Ministers, Leader of the Opposition, your Excellencies, the Chief of the Defence Force, ladies and gentlemen. In this very busy final week of this parliamentary session it is in every way appropriate that we gather for a few moments, now several months after the extraordinary response of Australia and its various agencies to the tsunami disaster, as a parliament and because of that on behalf of the Australian people, to extend our thanks to those many men and women of Australia who did so much to express the compassion, the concern, the desire to help, and the practical capacity to do so in the wake of the Boxing Day tsunami disaster.
And it is appropriate that as well as myself and the Leader of the Opposition in a parliamentary occasion, that we have on the platform, the two men representing the expression of that response at a practical level. The Chief of the Defence Force, General Peter Cosgrove, and Doctor Peter Shergold, the head of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, as well as the High Commissioners and Ambassadors of the countries most affected by the tsunami disaster.
The response to the tsunami was one of the proudest moments in Australia's post war experience as a nation. We responded speedily, we responded generously and we responded effectively. And the effectiveness of the response and the speed of the response was really the work of so many men and women who are gathered here today. And the principle purpose of this gathering is for me, and I know I'll be fully supported by the Leader of the Opposition, is to say on behalf of the Australian people, to the men and women of our public services, to the men and women of the Australian Defence Force-particularly to the men and women of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, of AusAid, to the Australian Federal Police, to those who took part in the very stressful victim identification process, particularly but not only in Thailand, to express again our sense of compassion and empathy with the men and women of HMAS Kanimbla, whose commanding officer, Commander George McGuire, is present here today, how much we still remember and think of and mourn the tragic deaths of those nine fine young Australians who died in the Sea King helicopter disaster on the 2nd of April.
I have many memories as Prime Minister of the days and weeks that followed the tsunami disaster. I was very proud when I was told by the President of Indonesia, the Prime Minister of India and the Prime Minister of Thailand that I was the first foreign leader to have been in touch with them in the wake of the disaster. And I will never forget visiting Aceh, and accompanied by Brigadier David Chalmers, who was the commander of Operation Sumatra Assist, to meet those being cared for, to imbibe the infectious enthusiasm and compassion of the Australians who were working in that Anzac field hospital, it was indeed a very heart-warming experience.
As indeed was the extraordinary response of the Australian public. More than $300 million donated in corporate and personal donations. The generosity unsurpassed in the history of this country. And of course through the Government a $1 billion package of assistance over a number of years to the people of Indonesia. To be able to go to the Aid Conference convened by President Yudhoyono in Jakarta on the 6th of January, and to know that I was going there speaking on behalf of 20 million Australians in offering our assistance and our help was indeed an immense privilege.
I would like to express to the Leader of the Opposition and through him to all of his colleagues, my appreciation of the totally bipartisan way in which the response of the Government and the people of Australia was organised, and I especially acknowledge the contribution of the Opposition in that respect.
I do also want to single out two of my colleagues if I may-Alexander Downer and Robert Hill. Alexander Downer as the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Robert Hill as the Minister for Defence carried much of the ministerial burden of our response. Alexander went very early to Thailand, he visited many of the victims and talked to those victims' families and talked to those who were involved in the victim identification process. And as Minister for Defence of course, Robert was directly responsible for the early contacts with the Indonesian Military and for the organisation of the ADF response.
Inevitably on occasion such as this one, by mentioning some inevitably leaves out others, but I do want to say to those, particularly of my colleagues, Alexander and Robert, thank you for the remarkable job that you have done.
Today I think could mark the last occasion at which Peter Cosgrove attends a public gathering, at least in this Great Hall, and he's attended many as Chief of the Army, and over the last three years as Chief of the Defence Force and I take this opportunity of thanking him very publicly for the role that he's performed as Chief of our Defence Forces and at no time could he have been prouder of the men and women who wear the uniform of Australia, than in the work that they so wonderfully did in Aceh, in the wake of the this disaster.
We demonstrated to the world a practical compassion at which Australia and Australians are unsurpassed. We demonstrated a willingness to help the regional friends in need, we demonstrated our deep generosity as a community and most importantly of all, we demonstrated to ourselves that when required Australians can rise to any occasion.
I want to record to the head of my own Department who in a titular sense organised the public service response, how very grateful I was for the immediate sacrifice of any suggestion of recreation - Christmas or New Year leave -on the part of the men and women of the Australian Public Service-they were at their superb professional best, they wanted to do nothing other than to mobilise the Australian assistance and to work hard to help people who desperately needed our help.
So as we look back on those events, the recollection is tinged with the sadness, and the memory of the loss of more than 280,000 people in this terrible natural disaster, and a particular personal sense of grief for having lost nine magnificent young men and women in our Australian Defence Force. But it was, despite the sense of tragedy and grief; it was a proud moment in the history and experience of the Australian nation. We demonstrated a sprit, a heart, a sense of purpose, a sense of organisation, and a sense of efficiency at which we have every reason to be proud. And on behalf of the Australian people, can I say to all of the men and women who are gathered here today, and there's one person I know who I would particularly like to mention, Dr James Robertson who headed the victim identification operation from the AFP, he can't be here today but he's represented by Julian Slater, who was the AFPs joint Chief of Staff for the operation.
All of you in different ways have done so much, all of you deserve our respect and our praise. You did it in the line of duty but you also did it out of a sense of concern and compassion for your fellow man and that's what makes what you did so magnificent and so memorable and it's so important that on behalf of the people of Australia, you are publicly and warmly and unconditionally thanked for what you have done in our name.
I now invite the Leader of the Opposition, the Honourable Kim Beazley, to support my remarks.
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