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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-02-22 Daily Xml
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LARCOMBE, SAPPER JAMIE

The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (14:03): I move:

That the House of Assembly expresses its deep regret at the tragic death of Sapper Jamie Larcombe of Kangaroo Island, who lost his life serving our country in Afghanistan, and that we place on record our appreciation of his dedication and service to our nation, and that as a mark of respect to his memory the sitting of the house be suspended until the ringing of the bells.

On Sunday morning we woke to the tragic news that Sapper Jamie Larcombe, born and raised on Kangaroo Island, had become the 23rd Australian serviceman to be killed since Operation Slipper began in Afghanistan in 2002. Jamie Larcombe loved his country and was as Australian as it gets. He grew up playing football and cricket. He rode motorbikes and went hunting in the bush with his group of close mates. He was a volunteer with his local Country Fire Service unit and his heroes were Ned Kelly and the Adelaide Crows' Andrew McLeod. He was the adored son of Tricia and Steve, beloved partner of Rhiannon and doting older brother of Ann-Marie, Emily and April.

The hauntingly poignant photograph that we have seen in the media over recent days of Jamie with his arm wrapped protectively around his sisters captures in a split second the essence of a young man who lived for his family and died for his country.

From the time he graduated from Parndana Area School in 2007, Jamie's ambition was to join the army. He achieved that aim within weeks of leaving school and his first overseas assignment was to help out in the wake of the 2009 Sumatran earthquake.

This is precisely why, despite his tender age, Jamie Larcombe was a man his local community was proud to call one of its own. He could be relied upon to get things done and to get them done with a smile. He was always one of the first to lend a hand. On Saturday, shortly after he reached the third anniversary of his enlistment into the Australian Defence Force, that willingness to serve cost him his life.

It goes without saying that all military conflicts are dangerous, but in a campaign such as the current operation in Afghanistan, the job of combat engineer, the role that Jamie served with the 1st Combat Engineer Regiment, is undoubtedly one of the most dangerous. It is the combat engineers who take the lead role in checking out areas of potential ambush or contact. Combat engineers, sometimes accompanied by their dogs, must clear a safe path through any carefully concealed bombs and elaborate booby traps. Often, they are required to step out of the armoured vehicle in which they are travelling and begin sweeping for explosive devices hidden beneath or alongside the road. They are exposed and vulnerable to enemy sniper fire as they move ahead of their comrades, inspecting, prodding and making the ground safe for others—one agonising meter after another.

Combat engineers lead their own units through unknown country, knowing full well that they are often in the rifle sights of an unseen enemy. They undertake this work in the knowledge that, if enemy fire is drawn, they are the most obvious target. In other words, the job of a combat engineer is a byword for bravery.

Soldiers like Sapper Jamie Larcombe epitomise the spirit and the courage of our service men and women that we trace back to the story of ANZAC, almost 100 years ago. They are the characteristics that are immortalised in the stained-glass windows that rise above the tomb of the unknown soldier at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra: the fearlessness and the comradeship, the gallantry and the loyalty that we recognise and remember every ANZAC Day and at memorial events that honour the sacrifices made by so many on our behalf.

No expression of national or community sorrow can ease the pain of Jamie's family, his partner, his neighbours or his mates. Nor can they adequately farewell a young hero so recently at school and now lost to us all, but his courage to serve will always be honoured as it should, on the island, throughout our state and across the nation.

The photographs that show him laughing and loving will gain power over the years, as will the dreams he treasured and the principles that he lived for. We mourn for Sapper Jamie Larcombe who did his very best and gave his all. We are forever grateful for his sacrifice and we will continue to honour his memory. We extend our very deepest sympathies to his family, friends and colleagues at this terrible time.

Honourable members: Hear, hear!

Mrs REDMOND (Heysen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:09): I rise to second and support the Premier's motion, and it is with great sadness, in the face of such an awful loss of such a young life. Sapper Jamie Ronald Larcombe is the 23rd Australian fatality in Afghanistan since Australia sent troops there in 2001, and the second South Australian, after Sergeant Andrew Russell, an SASR member, who died in action on 16 February 2002.

He is the fifth Australian Army combat engineer to be killed in action in Afghanistan, and the second member of the Darwin-based 1st Combat Engineer Regiment to die this month, following the death of Corporal Richard Atkinson less than three weeks ago.

Every death is a tragedy, but two deaths from the same regiment so close together is a devastating blow for the troops who served with Jamie and Richard in that regiment. Sapper Larcombe was shot dead by insurgents while on patrol in the Mirabad Valley on Saturday night.

A sapper is a military engineer who detects and disarms mines. It is a term with which I am familiar. My father was a sapper in the 9th Division in Tobruk and El Alamein. When patrols leave the security of an operating base, the sappers lead the way. They are out in front of the vehicle patrol with their dogs and their detectors seeking out mines. They are often required to clear out buildings, testing every metre to make sure it is safe. Sappers put their lives at severe risk each and every day, and the nature of their work means that they also have a much higher rate of injury than many other regiments. They put themselves at great risk to ensure the safety of their mates and of the locals who call war-torn Afghanistan home.

Jamie was only 21 years old. He had his 21st birthday just last September. He was performing perhaps one of the most harrowing and little-known tasks in war. Jamie was not alone on Saturday night and his is not the only family mourning a loss. I think it is important to also acknowledge the Afghani interpreter who was also killed in the same attack. There are many faces to war, many people making sacrifices, and each loss is unbearable for the friends and families of the victims.

Sapper Jamie Larcombe called the small Kangaroo Island community of Parndana home. He was born in Kingscote and, after graduating from Parndana Area School in 2007, joined the Army soon after his 18th birthday. I understand that an Army career was always his aim.

His first deployment in his short three-year career was to Sumatra in 2009 for Operation Padang Assist following an earthquake there. Jamie was on his first tour of Afghanistan, and he had been there only since September, that is, since around the time he turned 21. The sad news of the death of Sapper Jamie Larcombe will no doubt remind all South Australians of the incredible dangers being faced on a daily basis by our brave soldiers in Afghanistan and in other conflicts around the globe. Jamie's young life was full of promise. He was loved by his family, his partner, his friends and his close-knit community. Tragically, his life has ended too soon.

The loss of such a fine young man, who was prepared to put his own life at risk for his country and who has now paid the ultimate price, will continue to be felt by his family, his friends and the wider community. I cannot imagine the heartache and desolation his family must be enduring. I can only think that it must seem that their unbearable sorrow will never end.

On behalf of the Liberal parliamentary team, I extend our deep condolences to Jamie's parents, Tricia and Steven, his younger sisters, Ann-Marie, Emily and April, and his partner, Rhiannon Penhall. We should all remember Jamie's sacrifice and, to the extent that we are able, support the Larcombe family and Jamie's loved ones in their grief. The family have asked the media to respect their privacy and give them space to grieve. I encourage everyone to respect that request. I commend motion to the house.

Mr KENYON (Newland—Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing, Minister for Road Safety, Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Minister Assisting the Premier with South Australia's Strategic Plan) (14:13): I rise today to offer my sincere condolences and sympathy to the family and friends of Sapper Jamie Larcombe. His tragic loss—killed in action in Afghanistan last Saturday—is profound to his family, his mates, his friends, his home community of Parndana and the people of Kangaroo Island, along with all South Australians and the rest of the nation.

He will be well remembered for his commitment, his bravery and for making the supreme sacrifice in the service of his country. My thoughts are especially with his parents, Tricia and Steven, his three younger sisters, Ann-Marie, Emily and April, and his partner, Rhiannon Penhall.

Earlier today, I attended a meeting of the Veterans' Advisory Council, comprising representatives of veterans' organisations in South Australia, where we collectively stood and shared a moment of silence as a mark of respect for Sapper Larcombe.

I am advised that he is, sadly, the third South Australian soldier to be killed in Afghanistan since the Australian Defence Force commenced Operation Slipper in 2002. We lost Sergeant Andrew Russell in 2002, Private Thomas Dale last year and, now, Sapper Larcombe.

The death of Sapper Larcombe again reminds us in the starkest possible way of the constant danger faced by our troops wherever they are serving our nation. We have lost a fine young man and a brave South Australian. Lest we forget.

Mr PENGILLY (Finniss) (14:15): I rise to support the motion moved by the Premier and, in doing so, note that Sapper Jamie Larcombe is the 23rd Australian soldier to die in Afghanistan, some nine years after Sergeant Andrew Russell, the first Australian serviceman killed in Afghanistan.

Sapper Jamie Ronald Larcombe, of the 1st Combat Engineer Regiment, F Troop, was born on 14 September 1989 at Kingscote Hospital on Kangaroo Island. Jamie attended Parndana Area School, where he was loved by all. He loved his community and served as a CFS volunteer and played sport for his local footy club, Western Districts. His life ambition in high school was to finish year 12 and then to serve his country and to do it proud. This he did. As a dedicated son, brother and boyfriend, he could always be relied on.

Jamie was a fun-loving individual who loved life and gave where he could. Throughout his short life he never lost sight of his goal to serve his country. His determination to achieve was extraordinary. His role as a combat engineer in the Australian Army made him unstoppable in his quest to protect his country and the world from terrorism. Anyone who came in contact with Jamie grew to love him for his personality and his great sense of humour. He was cherished by his local Kangaroo Island community, friends, family and his close Army mates, who are now mourning his great loss. He will always be in our hearts.

I never thought, as a member of the South Australian parliament, that I would find myself in this place doing what we are doing today. On a small place like Kangaroo Island the pain has been intense since we learned of Jamie's untimely death. The island's heart bleeds for Jamie's parents Steve and Tricia, his sisters Ann-Marie, Emily and April, and his girlfriend Rhiannon and her family.

This condolence motion has a very personal sting. The member for Bragg and I know Jamie's family well and can relate immediately to their tragic circumstances. Steve, Tricia and their wider family are highly respected and extremely well-known, longstanding members of the Kangaroo Island community. Jamie's grandparents came to the island after World War II and took up a soldier settler block in the Stokes Bay area of Kangaroo Island. The family were, and are, very good farmers, but, more than that, members of the Larcombe family have always been great contributors. Steve and Tricia carry on being great assets to our community.

Over the years I have had considerable contact with Steve and Tricia in our small community, especially at sporting functions such as football, which, as I said, Jamie loved to play, but also through Steve and Tricia's building business, in which they are extremely high achievers. Their son was of that ilk. I do not think any one of us can begin to imagine just how much their small family is absolutely shattered. This grief is all the harder because never for one moment did they ever expect or want to be the centre of such widespread and persistent media attention across the nation as they have been in the last few days.

Kangaroo Island has had a proud record of providing service men and women to the Australian Defence Force, and Jamie stands proudly on that tradition with the other fallen heroes of the island. There have been fatalities from Kangaroo Island in both world wars, the Vietnam War and now the war in Afghanistan. Three brothers from the Ayliffe family were killed in World War II and I can still vividly remember, until she died, their mother going down very early every ANZAC Day, well prior to dawn, to place three wreaths at the Kingscote war memorial. She did this until she passed away at a very old age. The loss of her sons was unbearable.

Likewise, the first national serviceman to die in Vietnam, Eroll Wayne Noack, had a close connection with Kangaroo Island. His father and uncles lived out their lives on the island. In that conflict, Private Timmy Turner of the 5th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment was killed in Phuc Tuy province on 15 June 1969. Tim was a national serviceman and had only been in Vietnam for 14 days.

The island's grief at the loss of these fine young men was then, as it is now as we mourn the loss of Jamie 42 years later, inconsolable. Jamie's family has received immense support from the Australian Defence Force, in particular, Lieutenant Colonel Matt Pierce, who was Jamie's commanding officer. The lieutenant colonel has been with the family supporting them since they were informed early on Sunday morning of Jamie's death and remains with them as we speak. His support has been incredible.

It says something about Jamie's commitment to his country that the Larcombe family takes great comfort in knowing that Jamie was part of the finest defence force in the world and, indeed, the most highly trained. He loved his family and his girlfriend—and, equally, he loved his army family.

Jamie's friends on the island have been abundant in their praise of Larco, as they called him. All Larcombes are Larco or Larci. Equally, his former teachers have been loudly unanimous in their respect and affection for Jamie, and well should they be. Everyone is consistent in their praise. Jamie was a fine young man who deserves the generous tributes that have been forthcoming since we learned of his death on Sunday.

Jamie has been particularly honoured by his mates at the Western Districts Football Club and by its President, Mr Jamie Boyle, who has been fulsome in his recognition of Jamie's character and ability. Western Districts footballers are lovingly known as the 'Wonkies'. It is a great term of endearment; and, as a former school friend and footy mate of Jamie's said, 'Jamie is a Wonk forever,' and I say that with the deepest respect.

As I make these remarks today, I can only begin to feel the terrible pain endured by families and friends of all Australian soldiers who have lost their lives in our name in Afghanistan. I cannot imagine the heartache of losing your husband, boyfriend, father, brother or son to that conflict, or any conflict.

These losses are not just headlines or radio and television news reports to be forgotten in a day or two. The losses are real. They are small children who will never be tossed laughing into the air by their fathers, or held by their mothers and loved ones. They are photographs in the front room of every-day Australian homes around our nation. They are wept over on birthdays and anniversaries, and they are empty seats at family gatherings and the Christmas table.

This tragic death will be an empty place on the boundary at the Western Districts Football Club. There is a huge emptiness felt by everyone. When people wonder why Australia maintains its presence in Afghanistan, the truth, I think, is this: we stay to honour the sacrifice of those who have died or been injured in this conflict.

Jamie died fighting for a world in which terrorism has no place to hide, a world in which ordinary Afghani men, women and children can live without hatred and religious extremism, and a world in which all of us can live in peace, security and harmony. For those brave men and women—and especially Jamie—who have fought and died or who have been injured physically or psychologically, and to their families, we stay in Afghanistan and say to them, 'This was a fight worth having,' and so their dreams remain undiminished.

We stay to honour their sacrifice and to finish the job they started. Words cannot express the feelings and emotions that accompany events such as this. However, whilst we grieve as an Australian community and as Jamie's mum, dad, sisters, girlfriend, extended family and mates grieve with a grief beyond anything many of us will ever understand, it is worth recalling the words of Field Marshall Viscount Slim who said in 1954:

As an old soldier, I tell you that the work you do and the way you do it are above others, the memorial the fallen fighting man would desire.

I believe that this is exactly how Jamie would have felt. Kangaroo Island, along with Jamie's Army mates, will not bend in their efforts to help Steve, Tricia, the girls and Rhiannon. The island will always remember with the greatest of pride and affection Sapper Jamie Larcombe. Just as his name will for ever be etched on the island's war memorial in Kingscote (and, indeed, on other memorials around the nation), his legacy will be etched forever in our—the KI community's—hearts and minds.

I have no doubt that Jamie's final farewell will be an occasion that will be incredibly moving and will be indelibly printed in the mind of all who attend. He may well be Sapper Jamie Larcombe, but Larco will always be remembered as a fallen hero of his family, girlfriend and mates. He will never be forgotten.

Jamie, may you rest in peace in our hearts forever as our hero. Facimus et frangimus—we make and we break.

Vale, Sapper Jamie Larcombe, 1 Combat Engineer Regiment, F Troop (1989-2011).

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite) (14:24): I rise to add my sincere and heartfelt condolences to the parents, the siblings, the partner and to the extended family of Sapper Jamie Larcombe. I extend that condolence to the friends of this family in the tight-knit community of Kangaroo Island. This is the news no mother or father ever wants to hear, and the news that no commanding officer ever wants to deliver. I do so not only as the member for Waite but also as a former soldier, who for 23 years followed the same pathway which Sapper Larcombe and his fellow soldiers have travelled.

On 8 May 2002 I had the sad duty to move, in a grievance debate, my sorrow on the death, on 16 February that year, of another South Australian, Sergeant Andrew Russell, a young man who grew up in Ingle Farm in Adelaide, the first Australian soldier killed in Afghanistan, now joined by Jamie Larcombe. May they both rest in peace.

Of the 23 young Australians so far killed in Afghanistan, four are from my first battalion, the 6th Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment, including South Australian Private Thomas Dale; four are from my second regiment, the Special Air Service Regiment, including Sergeant Andrew Russell; and one is from the 1st Commando Regiment, of which I was the commanding officer in 1991 and 1992.

Each death since this war has begun has been particularly painful. I want to remind the house of the names of the brave 23 soldiers. Each one of them was a brother or a son, a grandson, a father, or a partner. They are:

Sergeant Andrew Russell, SASR, died of wounds sustained when his patrol vehicle struck an anti-tank mine on 16 February 2002.

Trooper David Pearce 2nd/14th Light Horse Regiment, QMI, was killed when his ASLAV was struck by an improvised explosive device on 8 October 2007.

Sergeant Matthew Locke, SASR, was killed by Taliban insurgent small arms fire on 25 October 2007.

Private Luke Worsley, 4RAR commando, was killed by Taliban insurgent small arms fire on 23 November 2007.

Lance Corporal Jason Marks, 4RAR Commando, was killed by insurgent small arms fire on 28 April 2008.

Signaller Sean McCarthy, SASR, was killed when the vehicle he was travelling in was struck by an improvised explosive device on 8 July 2008.

Lieutenant Michael Fussel, 4RAR, Commando, was killed by an improvised explosive device during a dismounted patrol on 27 November 2008.

Private Gregory Sher, 1st Commando Regiment, was killed in a rocket attack on 4 January 2009.

Corporal Mathew Hopkins, 7th Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment, was killed in an engagement with the Taliban on 16 March 2009.

Sergeant Brett Till, Incident Response Regiment, was killed by an improvised explosive device during a route clearance task on 19 March 2009.

Private Benjamin Ranaudo, 1st Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment, was killed as a result of an improvised explosive device on 18 July 2009.

Sapper Jacob Moerland, 2nd Combat Engineer Regiment, was killed as a result of an improvised explosive device on 7 June 2010.

Sapper Darren Smith, 2nd Combat Engineer Regiment, died as a result of wounds sustained from an improvised explosive device strike on 7 June 2010.

Private Timothy Aplin, 2nd Commando Regiment, died as a result of a helicopter crash on 21 June 2010.

Private Scott Palmer, 2nd Commando Regiment, died as a result of a helicopter crash on 21 June 2010.

Private Benjamin Chuck, 2nd Commando Regiment, died of wounds sustained in a helicopter crash on 21 June 2010.

Private Nathan Bewes, 6th Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment, was killed as a result of an improvised explosive device on 9 July 2010.

Trooper Jason Brown, SASR, died as a result of gunshot wounds sustained in an engagement with insurgents on 13 August 2010.

Private Tomas Dale, 6th Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment, was killed as a result of an improvised explosive device strike on 20 August 2010.

Private Grant Kirby, 6th Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment, was killed as a result of an improvised explosive device strike on 20 August 2010.

Lance Corporal Jared MacKinney, 6th Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment, was killed during an engagement with insurgents on 24 August 2010.

Corporal Richard Atkinson, 1st Combat Engineer Regiment, was killed as a result of an improvised explosive device strike on 2 February 2011.

Sapper Jamie Larcombe, 1st Combat Engineer Regiment, was killed during an engagement with insurgents on 19 February 2011.

Jamie, you lie in good company. Sapper is a term described as a rank for a member of the Royal Australian Engineers. Their motto is 'First in, last out.'

I extend my sympathy to Jamie Larcombe's fellow soldiers who will miss him. I feel for his commanding officer, for his squadron commander and for his troop commander and section leader. It is a terrible thing to lose someone under your command or to see them savagely wounded. You spend the rest of your life wondering if there was something you could have done or some different decision you might have made that may have resulted in a different turn of events. I say to them, 'Do not blame yourself. You did all that could be done to fight the good fight.'

While serving in the SAS in the 1980s, I commanded Australia's first counterterrorist team, whose job it was to deal, as a course of last resort, with the same rotten souls who have ended the lives of these 23 brave young men. We are facing fanatics who have no respect for human life. We are facing an enemy who would throw our democracy, our freedom, and our way of life into the trash can of history. We are dealing with people who wantonly massacre civilians by the thousands—innocent men, women and children—using guns, using bombs, using chemical weapons or by driving planes into skyscrapers. We are dealing with people who are so fanatical in their theocratic vision for the future of mankind that they will stop at nothing.

We have looked them in the eye in previous wars—dictators, Nazis, zealots, on a mission to kill or destroy—the same evil dressed in different clothes. Today's disguise for this evil is terrorism. Can I assure the family of Jamie Larcombe that he died fighting a noble fight. He died for the ten Australians killed in the September 11 massacre, including South Australian Andrew Knox, aged 29. He died for the 88 Australians killed when the enemy he was fighting massacred innocent people in a bar in Bali, including South Australians Bob Marshall, aged 68; Joshua Deegan, aged 22; and teenager Angela Golotta, aged 19; and for those who were maimed, burned and wounded in Bali.

Jamie died for the freedoms we all hold dear. He died for his mates in Afghanistan, but also for his mates on Kangaroo Island. He died for an Australia where you are free to surf on the beach, to gather at the pub, to move freely. He died for an Australia where his sisters enjoyed the freedom and the equality owed to them as a birthright. He died so that in kindergartens and schools and community gatherings around this great country, people could enjoy an education and share their views openly and freely in a diverse culture.

He also fought for a country where he, or any other Australian, can chiack a member of parliament without fear of being shot or imprisoned. Today there are reports from Libya of a dictator machine-gunning his own population, who seek nothing more than a right to speak freely and a right to vote in a free and fair election. Across the Middle East there is upheaval.

I have watched with mounting concern the imagery from Egypt where I lived in 1993 as commander of our peace keepers in the Sinai, charged with monitoring the Camp David accords along the border with Israel. I watch young Egyptians clamouring in the squares and the streets so familiar to me then, clamouring for the light of freedom, of democracy, but I fear that behind them stands the dark shadow of theocracy and dictatorship. Throughout history revolutions have started with Kerensky and finished with the Bolsheviks. They have started with the well meaning but finished up with something worse from whence they came. The world is a troubled place.

Jamie Larcombe has died so that we may be safe. In recognising Jamie's sacrifice, it is worth remembering—and I do—that he served in an army full of men and women who value the truth. Men and women who, by and large, hold to ideals we universally respect. These are people who value integrity, who look you in the eye and say what they mean—men and women who understand that to fight and win you must be true to yourself and true to your values.

Soldiering is unique. No other employment contract known to man has an unwritten provision which says: if required, you will die for your country. Soldiering is unique.

I recently watched vision of VC winner Corporal Benjamin Roberts-Smith looking uncomfortable at the formal ceremony to present the highest of bravery awards. Perhaps he was uncomfortable at the fuss. He would know, as brave soldiers do, that it is not the act of courage that you carry out in the heat of battle that necessarily defines the moment. Sometimes, it is what you did not do, the act of bravery by a fallen mate, but unseen or unrecognised, brave men all. These are the things that play on a veteran's memory and conscience in the years that will follow, and that will play on the mates of Jamie, with whom he served.

It is fashionable nowadays to throw the word 'hero' about. We have sporting heroes. We even have political heroes. What a load of nonsense. I ask myself whether, as members of parliament, we are worthy of this sacrifice. What can we do to honour Jamie Larcombe and the other 22 brave souls, including South Australian Andrew Russell, with whom he rests?

We could be more worthy. In the laws that we make and in the actions we take, we could seek to unite and not to divide. We could seek to build up and not destroy. We could act at all times to protect and nurture our democracy from the influences both within and from without that would envelop it and pull it down. We could, by our example, make sure that the terrorists never win.

We could ensure that, as members of parliament, we at all times seek to build a better South Australia and that we put the people first. We could ensure that this sacrifice being made on our behalf is forever valued and acts as our guide.

Jamie Larcombe, there is no greater sacrifice than to lay down your life for your friends, for your family and for your country. Thank you for helping to keep us free. Rest in peace.

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg) (14:36): Thank you, Premier, for moving this motion, and for the sad but stirring words of many of my colleagues today.

I rise not to repeat what has been said, but to say that last Sunday morning I arrived at the Parndana store, and the proprietor of the general store, Michael, came out and said 'Vickie, the most terrible thing has happened.' I had gone in to buy the form guide for the local Kangaroo Island races, only to find that the races were later cancelled because of the rain, but I could not think immediately of what else could be so bad. There had been no bushfires or anything. Michael said 'Jamie Larcombe has been killed in Afghanistan and the chaplain is around with Steve and Trish at the moment.'

For the record, I do not want specifically to express my condolences to the Larcombe family, because that is a personal matter, but to say that Jamie sadly is not the first and he will not be the last of the Kangaroo Island community to sacrifice their life for our country, but he will be remembered. There will be generations to come of men and women from Kangaroo Island who will continue to represent their community, serve their state and fight for their country.

It has dealt a bitter and raw blow to the community at present and the exchange between other members of the community on Sunday confirms that. But they will fight on, and they will continue to give. Jamie is the grandson of a returned serviceman who set up his home, his family and his descendants in Stokes Bay, and had later moved into the Parndana community—a township itself which was built to serve the soldier settlement scheme for the central and western end of Kangaroo Island after World War II. In the same week that Jamie died, a returned serviceman died and the widow of a returned serviceman died, so they will go on giving. I just say to the house they will never, never, never give up.

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (14:39): I did not know Jamie Larcombe, but I have worked on Kangaroo Island at the veterinary practice and I do know that the Parndana community will be feeling this very badly. I know the whole island community, being a very close-knit community, will feel Jamie's loss very significantly. With the support of the members for Finniss and Bragg, I know they certainly will move on from this, because they have a long history of military involvement and I am sure that will continue.

The words of Victoria Cross awardee Keith Payne yesterday stuck in my mind. I was listening to Keith Payne talking about the opening of a new gallery in the Australian War Memorial and he was talking about some of the good things that were happening. A reporter said to him, 'What do you think about what happened when you were awarded the Victoria Cross?' It really struck me: Keith Payne said, 'I did what was required.' I thought, 'That's a strange thing; you didn't do what was required. Perhaps you did do what was required, but you did it with extreme courage, extreme devotion to duty, and discipline; it wasn't just "what was required".'

Keith also went on to say there were others there that were supporting him, and that is what we should always remember: that with Jamie were all his mates, and in the army it is true mateship. I feel sorry for his mates, as well as for his family. Jamie Larcombe did not just do what was required; he did his job as a professional soldier, he did it with courage and he did it with discipline and, unfortunately, he paid the ultimate price.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (14:41): I, too, rise today to give my condolences to the Larcombe family and their friends, and to pay tribute to the service of Jamie Larcombe and the fact that he made the ultimate sacrifice for this country and for this country's freedoms. I do so as the brother of a former soldier who served for 23 years, and who served in Rwanda and Iraq. I was fortunate and could welcome my brother home.

It is very tough seeing people go away, but it is much tougher to have to welcome Jamie back to Australia in the way Jamie's family and friends will be doing. Our hearts and minds are with you, our thoughts are with you and our prayers are with you. May you forever be proud of your son's service.

The SPEAKER (14:42): Members, we hear many condolence motions in this place, but today's seemed to be very personal. I think that the faces and the tears and the silence of members while listening to the words of honourable members from both sides today really said it all. I think it is a tragedy beyond comprehension and, as a mother, my heart particularly goes out to his mother. Most of us here are parents; our feelings go out to the parents. It is a very, very sad situation.

I think particularly the words of the member for Waite brought it into perspective for us. I found them particularly poignant, and a very big insight too. But wonderful words from everyone. I ask that the motion be now carried in silence, following which the sitting of the house will be suspended until the ringing of the bells.

Motion carried by members standing in their places in silence.


[Sitting suspended from 14:44 to 14:54]


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