Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

As a Flight Lieutenant in the RAAF Reserve, it is with a little bit of trepidation that I stand to second the motion of the member for Bennelong on the Centenary of the Royal Australian Navy. But I am standing here as a politician, so I do so proudly and commend him on his motion. I also wish him many happy returns—on something short of his 100th birthday! That is a special occasion as well. This year was also the RAAF's 90th birthday. Everyone in the RAAF refers to the Navy as the 'Senior Service'. I think that is sometimes just to annoy the people in the Army, but the reality is that it is always called the Senior Service, because it has been around for so long. The 100 years we are celebrating today obviously recognises when King George V granted the 'Royal' title to what was then a 10-year-old Commonwealth naval force and also naval forces that were pulled from the colonies, because they had a history long before the Federation of Australia.

It is appropriate that we recognise the birthday—the Centenary, 100 years, of the very proud Royal Australian Navy—and I commend the member for Bennelong on the motion, particularly as a Queenslander. This year, a year of floods and cyclones, the Royal Australian Navy responded in a wonderful way when things were tough, when things were grim. When the floods and cyclones were in force all over Queensland, the Royal Australian Navy stepped up. I noticed that the commander-in-chief—a Queenslander, Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce—also noted that in her message marking 100 years of the Royal Australian Navy.

By way of history, I will start by acknowledging that during the First World War the Royal Australian Navy possessed 63 ships, 22 of which were requisitioned, and lost only two vessels, both submarines. From my vague recollection of school history, I think the first was in an operation in Germany-controlled Paua New Guinea, and I think the very first fatality in World War I might have been a Queensland sailor. I did not have a chance to track that down—the first fatality in the AE1—because today has been a busy day, but hopefully I will be able to track it down. The other RAN vessel that went down was at Gallipoli, running the blockade of Turkish forts. So only two vessels were lost. I think it is appropriate that I mention that these two vessels that went down were submarines—and I will return to this at the end of my contribution—because anyone who is connected with the Navy knows that whilst you need an incredible amount of courage to go to sea, it takes a particular type of courage to go under the sea—one might say a crazy-brave sort of courage—but I do commend them. One of the aged care facilities at Salisbury in my electorate is actually named after the submarine, so there is a particular connection there with my electorate. We do not have a naval base on the Brisbane River in my electorate as yet, but I will see what transpires. So World War I was the sign of a developing Navy.

Then if we turn to the Second World War our fleet had expanded significantly, and I am going to mention some of the names of these ships because they are connected with so many people in my electorate and with my RSLs. We have HMAS Australia, HMAS Canberra, HMAS Hobart, HMAS Sydney, HMAS Voyager, HMAS Swan and HMAS Yarrasome of those are famous names for all of us. By the time it came to later in the war, there were over 200 vessels in our fleet ranging from fleet oilers to other repair ships—an incredible number. Of the ships in commission prior to the outbreak of war, all except the Hobart and Swan were sunk. When you read statistics like that, it is easy to say it as though it did not impact on the lives of the families and the communities that come with those sorts of disasters, although the Hobart did sustain serious damage as a result of a torpedo hit. I will particularly turn to that because I would like to mention a Mr Chas Taylor and Mr Eric Wright who are both members of the Sunnybank RSL in my electorate—I would suggest one of the best RSLs in Australia.

Mr Chas Taylor and Mr Eric Wright are proud former members of the Royal Australian Navy and they served on HMAS Hobart during World War II. Mr Taylor joined the Navy in 1941 and was posted to the Hobart to the following year as a stores supply and gunnery control specialist. Mr Taylor was aboard the ship when it was torpedoed by Japanese forces near the Solomon Islands on 20 July 1943 where 13 crew and a US officer died. In fact, a piece of the boardroom table from HMAS Hobart is on the wall of the Sunnybank RSL.

On 2 September 1945 from the their vantage points aboard HMAS Hobart, Chas Taylor and Eric Wright, two of my constituents, witnessed the end of World War II. It is amazing what they saw. The two men were strangers at the time but they were sailors on their ship HMAS Hobart which moored in Tokyo Harbour not far from the USS Missouri aboard which the Japanese signed the surrender documents. They could see the USS Missouri and the surrender ceremonies through binoculars. Here they are, and I wish them well. I know Mr Wright is having a tough time at the moment.

It was interesting to hear from the member for Bennelong about the fact that, of the 97 Victoria Crosses awarded, none have been awarded to sailors, I think is what he said. Obviously no-one would doubt the courage of the people in the senior service, as I am sure the member opposite would acknowledge. However, when the member for Bass speaks on this motion, I think he is going to talk a bit further about how perhaps there should be two Tasmanians recognised, and I wish him well with that.

Obviously the Navy has taken shape from the days of having two submarines to the present where we have the Navy working in concert with Customs and the Air Force patrolling our borders. During the Christmas Island inquiry that I was on recently, we heard that basically they are deployed to look after 11 per cent of the world's surface, which is a lot of space for not many people and they see all sorts of things. They are trying to patrol our economic interests in keeping our fishing banks safe and in intercepting illegal maritime vessels to make sure that there is a control process in terms of immigration. They do incredible work. It was an honour and a pleasure to meet them on Christmas Island.

The people that get on these ships say goodbye to their family. I know this occurs for Army and Air Force personnel when they go on a posting overseas, but when you get on a ship it is a completely different experience because you are cut off from the rest of the community for such a long time.

I said I would return to the submariners in particular because I think it takes a particular courage to do the things that they do. If you have seen the circumstances inside the submarines, they are a little bit better than the submarines that sank in Papua New Guinea and at Gallipoli. However, I particularly wanted to mention the courage of the submariners and all the people in the Royal Australian Navy. I have been going to the Coral Sea commemoration service every year for the last four years, and it is amazing to see the camaraderie and hear the history and the events that occurred in the Battle of the Coral Sea. Admittedly, I would point out that it was the Air Force working in concert with the Navy that created that first victory—or the first victory we claimed. I think the Japanese claim it as a victory as well. It was definitely a successful operation and the first time that we had been able to halt that onslaught. It is amazing to hear the stories and see the people from World War II in particular, who are obviously not getting any younger. I just want to particularly thank them for their contribution during World War II and in Vietnam and beyond, Vietnam particularly, and wish them Happy Birthday.

See this speech in context