Anzac values serve us well in time of need: Scott Morrison

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and wife Jenny Morrison lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier during the Anzac Day commemorative service at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra on Saturday.

More so than any other day, Anzac Day reminds us of who we are as a people, as Australians.

It’s a time to stop, to remember and to be thankful for the incredible gift we have to be Australian. Even more importantly, it is a day to say thank you and honour those who paid the ultimate price to give us this great gift. This is why Anzac Day is our most sacred day.

This Anzac Day, our traditions have been interrupted, but not for the first time.

Residents of Nearra Street in Deagon, Queensland, gather outside their houses to commemorate Anzac Day. Picture: Richard Walker

When our first Anzacs returned at the end of World War I, their very first Anzac Day at home coincided with the outbreak of the Spanish flu here in Australia.

That pandemic affected almost 40 per cent of our population and took 15,000 lives. Worldwide, the flu pandemic cost 50 million lives.

So in 1919, there were no citywide Anzac Day parades or marches for the veterans who had just won a great war. This was also true during World War II — there were times when gatherings were restricted and memorials closed because of the fear of Japanese air raids.

Rather than these occasions reflecting a forgetting or a distraction from our remembrance, they reinforced it. Because on those Anzac days, Australians were very much together in the fight defending Australia. Defending Australian lives, defending Australian livelihoods. So it is today.

This Anzac Day, we look to these past generations and ask “how did they do it?” and “what can we learn for our times?”

The answer, as we reflect on their service and sacrifice, is in the values that underpinned their service to our nation. Their endurance, their courage, their mateship and their sacrifice.

Values that resulted in so many Australians doing extraordinary things.

As they hit the beaches at Gallipoli and fell in the mud at the Somme. As they flew in the skies above Berlin, or suffered the horrors of the Thai-Burma railway and the Sandakan death marches. In the snows of Korea and through the trials and terrors of Vietnam. And more recently the dust, from Oruzgan to Taji and Baghdad.

These values of endurance, courage, mateship and sacrifice, are carved into the memorial stones at Isurava overlooking Kokoda. And you will find them posted in the many barracks across our nation and wherever our defence forces serve.

Mr Morrison lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier.

Most recently, more than 6500 ADF personnel, including 3000 reservists, who were called up, assisted Australians during the devastating Black Summer fires. A task I know they took great pride in. And now more than 2200 personnel are working side by side with nurses, public health officials and local police, on the ground in our cities, suburbs and towns, supporting our national effort to combat COVID-19.

Let’s also remember that for so many veterans, they live with the mental and physical scars of their battles long after the contact has ceased.

And, once again, today will be a hard day for these veterans.

Normally, Anzac Day is a day for them to gather. For many, it is the central point of their calendar. A time to laugh, have a drink, share memories and remember comrades. To hear those words, thank you for your service.

Just because we cannot gather today, do not let that opportunity pass. If you know a veteran, give them a call, or make a post on social media, and let them know you’re thankful and that they are greatly appreciated.

This year, the lesson of Anzac Day is that when Australians support each other, as we go through those times, we can withstand any hardship, and we can overcome any enemy.

This includes the virus that threatens us this day.

We can see this in how our nation is responding today. And I am more than a little bit sure that those first Anzacs would be seeing the patience, the compassion, the discipline and the many acts of selflessness that are taking place today, and tipping their hats.

Australians all over the country have lit candles at the end of their driveways to mark Anzac Day. PICTURE: MATT TAYLOR.

This Anzac Day, more than 100 years after our Anzacs first hit that beach at Gallipoli, we thank all of our service personnel for their sacrifice. But as always, and especially at this difficult time, we also thank them for the example they have given us to follow.

On this day 75 years ago, with the end of World War II in sight, our then prime minister John Curtin reminded Australia that the original Anzacs handed on a torch and it is passed on to every generation of Australians.

This combination image shows the contrast between this year’s Anzac Day Dawn Service and today’s at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance.

He said this torch — this responsibility — required every citizen to give in equal measure of devotion what our service men and women give every day. This Anzac Day, we are again called to grasp the torch left to us by the original Anzacs. Guided by their values. It is a responsibility our generation will meet. Lest We Forget.

Scott Morrison is Prime Minister of Australia