Scott Morrison urges everyone to mark a day like no other

Scott Morrison says Anzac Day will be ‘like none any of us have ever experienced’.

Scott Morrisons waves on during an Anzac Day march in Townsville. Picture: Evan Morgan

Scott Morrison says Anzac Day will be “like none any of us have ever experienced” and urged Australians to thank veterans for their service by participating in commemorations at home and expressing their gratitude on social media.

The Prime Minister said the Light Up the Dawn initiative — in which people will gather in their driveways and balconies to listen to a live-streamed dawn service from the Australian War Memorial — provided an opportunity “to reflect on Anzac Day perhaps in ways that we haven’t before”.

The traditional dawn service, national ceremony and veterans’ march will not take place this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking on Sky News, Mr Morrison said he thought “the Diggers would be pretty proud of what they’ve seen from so many Australians at the moment” in pulling through the health crisis.

He also said it was a chance for “all of us to gather as our nation remembers its fallen and its heroes and reflects on the great values that sustain them at other times”.

“It was a hundred years ago when Australians returned from the First World War, and on their first Anzac Day in Australia it was in the middle of the Spanish flu.”

He said this was “something very similar to what we will face” on Anzac Day as the nation gathered together without the parades. “We do so quietly and commemoratively. And I do think it will be a very special time.” Mr Morrison will deliver the Anzac Day address on Saturday morning and Australia’s Federation Guard will mount a catafalque party at the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier in the Hall of Memory.

Anthony Albanese said Anzac Day was “always a special day” but this year it would be different. “Australians will still be commemorating the sacrifice of servicemen and women … many of them will be doing it in their driveway, paying tribute to those who have sacrificed their lives in order to maintain our freedom and the Australian way of life.”