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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-05-06 Daily Xml
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Operation Slipper

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (15:23): In this job, you get to meet some amazing people, go to some amazing places and do some amazing things. In my role as the shadow minister for veterans' affairs, I was very fortunate to be part of the audience that was there to help welcome back South Australia's contingent of troops returning home from serving in Operation Slipper.

Operation Slipper commenced in Afghanistan shortly after the attacks in New York in 2001. It involved some 35,000 defence personnel, officials, police, diplomats and other civilian contractors. On Saturday, 21 March, there were parades right across this nation to welcome back the troops, to mark the end of Operation Slipper and to recognise the enormous effort and, in many cases, the sacrifice that had been made as part of this operation.

Obviously, with any conflict like this where people are being put in harm's way through their roles in the military, there are casualties. There were 41 young Australian soldiers killed in Afghanistan during this time. I spoke to one particular set of parents on Saturday the 21st, the parents of South Australian Sapper Jamie Larcombe. To speak to parents, to realise the depth of their grief, the depth of their loss, was one thing but to then see other parents who had shared a similar fate with their sons was even more humbling.

We see a number of people, when they go to lay a wreath, put their hand over what people think is their heart. What is actually happening there is that people are putting their hand over their medals because the sacrifice they have made to have been awarded those medals is nothing like the sacrifice that people like Sapper Larcombe have made. I thank all those families for offering up their sons to help serve this country who have, unfortunately, paid that ultimate sacrifice.

Operation Slipper commenced in 2001 and ended on 31 December 2014. Prime Minister Abbott went to Afghanistan with opposition leader Bill Shorten. Veterans' affairs is one of those areas where we do try to have true bipartisanship, and we should try for that at all times. It is good to see it at the federal level and I try to do it at the state level with minister Martin Hamilton-Smith. The end of Operation Slipper, as I said, was in December 2014. Prime Minister Tony Abbott travelled to Afghanistan with opposition leader Bill Shorten for a special ceremony at the Australian base in Tarin Kowt in Urozgan province. He told the gathering of troops and Afghan leaders that:

Australia's longest war is ending, not with victory, not with defeat, but with, we hope, an Afghanistan that is better for our presence here.

The last combat troops were withdrawn from Afghanistan on 31 December 2014, however, there are still 400 personnel remaining in Afghanistan as trainers and advisers and they are stationed at Kandahar and Kabul.

Fortunately, our young men and women who are going overseas for these conflicts do not suffer the same fate as our Vietnam veterans when they came back. The Vietnam veterans have taken many years to adjust to the fact that we do value their sacrifice, we do value their service and with a ceremony like Operation Slipper, that was specifically designed to head off any negative reaction about troops being sent overseas, it was there to recognise and celebrate the work that our young men and women have been doing from all of the armed forces: Army, Navy and Air Force.

The need to maintain that support, to value their efforts and to remember their sacrifices is something that I will continue to do every ANZAC Day and every other possible moment I get. Veterans' affairs minister Martin Hamilton-Smith and I, as the shadow, go to many events and we are both happy to stand side by side and to recognise that this is something that is above politics, it is something that we all—and I know all members in this place go to many functions with our veterans—need to make sure we never ever allow to slip from our absolute front of mind consciousness.

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