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Grievance Debate

REMEMBRANCE DAY

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (15:24): One of the areas that we do get bipartisan support for in this place is veterans' affairs. For many years I tried, with Aboriginal affairs, to have as bipartisan an approach as possible but, unfortunately, there are times when, both with veterans' affairs and Aboriginal affairs, you do need to question some of the motives and the methods of the government.

That certainly happened last question time in this place, the Thursday before Remembrance Day (10 November), when I asked why there had been an email circulating in some hospitals to request that the broadcasting of Remembrance Day services not go ahead as it was apparently disturbing the patients. This was not going to happen at the Repat.

In what was quite a vitriolic attack on me by the minister—and I was surprised at this because I thought he might come out and say, 'I'll investigate it because it is a silly idea.' He got stuck into me saying that I was creating a political bunfight over this. No, minister, what I was saying was there was a question that needed to be answered in a succinct way. Fortunately, the Minister for Health tweeted almost immediately (although he was not in the chamber at the time because he was on other business) that Health staff should be observing Remembrance Day. But, no, the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, the Treasurer, continued this attack in this place on me as the shadow minister for veterans' affairs.

Let me tell the Treasurer and the Minister for Veterans' Affairs that the feedback I got on Thursday night, 10 November, was all very positive: at Brighton Secondary School for their 102,000 poppy release, which I will talk about in a moment; then later on at the Glenelg Plympton RSL on Friday night of Remembrance Day; and then the numerous other people I spoke to over the weekend. They were perplexed at why an email like this would go out in the first place. They thought I was quite correct in raising this issue because veterans' affairs, veterans' remembrance ceremonies, should be valued to the highest extent.

It was a bit silly that the Minister for Veterans' Affairs came in here and said there are sick people in hospitals. Hang on. The Repat was exempt, so are they different sick people in there? I must admit there are some different people in the Repat because many of them are veterans, particularly in Ward 17 where there are some serious issues, yet they would want to remember their mates on Remembrance Day.

We should all be valuing Remembrance Day, we should all be valuing all of the memorial services that we have around this state and across the nation. I got one note on Facebook from Lynn Arnold who was in Ireland at the time. He was in support of what I was saying—and that is from a former Labor premier. He said, 'I hope that they observed Armistice Day in Ireland,' and he was not sure what the procedures were, but he was supporting the fact that I had raised the issue and that I was trying to find out why such a ridiculous pronouncement had gone out by some bone-headed bureaucrat.

I make no apologies for that because it is completely disrespectful of veterans, completely disrespectful of the families and completely disrespectful of the memory of those events that those veterans and their families have had to endure over many years.

Mr Griffiths interjecting:

Dr McFETRIDGE: And as the member for Goyder says, the sacrifices made. It is the ultimate sacrifice, with thousands laying down their lives. On that point, I went to Brighton Secondary School on Friday 11 November where there was a fantastic ceremony organised by one of the young students. There were 102,000 paper poppies dropped from a RAAF helicopter over the school oval and I was among the dignitaries who were there, the parents, the RSL, the many veterans who were there and the many school students. It was an absolutely fantastic occasion and deeply moving.

I congratulate Brighton Secondary School on the organisation of that event which was then followed by a play about memories by David Reed, one of the teachers. It was written by David. It was a really good, poignant grab of various stories from World War II, performed in the new performing arts centre. It was a first class performance.

But for me to be accused by the minister of trying to politicise veterans' affairs is completely wrong because I will do whatever I can to advance the cause of veterans, despite whether the minister agrees with me or not. I will continue to do that as long as I hold this portfolio because I hold veterans—my mum and dad are both veterans in the Royal Marines and the Wrens, my brother was in the Navy. I will continue to hold what they do as sacred and what the many thousands and thousands of other veterans do as sacred. I will not stop for one minute, and certainly it will not be an attack on me that has any effect on that.

Time expired.

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