Once again ANZAC Day brings us all together.
We're still navigating life alongside the disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic.
And it is my sincere hope that today, ANZAC Day,
everyone has an opportunity to connect, and reflect on the things
that are really important to them.
In 2022, we still ask what it is to serve Country.
What it is to give your life willingly. Your health willingly. Your being willingly.
As an act love. As an act of love of Country, in service.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people know all about this.
They've been serving this land for well over 60,000 years.
Many people know that when the first call went out to go and help others in conflicts
overseas, for the modern Australian nation there was
no hesitation whatsoever that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
would come forward to join up in service.
Many of these people went away those they loved.
They left their communities, their families, their children.
They left everything they knew behind.
To serve a country that in some of those earlier times didn't even recognise them
as belonging to this place.
They weren't seen as citizens, many of them had to lie about the colour of their skin
or about their ancestry, or where they came from, to get a berth on a ship that went
overseas, to willingly put themselves in harm's way.
And many didn't come home.
And for many who did come home, they came home with a heavy burden.
And those who did were also often denied service to the sorts things and programs
that others were given.
It may have been resettlement land, pensions, the benefits of repatriation
and lifelong health support.
So what does this day mean to me?
Well it means many things.
What I'm mindful of now is our veteran community.
There are hundreds of thousands of people that are affected by those
who went to overseas to serve our country in conflicts who remain alive today.
Or as a result of their service, are not very well or who have since died.
And what remains are families, children, grandchildren,
and communities that mourn their loss.
What we need to do as a nation is learn how to embrace them, look after them,
and care for them into their futures, because after all they went under our flag,
under our request, to do what it was to protect Australia's interests here and abroad.
Right now, we've got many of our military forces working in flood relief,
and operation assists across breadth of Australia.
Right now, we recognise those who have served in fighting fires,
in being able to provision help for communities,
and being able to provide humanitarian aid.
Now more than ever we need our military to be strong, and sustained,
and node.
Now more than ever for me, today, we need to recognise that we have a responsibility
to those service personnel, whatever uniform that they wear, for the rest of their days.
Because of what they've done.
Today we are able to march and gather once more.
I know many of us will remain cautious because of COVID.
But what shouldn't escape us is having this opportunity to remember, to share the
stories of place and of those of that place,
and to share how others have given their lives, given their wellbeing
and given their health, and to recognise that service will continue
not only today, but into the future.
Lest we forget.