Mr RAMSEY (Grey—Opposition Whip) (13:33): I commend those comments. It’s only 26 days until Anzac Day, and this will be my last opportunity in the chamber to actually say something before Anzac Day rather than after. It has become perhaps our most important national day, and I’m looking forward to 25 April and being out and about in my electorate to commemorate service. The day commemorates the day that Australian troops landed at Gallipoli, but it has become so much more than that. It’s the day when we remember particularly the service of those who gave their lives and were injured in battle and the service of those who put their name on the line for Australia.
Each year, I do an Anzac brochure. I try to share stories of battles and provide new experiences and learnings to the people of Grey so that they can go on this journey with me. This year, we’re focusing on World War I and the Battle of Passchendaele at Ypres, in Belgium, and on the clearing of Huon Peninsula, in New Guinea, which was after the Kokoda Track and Milne Bay but in those years when we were still trying to evict the enemy from the lands close to Australia. I will be in Clare for the dawn service, and then after that I’ll go down to Ardrossan for the 11 o’clock march.