Community War Memorials Fund

Ms TANYA GADIEL: My question is addressed to the Deputy Premier. How will the Iemma Government continue to honour our revered war veterans?

Mr JOHN WATKINS: As we approach Anzac Day that is an appropriate question and I thank the member for it. I know she spends a lot of her time working with the veteran community to ensure that the Government deals with issues that need attention and I thank her for her work. Before I go to the substantive part of my answer, members may be aware of a senseless crime committed in the early hours of yesterday morning at the Auburn RSL. Two items were taken from a memorabilia cabinet—a 303 rifle and a sword. Both were donated by a local man whose father fought bravely with the Light Horse Brigade and had been in the Battle of Beersheba. As 25 April draws near, I doubt any of us can understand the motivations behind anyone who would commit such an act. This theft flies in the face of everything that is good and right about the Anzac spirit. I know that today Minister Perry made an appeal, after speaking to the local police, for anyone to come forward. Again I make the appeal for anyone who knows anything about this criminal act to please come forward.

Ninety years ago on 11 November the guns fell silent on that most terrible war. As the sounds of battle faded, Australia counted its war dead: over 60,000 of our youngest and finest were never to see their families again and never to reach their homeland again. There were simply too many for the Government to even attempt to bring their remains home to Australian soil. In the days before mass overseas travel, it also meant the families would never see the place where their sons, husbands and brothers lay in those gentle fields in Belgium, northern France and other places and so began the long and painful process of building war memorials across our nation. There were a few memorials to the Boer War and for the Sudan. They do exist, but there are not many in number because prior to 1914 the number of war dead for our nation was only a few hundred.

Then in 1918 Australia was faced with mourning 60,000 deaths and so communities throughout our nation set about building war memorials in every town. They arose in every suburb in every place, in schools, public buildings, universities, even the railway workshops at Eveleigh. In the busiest streets and the remotest, loneliest corners of this State one can find war memorials. The nation became dotted with silent memorials to the sons, husbands and brothers who would never come home again. Those war memorials are among the most precious objects in our community. They were built, almost universally, by local fundraising, by wives, daughters, sons and proud communities left behind. So in a very profound way they belong to the people and it is the duty of the people—through their governments—to help maintain them.

All of us would know that the sheer number of our war memorials and their growing age make it a costly endeavour, one that local councils and RSL sub-branches cannot handle alone, even though they have done a magnificent job over that 90-year period. That is why last year the Government pledged to establish a Community War Memorials Fund. I am happy to advise the House that fund has now been established, worth $250,000 a year. It will enable councils, RSL sub-branches and other interested parties to apply for funding to help repair memorials in their local area. To administer the fund I have appointed a small committee chaired by the Parliamentary Secretary for Community and Veterans Affairs, and member for Parramatta. Joining her will be the President of the New South Wales RSL, Don Rowe, the President of the Shires Association, Bruce Miller, and the Principal Heritage Architect in the New South Wales Government Architect's Office, Bruce Pettman.

The committee will consider applications in two rounds, one to be announced on or near Anzac Day and the other at Remembrance Day each year. Applications can be made by following a simple set of criteria posted on the Department of Premier and Cabinet website, and I draw people's attention to it. I also advise the House that prior to the committee being established the Premier has approved a number of interim grants from the fund, for instance, I understand a $5,000 grant to repair the war memorial in Moruya and a $10,000 grant to shift and repair the war memorial in Katoomba following representations from the member for Blue Mountains. The Premier has also approved grants to restore the Light Horse Regiment Memorial and the adjacent Morshead Fountain outside the Botanic Gardens.

Members of the public who walk around that part of the city can see first-hand how magnificently these memorials have been restored, which gives a flavour of what this fund can achieve across the State, and we hope it does so over the coming years. The fact is that the bulk of our memorials are now approaching 90 years in age, and with all the survivors of the First World War now gone, it is our war memorials which will continue to tell the story of the fallen and keep the flame of remembrance alight. I sincerely urge communities across New South Wales to take advantage of this initiative and invite every member of the House to get behind it as well. Accordingly, it gives me some pride to launch the Community War Memorials Fund in the House today.