Page 5343 - Week 17 - Thursday, 13 December 1990
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I doubt that anyone would charge an entrance fee to a war cemetery. For many of us the Australian War Memorial has just that status. My father, like his father, went to school in our Canberra region and has no known grave; nor do many of his mates. As a child I was brought to the War Memorial to make contact with the ethos that motivated the man I never met. The cosmetic device of allowing free access to the Hall of Honour is totally insensitive to those of us who go beyond the Honour Roll to pay silent tribute at the exhibits. For me it is akin to allowing a sideshow in a cemetery. Many times I have seen men and women standing quietly before an exhibit. I ask council members to make an unobtrusive visit to the galleries. There, every now and then, they will see a lonely figure, a quiet Australian making a pilgrimage and, for some ageing ex-service men and women, a twilight visit to a scene of sacrifice to recall fellowship and mateship in a moment of quiet repose.
I also ask the council to consider another aspect: the origin of much of the memorial's collection from relatives who have surrendered a treasured memento in the expectation that it would be honoured, not commercialised. Indeed, I recently found, when cleaning up some family affairs, hundreds of letters and photographs covering the life and times of a young Australian airman. One letter speaks of finding a book of Australasian verse in a London bookshop and reading it to RAF pilots in the operations room before sorties. I considered giving them to the War Memorial. I have now made my mind up, Mr Speaker. They will not be given to a desecrated tourist resort. Shame on the council for not consulting the community, particularly the relatives of those who paid the supreme sacrifice.
School and TAFE Leavers : Valedictory
MR JENSEN (1.00 am): Mr Speaker, before I begin on some of the brief things I was going to say, I would like to echo the comments by my colleague Mr Collaery in relation to the War Memorial. I share Mr Collaery's sentiments in relation to that matter, and I would encourage those responsible for the War Memorial to reconsider that decision.
At this time of the year, many of our young people are in the final stages of their college or TAFE education and are about to embark on a search for a new career. This is an important stage in their lives and, as a parent with a son leaving college and a daughter completing a TAFE course, I am well aware of some of their concerns as we see the economic recession starting to bite.
It is appropriate, I believe, for the Assembly to wish these students well in their search for a new career. It is also appropriate to thank those teachers, boards and P and C associations who have worked during the last two years of our children's lives to prepare them for their
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