General Cosgrove, the Leader of the Opposition, my parliamentary colleagues, General Leahy and General Lewis, ladies and gentlemen.
Can I first and most importantly express my personal welcome and that of my wife Janette to all of the men and women who have touched Australian soil for the first time in most cases for at least four months after your deployment in Iraq. I saw many of you only 10 days or two weeks ago, and I had the opportunity when I visited you in the Gulf to share some of the intoxication and excitement and sense of achievement and sense of purpose that you so plainly exhibited.
No military operation is of course without the concern and the anxiety and the harrowing nights of waiting and wondering, particularly on behalf of those who are behind and who love those who are on the front line. And I know how relieved all of you are beyond measure that we didn't suffer any Australian casualties. And as the person who more than anybody else in Australia was responsible, or is to blame, whatever way you want to put it, who ultimately accepted the responsibility for the decision to deploy yourselves and to deploy an Australian force in this very important operation, can I try to begin to share in the sense of relief that the families must feel that you're all back safe and sound.
You went abroad in our name on a just cause, and you joined others in liberating an oppressed people. That is something of which you can always for the rest of your lives be immensely proud. And as the Prime Minister of Australia, can I say how immensely proud I am of the way in which you upheld the reputation of the fighting men and women of the Australian Defence Forces. You won the admiration of your nation. You also won the admiration of your coalition colleagues. You were not only great war fighters, but you were great peacemakers and you were great conciliators.
And you have written another chapter in the very proud history of the Australian Defence Forces. It is a great military tradition, this tradition of ours. We don't seek to impose our will on others. We seek to do what we believe is right. And I have been privileged to be the Prime Minister at a time when we've had the chance to do that, and I simply want to say to all of you how incredibly proud I am, how impressed I am with your spirit, how admiring I am of the way in which your loved ones, many of whom we were able to see in different parts of Australia, the way you supported your men and women on the front, and have welcomed you home.
Thank you for what you have done. You took the ultimate risk. You put your lives and your limbs on the line like none other, and I shall always remember that. I shall always be grateful. But even more important than that, your nation, which welcomes you home today, will always remember that and will always be very grateful to all of you.
Thank you from Australia.
[ends]