ABC Townsville
HOST: I'm joined by the Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Thank you so much for your time this morning.
PM: You're very welcome.
HOST: No politics today because it's a very special day. It's Anzac Day. So why is it important for you to be in Townsville today?
PM: It's important to be here because this is such a famous garrison city. Because we've got so many of our Australian Defence Force personnel here that I wanted to be here today, not only for the Dawn Service, but for the parade that is taking shape behind us.
I've had the opportunity as Prime Minister to commemorate Anzac Day in a variety of settings.
I was in Korea for the anniversary of the Battle of Kapyong. I was at Gallipoli last year.
It's fantastic to be in such a wonderful Australian city for Anzac Day today.
HOST: As we approach the Centenary of Anzac Day, are you encouraged by the ever growing crowds that are attending Dawn Services around the country and overseas?
PM: I certainly am. And the thing that I always look for is the number of children and there are just more and more and more, and sometimes when you get into conversations, why did you come, parents very freely admit “I got dragged here by my young son or daughter”.
So it's actually the children who are driving the next level of engagement and I think that that means that for all of time, we will commemorate Anzac Day and think about who we are as Australians on that day.
HOST: Today is the final Anzac Day service in Tarin Kowt in Afghanistan. How significant is that?
PM: It's incredibly significant. We have been engaged in Afghanistan for such a long time.
We have seen so many losses, including the losses here in Townsville; that for us to be moving to the end of the mission is a very significant thing.
So I'm sure the feelings there are mixed emotions. I mean great pride in service and what has been achieved but also a sense of moving to the next stage.
HOST: Picking up on that, as was noted in the service this morning, there have been seven deaths since last Anzac Day; thirty-nine in total in Afghanistan. This has been a difficult period for the military. What's your message to our armed forces and their families?
PM: My message is we're always thinking of you. The losses have been severe and the grief doesn't go away.
And because we've seen so many losses, and we've seen multiple losses from one regiment or one area of our ADF, there are people who really feel that weight of that burden, of those multiple burdens.
So we never forget and that's what Anzac Day is all about. We never forget.
We'll always be there to extend support to people.
But we do want to honour their sacrifice by talking too about what they've achieved.
We went to Afghanistan to deny al-Qaeda a safe haven for terrorism.
That's the work that we're doing. And that's the mission we are accomplishing.
HOST: Eight per cent of serving personnel have post-traumatic stress disorder. Is there enough psychological support for our armed forces when they're away and when they return home?
PM: We do focus on mental health services and psychological support and we're going to have to keep focusing on it.
We will have large numbers of people return, many of them from multiple tours of duty in Afghanistan.
Some will take physical injuries with them. We have seen many wounded. Many will also take psychological wounds with them.
And we'll have to just keep working to extend care and support.
HOST: I ask that because the VC recipient Ben Roberts-Smith, he said in the last couple of days that returned service people are being supported now, but he wants that momentum maintained once the war in Afghanistan ends.
PM: Well, I certainly agree with that and I think it's an important observation.
As we go through the next few years, I think we'll get a sense of the full dimensions of support that are needed.
I mean we haven't quite been here in a long time; having people return, seven tours of duty, six tours of duty, five tours of duty - young men, still with all of their lives in front of them.
So we're going to have to make sure that we're getting it right and that's going to mean extending the services that are there now, but also continually keeping the level and the way the services are provided under review.
I mean, generations change, the way people interact change. This will be a generation that perhaps wants those services provided differently.
And that's why we'll have to keep really engaged with it and focusing on it.
HOST: What will a post-Afghanistan Australian military look like?
PM: A post-Afghanistan Australian military? Well the force posture will not be substantially changed because of the end of the mission in Afghanistan.
We've had a force posture review and we're in the process of responding to all of that.
So we posture our forces for our ongoing needs, including, of course, defence of our own country as our prime objective.
HOST: Prime Minister, thank you very much for your time.
PM: Thank you.