Page 1761 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 13 May 2015
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Dr Nelson on a poster in this small boy’s bedroom. He then moved on to talk about the War Memorial and gave a very moving speech about the centenary of Anzac.
When I say “very moving”, there was not a murmur or a movement in the room while Dr Nelson was speaking. At the point when he spoke about the sacrifice of the Anzac digger at Gallipoli, towards the end of his speech, there were about 20 people in the room with tears in their eyes. As I have said to some of my colleagues, it was one of the best speeches I have ever heard in my life, and it really gave those visitors to Canberra a great idea of what the War Memorial is all about. It is not about celebrating war; it is about commemorating those who served, and the way that it forged our values as a nation—about mateship, about courage, about sacrifice and lots of other values.
There were of course a number of sponsors of the event. I would like to make special mention of Robyn Hendry and all the board and staff of the Canberra Convention Bureau who did a great job in bringing those people to Canberra. Well done to all those who were involved. This program runs every year, and it attracts a lot of business to Canberra—people who choose to come here for conferences and conventions. I say to my colleagues that you have probably been to your fair share of these events in the past, but I certainly encourage you to attend because it is a good way of encouraging people to come to Canberra. By meeting some of our local politicians, federal politicians as well, it shows them that by coming to Canberra for their conference they really can talk with decision makers. It really influences their decision.
Once again, well done to the convention and visitor bureau and to the War Memorial for hosting the Top Secret Showcase dinner.
Nepal earthquake
MR DOSZPOT (Molonglo) (6.19): I rise tonight to speak about the tragic events that occurred in Nepal on 25 April, when a 7.8 magnitude earthquake took the lives of 8,000 people and left more than 19,000 with serious injuries. Countless villages were destroyed. Then, just yesterday, 12 May, while disaster recovery and emergency volunteers were still trying to cope with this human tragedy, there was another earthquake, this time of 7.3 magnitude, which took another 65 lives and injured an additional 2,000 people.
In our Assembly yesterday a bipartisan condolence motion was passed. All Canberrans’ thoughts are with the millions of people in Nepal who have been affected in one way or another by this tragic event. This was Nepal’s deadliest earthquake in more than 80 years, and it was with shock that Australians heard the news of the massive devastation in that beautiful country, slightly larger than the size of Tasmania but with a population larger than ours of 27 million.
There is a small Nepalese community in Canberra and they have sprung into action to assist with fundraising and have been working hard to involve all Canberrans. I had the pleasure of meeting some of the Nepalese community and His Excellency Rudra Kumar Nepal, the Ambassador of Nepal, a few weeks ago at one of these fundraisers, which I will talk about later.
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