Page 1313 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 5 April 2005
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fated Sea King was stationed, had been on its way back to Australia last week, after weeks spent assisting Indonesians in the wake of the Boxing Day tsunami. It was diverted upon news of the Nias earthquake.
Among those killed on Saturday were two whose passing has particular resonance here in the ACT: lieutenants Matthew Davey and Paul Kimlin, two members of our community, known to many Canberrans and indeed, I believe, personally known to members of the Assembly, as are their families. Lieutenant Davey will also be known to the many professionals in the public health system in the ACT and to many at the Australian National University. He worked as an intern in Canberra Hospital in the early part of 2000 and he was a visiting fellow at the Australian National University in the 1990s. Lieutenant Kimlin, a naval pilot, was an experienced officer who had served Australia in East Timor, Christmas Island and Iraq.
Today, on this most sad occasion, I extend my particular condolences, on behalf of all Canberrans, to their families and friends here among us in Canberra and also of course everywhere else in Australia.
As we honour the memory of Lieutenant Davey, Lieutenant Kimlin and the other seven Australians today and lend our support to their families, friends and colleagues, it is important that we think, too, of the many hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Indonesians robbed of their lives by the earthquake of 28 March. It is important that we think of their families, equally bereft, and of their shattered communities still to be rebuilt.
The nine Australians who perished on Saturday were part of a proud Australian tradition. As servicemen and women they officially died for their country. But as men and women, like many before them, they died in the service of humanity.
On behalf of the ACT Legislative Assembly and all the people of the Australian Capital Territory, I condole the families, friends and colleagues of Lieutenant Matthew Davey, Lieutenant Paul Kimlin, Lieutenant Matthew Goodall, Lieutenant Jonathan King, Petty Officer Stephen Slattery, Leading Seaman Scott Bennett, Squadron Leader Paul McCarthy, Flight Lieutenant Lynne Rowbottom and Sergeant Wendy Jones, and I convey the Assembly’s hopes for a full and speedy recovery to the two survivors of the crash.
MR SMYTH (Brindabella—Leader of the Opposition): Mr Speaker, I rise on behalf of the opposition to offer our condolences to the family and friends, to the shipmates and to the defence force colleagues of these nine great Australians. To Lieutenant Matthew Davey, a doctor from the ACT; to Lieutenant Matthew Goodall, a helicopter observer from New South Wales; to Lieutenant Paul Kimlin, a pilot from the ACT; to Lieutenant Jonathan King, a pilot from Queensland; to Petty Officer Stephen Slattery, a medic from New South Wales; to Leading Seaman Scott Bennett, air crewman from New South Wales; to Squadron Leader Paul McCarthy from Western Australia; to Flight Lieutenant Lynne Rowbottom from Queensland; to Sergeant Wendy Jones from Queensland; to their families, their friends and those that they leave behind—we send our sincere condolences following their deaths in the Sea King crash at the weekend.
To the captain and crew of HMAS Kanimbla, who continue the good work that led to the occasion of the death of these nine Australians, we wish you well in what must be
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