In Their Own Words

Christine Milne
Australian Greens Leader

Subjects: Gonski, Murray Darling Basin Plan, recognition of peacekeepers

CHRISTINE MILNE: I just wanted to comment on a couple of the issues of the day. The first is Gonski. The Australian Greens have been arguing all year to bring in the legislation that will at last allow a decent injection of funds into education in Australia, but particularly our public education system. We welcomed the Gonski review, we said how great it was that at last we were going to get beyond the impasse, that we were at last going to get real money into public education in particular, and we were actually going to fund education on the basis of need. This is something Australians want to see resolved, however it’s not very satisfactory to end up with legislation that’s very general and without a funding plan. Now the Greens have called on the Government and I call on the Treasurer again today – get behind the Greens in plugging the loophole in the MRRT, the Resource Rent Tax, get behind us, we need the billions that we can raise from the resource sector, we need to end fossil fuel subsidies, and we need to put that money into genuine nation-building. And there is no greater contribution we can make to building our nation than to properly funding education. What a great outcome that would be.

PENNY WRIGHT: The Australian Greens support the aspirations in the Australian education bill that’s been introduced by the Government today. It is a start and that’s good but it’s a very slow start and the six year transition is just far too long. It’s absolutely imperative that we fix our inequitable schools funding system and we do it fast, because there’s a whole generation of Australian school children, especially those in public education that educates the most disadvantaged students in Australia who are needing that investment in a better school funding system. So we will be looking to amend the legislation to bring it in more quickly and we will also be expecting to see legislation that provides the full Gonski. Obviously it’s really important that we know how much money the Federal Government is prepared to put on the table. Gonski called for a serious investment, estimated at around $6 billion, and the Greens are absolutely happy to work with the Government to find a way to fund what is one of the most pressing priorities for Australia. It’s hard to think of something more important than educating the citizens of the future and we know at the moment we are not making enough of an investment to do that.

CHRISTINE MILNE: On one other matter, the Murray Darling plan is going through the Parliament and the Greens are absolutely intent on making sure that we get the environmental outcome that the Minister says he was intent on delivering. It’s absolutely disgraceful that the Minister chose to work with the Coalition in favour of the big irrigators and Barnaby Joyce rather than work with the Greens to get a good environmental outcome for the river. And that’s why we will be moving amendments to make sure that the 450 gigalitres is actually delivered, and that the 3200 gigalitres is the minimum that goes into the river, not a maximum. That is what the Minister says he wants, that’s what we need to deliver for the river and we will be working to do that. It’s simply not good enough for the Minister to go behind the scenes and say I’ll work with the Coalition, brown this down and then pretend that he has somehow delivered at 3200 as a minimum. There is no guarantee at the moment 3200 gigalitres will go to the river, the Greens are going to make sure that that 450 is real and gets into the river, and that 3200 gigalitres is a minimum.

PENNY WRIGHT: I want to speak today about the wonderful work that our Australian peacekeepers do in areas of conflict and danger from all around Australia and the importance of recognising the sacrifice that some of those peacekeepers make when they die in the line of duty, when they die in the line of service, and the importance of recognising and acknowloging that their lives are as valuable as the lives of anyone else serving in the defence force in Australia’s name. So today I will be making a speech in the Senate and then I’ll be moving a motion calling on the Australian War Memorial Council to list the names of the 48 peacekeepers who have died in the line of service around the world on the honour roll at the Australian War Memorial. At the moment that isn’t possible and so there is a sense among peacekeepers that their contribution in areas which are often fraught and dangerous and conflictual is not valued as highly as the contributions that are made by other members of the Australian defence forces. It is important to understand that there is huge community support of this, there is indeed a community petition that has been organised by Avril Clark, whose son Jamie, who I will be speaking about in my speech, died in the Solomon Islands, and there are 19,000 signatures on that calling on the Australian War Memorial Council to list peacekeepers’ names on the honour roll. It’s my pleasure now to introduce two people who are much more expert in this than I am, there is Peter Pridue who’s son Beau died just over a year ago in East Timor, serving as a peacekeeper for Australia at that time and Paul Copeland who is with the Australian Peacekeeper and Peacemaker Veterans Association, the APPVA, and both these men will be in a position to explain to you a bit more about why this is such an important issue. That is popular support for this, it’s time that the Australian War Memorial Council recognised that and did the right thing in the name of honour really to honour Australian peacekeepers who take risks on our behalf all around the world.

PAUL COPELAND: Ladies and gentlemen, I’m the national adviser to the Australian Peacekeeper and Peacemaker Veterans Association, I’ve been a former president, the national president for eight years. So I’ve been involved in this issue since 1999 to date, which is about 13 years. The issue has been with the Australian War Memorial not appropriately recognising those who are killed serving this country in the name of International peace, security and stability. At the moment we feel that the current arrangement is disgraceful and it is highly inappropriate to have their names placed in a book of remembrance that is placed in a lockable cabinet in an obscure location within the balustrades of the Australian War Memorial. Where this book is located is not signposted and you need to go down to the AWM guides at the reception area to ask for someone to go up there and open the actual cabinet and then get them to flick through the pages where the people’s names are. This is totally unacceptable for our veterans and totally unacceptable for the families and friends of those who have laid their lives down serving this country on peacekeeping operations. We are hopeful that the Australian War Memorial Council will acknowledge the petition of over 19,000 signatures and the representations that have been made to them in the past 12 months and act accordingly and with due respect to these men and women who have died serving this country.

PETER PRIDUE: As Senator Penny Wright just said I am the father of Beau PrIdue who died over in Timor with the army and I just can’t understand that him and those other 47 young people put on an army or some other form of military uniform for the country and go overseas or wherever they go and not get recognised if they are killed with a uniform on. I’d just like to see this memorial for those people and, as Paul said ,out where people can actually see it, not locked away in a cabinet, in a book where you’ve got to ask for the key. I think it’s a disgrace to be honest with you. Thank you.

PENNY WRIGHT: Paul has one other comment he’d like to make but just to finish up from me I am extremely proud to be standing with these decent, honourable people who have a reasonable request that their loved ones and the people that they care about are adequately honoured by this country for the service that they have given us. They do us proud and we owe it to them to honour and recognise them appropriately. So I will be making a speech today, I will be calling on the Senate to agree to a motion that the Australian War Memorial Council list these 48 people’s names on the honour roll as is just and right. And I’ll ask for Paul to comment again.

PAUL COPELAND: I just wish to make one more comment and it focuses on the Gillard Government’s efforts in securing a seat on the UN Security Council, for a temporary seat 2013-2014. When the Prime Minister made these approaches towards the various countries and member nations of the UN Security Council and the General Assembly, the Prime Minister mentioned the highly recognised service of our servicemen and women who have served on peacekeeping operations since 1947 to the present. Australia has a proud, long military history, and with the federal police, of providing a true contribution of almost 70,000 people since 1947 to the current time, and that is non-stop, that is a significant contribution to world peace and security. And the Prime Minister used that to convince the General Assembly members of securing the seat. We understand there was up to $40 million spent on this campaign, we asked the Prime minister to come up with some of that $40 million to pay for not only the names on the honour roll but pay for our memorial that is waiting to be built on Anzac Parade here in Canberra.
I also wish to say in closing, we have lobbied a number of political parties over the years about this issue. The other two parties we have spoken to believe that this is an inappropriate position by them to tell the War Memorial Council to do what we are asking today. We have said that it is a public institution, that the Australian War Memorial Council manages and has custodianship over, on behalf of the Australian public and people, we ask that consideration be given over this period of time, long period of time of service to Australia, that we need to get our service recognised. I thank the Greens for having the intestinal fortitude for standing up and being counted when it has been needed.

JOURNALIST: On the education Bill, do you think it’s pretty weak that it has aspirations rather than any real funding commitments?

CHRISTINE MILNE: The real problem with the bill that’s been introduced in terms of Gonski, is that it’s Gonski in name bit it is not Gonski in substance. The Australian community will be hearing that at last the Federal Government has introduced the bill to implement the Gonski review into education funding but they will be seriously misled because it is aspirational in nature and lacks detail and lacks a funding commitment. One can only assume that this is the Government setting up the terms of the federal election next year that. That in my view is putting it off way too long. It is not about going to the election next year saying you have to make a choice on Gonski about who you vote for, we should be doing it before the Federal Election, we should be putting through serious legislation and a funding commitment in next year’s budget so it’s already secured before the election.

JOURNALIST: Just on the War Memorial, the War Memorial Council considered two weeks ago and they’re going to reconsider it, are you trying to up the pressure on them?

PENNY WRIGHT: We’re really keen that the War Memorial Council understands the degree of public sentiment that is behind what we consider to be an absolutely reasonable and fair position. And I’ve had the privilege of speaking to various family members now who have very clearly conveyed to me a deep sense of their loved ones not being valued as highly just because of the circumstances in which they were operating as opposed to the circumstances in which they died, or the fact that they weren’t actually serving Australia at the time they died. In my speech I’ve actually done some research and discovered that many, many of the situations in which peacekeeping missions and operations are carried out are highly fraught, they’re highly dangerous and one of the most challenging aspects of it is that because of the rules of engagement and the UN mandate, often these highly trained professionals from the Australian Defence Forces and the Australian Federal Police are not able to use the arms that they would have available if they were in a normal conflict zone to protect themselves or protect other people and they have to show incredible restraint, which is very professional and that’s what they do, so it actually makes it even more challenging and I think in many cases means that what they’re doing is extremely courageous.

JOURNALIST: Do you believe the Australian War Memorial Council is being unreasonable?

PENNY WRIGHT: I do believe that they’re being unreasonable and they have indicated that they will reconsider this in January. So we’re hopeful that they will come to the view, persuaded by the degree of public sentiment, that this actually is a logical and fair step to take now and that’s what we’re urging them to consider.