Page 1393 - Week 04 - Thursday, 4 April 2019
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Memorial and the rest rather than the Australian War Memorial versus the rest. Unfortunately, that is the nub of what Mr Rattenbury has been saying in his motion and what the Greens have been saying publicly.
The motion Mr Rattenbury has tabled today in essence is about reducing the planned funding for the Australian War Memorial. We do not need to rob Peter to pay Paul. I agree that we all support our national institutions, and Mr Coe went to those points. But we do not need to have an ideological attack on the Australian War Memorial and then this late come-to-the party support for the other national institutions, when clearly this motion is about an assault on the expansion on the Australian War Memorial.
I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Dr Brendan Nelson on his vision at the Australian War Memorial: not just the planned expansion, but what he has done particularly through the centenary commemorations of World War I. They have been extraordinary and I know that they have been embraced by many people across Australia, not just veterans but particularly the families and relatives of those who have served, particularly those who served in World War I.
The expansion that Mr Rattenbury is railing against is very much focused on conflicts over the past 40 years, the many peacekeeping missions that Australian Defence Force personnel have participated in: conflicts like Somalia, Rwanda, Cambodia, East Timor, Afghanistan and Iraq. In total, over 100,000 Australian men and women have participated in those deployments.
I get the sense that Mr Rattenbury and his colleagues would have argued against Charles Bean’s original vision for the Australian War Memorial. I can imagine that if this were a motion in this place, if it existed, in the 1930s or 1920s, Mr Rattenbury would be here arguing against any such war memorial. This is part of an ideological position that the Greens have, which is very different from that expressed within the Liberal Party and, I am glad to say, the Labor Party. I note that the Labor Party supports this expansion at the federal level.
I go to many commemorative events. I am often there with Labor colleagues from this place. I was at the Australian War Memorial this morning with Mr Ramsay. I was at an event yesterday with a bunch of schoolchildren organised by the RSL with Mr Ramsay. I have been with many other colleagues from the Labor Party plenty of times. But in probably over 100 events that I have been to, I have never seen a Greens member. I have never seen a Greens member turn up to any of those activities to commemorate, recognise and acknowledge the sacrifice and service of our Defence Force, representing the 102,000 names that are on the wall of remembrance. What is the reason for that? Mr Rattenbury said in his speech today that he is too busy. He is always overseas—he goes to places overseas—but he does not have the time to go up to the Australian War Memorial. He said it in his speech.
I am very glad that people like Mr Ramsay can find the time to go to the Australian War Memorial. He is a very busy minister; no less busy, I am sure, than Mr Rattenbury. He can find the time to go to the Australian War Memorial, as he did today, and to go to Eddison Park, as he did yesterday. He regularly goes to those
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