Opposition leader Bill Shorten makes surprise Anzac Day visit to troops in Afghanistan
OPPOSITION leader Bill Shorten said he passed up the opportunity to attend the Anzac Day service on the Western Front to spend the day with Aussie troops in Afghanistan.
National
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AUSTRALIAN soldiers were building living “monuments” in the embattled Afghanistan that were as worthy as those elsewhere commemorating Anzacs in bricks, brass and mortar, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said.
Making a surprise visit to Kabul today, Mr Shorten said he had had the opportunity to join Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on the Western Front in France for Anzac Day but wanted to see serving “modern Anzacs”.
Mr Shorten visited ADF operations in Kabul but also the outpost Camp Qargha on the capital’s western outskirts, to mix with Australian troops in the theatre of operations.
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His visit came as the Taliban declared “fighting season” yesterday, the annual escalation of violence targeting military assaults, coalition and Afghan forces.
“Our modern Anzacs are building modern monuments too, all around them here, the sacrifice of our 41 (killed in action) in the recent conflicts here and monuments like the number of girls going to school, the number of graduates coming out of the officer training (Afghan National Army), life expectancy increased by a decade or more — they are monuments too and these modern Anzacs are building them all around us here in Afghanistan,” he told News Corp Australia.
Mr Shorten, who travelled here with President of the Senate Scott Ryan, said prior to the conflict, Afghanistan was known to harbour a quarter of the world terrorist organisations and the rationale to be here now was assisting a nation to rebuild.
“It is making a qualitative difference,” he said, adding it was important Australia be part of international coalitions that would pay dividends back home.
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