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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-04-30 Daily Xml
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ANZAC Day Commemoration Services

Mr DULUK (Waite) (15:40): I rise today to talk about ANZAC Day and honouring the memory of the men and women who gave their life for this country. Last week, on 25 April, we commemorated ANZAC Day, and it is indeed a day of commemoration and not a day of celebration. On ANZAC Day, we remember the spirit of the ANZACs and how proud Australia is of its veterans.

I will speak about ANZAC Day more broadly in a minute, but prior to ANZAC Day, on 24 April, I was very proud to join the Premier, the Minister for Health and Wellbeing, the member for Elder and the federal member for Boothby at the Repat to announce that a federal re-elected Morrison government will invest $5 million at the Repat for a new veterans' wellbeing centre, which will bring together key services for our veterans and their families.

This centre will be a shared place for a range of government and non-government organisations to deliver services and programs to veterans and their families. This is in addition to the state and federal governments' announcement of nearly $80 million for joint funding to revitalise and reactivate the Repat as a genuine health precinct. It was fantastic to be there with Ruddy from the Plympton Veterans Centre as well as part of that announcement.

The Repat has a 70-year history in South Australia, and many South Australians were able to rehabilitate their bodies and minds at the Daw Park hospital. It is a critical part of the South Australian health system, and that is why I am so proud to be a part of a team that is reactivating the Repat. Those opposite still have not apologised for closing the Repat. I was actually a little bit surprised that on ANZAC Day, at the service at the Repat, the member for Kaurna, the member for—

Mr BROWN: Point of order: I draw your attention to the state of the house.

A quorum having been formed:

Mr DULUK: As I was saying, the member for Kaurna, the Hon. Ian Hunter in the other place and the Labor candidate for Boothby were at that ceremony as well, which was fantastic, but I would like to see the member for Kaurna, the Hon. Mr Ian Hunter in the other place and the candidate for Boothby come out and apologise for Labor's closure of the Repat and the role that they played in that and, if they do not, for them to refrain from hypocrisy as they go about their civic duties. More importantly, I call on the Labor Party to match the Morrison government's $5 million investment in the Repat centre for veterans as a hub for them and the SPF centre there on that site.

More broadly, a lot of Australians attend ANZAC Day services across the nation, and I know that on both sides of the house it is something we do to honour the memory of those men and women who sacrificed their lives in service to this country. It is a shame that there are some parts of our community, stemming from academia at the moment, who criticise ANZAC Day and the role that Australians play in the commemoration of such an important day. I especially ask those from the left commentariat to reflect on their words as we celebrate this solemn day.

In my own community, I had the pleasure of attending the ANZAC Youth Vigil at the Blackwood Soldier's Memorial, an event put together by the Blackwood community and mainly led by the Scouts in my community, the Sturt CFS Group Cadets, St John Ambulance from the Blackwood Cadet Division and Belair Girl Guides. This year was especially significant. Not only did it mark 15 years of standing guard as a youth vigil but it also was held at the recently restored Blackwood Soldier's Memorial on the Blackwood roundabout.

This year, we also remembered Mr Brian Langsford, who passed away late last year. Brian was a long-term servant of the Scouting movement in South Australia and the driving force behind the youth vigil in Blackwood. In the morning, I attended services at the Blackwood memorial where we had about 4,500 people and later on at the Coromandel Valley memorial. The Hon. David Ridgway in the other house represented me at the dawn service at Mitcham. It was an honour to attend the youth vigil on ANZAC Day as we remembered those who made the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of our nation.

These qualities of the original ANZACs, who landed at Gallipoli in 1915, can be seen in the service of those who came after them in the Second World War, in Korea and Malaya, Borneo, Vietnam, in the recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq and in all our peacekeeping operations. We remember those who have served our country during times of conflict and crisis and reflect upon their sacrifice and, in some cases, that ultimate sacrifice.

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