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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-11-13 Daily Xml
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Remembrance Day

Mr SZAKACS (Cheltenham) (15:15): 'Lest we forget' are three words deeply connected to who we are as a nation. This week, at the passing of the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month—101 years since the guns fell silent on the Western Front—we paused to pay our respects on Remembrance Day. It is a phrase that has its origins even deeper in our history, its roots found in the poem Recessional, penned by Rudyard Kipling. It was in fact composed to mark the jubilee of Queen Victoria. With the Ode of Remembrance, we stopped as a nation across Australia as the Last Post rang loud from the single, lone bugle. We said with one voice, 'Lest we forget.'

To mark Remembrance Day this year I, along with the Minister for Transport and the Hon. Ms Bourke from the other place, attended the ceremony at the Cross of Sacrifice at the Australian Imperial Forces section of the West Terrace Cemetery. The Australian Imperial Forces section of the cemetery was constituted thanks to the activism and protests of the League of Loyal Women because until 1920, and the establishment of the section, the burial of returned soldiers was desperate and disorganised. Over 150 returned soldiers had been buried at West Terrace Cemetery in unmarked graves. The section has seen numerous extensions and renovations over the years and, after being closed for new burials in 1944, today it finds itself the final resting place of 4,147 ex-service personnel.

At this solemn service, we heard from Major Alex Heinrich. Major Heinrich is a former major of the SAS who saw active service duty in both Afghanistan and Timor-Leste and has been awarded the Chief of Joint Operations gold commendation. He spoke about the changing face of war of conflict and of the changing nature and complexities of modern-day deployment. He spoke of conflict of generations past, of the clear adversaries encountered by soldiers, of a sense of loss and of a sense of success. He spoke of a type of camaraderie that took special form and shape through lengthy post-deployment journeys back home by sea and what those journeys look like today for soldiers who, in suffering the extremities of loss and sacrifice, find therapy and counsel through shared experience in at least a small way, a tiny way, for the horrors and dislocation of their shellshock.

Major Heinrich also spoke of modern-day conflict and deployment, of quick insertion and extraction, of a disconnect between policy, ideology and purpose at times, and of course the debilitating and profound effects of post-traumatic stress on returned soldiers, their families and friends.

I want to make special mention of a charity dedicated to the wellbeing and resilience of not only returned service men and women but also emergency services personnel and first responders—The Road Home. The Road Home, a charity of the Hospital Research Foundation, funds vital and groundbreaking research into the care and wellbeing of those who, in the pursuit of their service of this country, of our state and of our people, have sacrificed so much themselves.

They live with the trauma of post-traumatic stress, and it is often this psychological stress, the trauma they have experienced, which takes a dramatic toll on the physical wellbeing of those who have been affected. The research and programs facilitated and funded by The Road Home ensure the service and sacrifice of these people will never be in vain. Whether it is through their art therapy program or their Theatre for Change program, an innovative program run in conjunction with the State Theatre Company, The Road Home continues to innovate and take a holistic approach to therapeutic intervention.

They are also involved heavily in the world-leading Australian Centre of Excellence for Post-Traumatic Stress, co-located at the Jamie Larcombe Centre, dedicated to research that will improve the lives, the care and recovery of veterans to ultimately improve both their wellbeing and that of their family wellbeing. So, thanks to The Road Home, we can truly say, 'Lest we forget.'

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