E&OE...........
[tape begins] and he's expressed to all of you his great pride in what you were able to do in the hours and days that followed the atrocity in Bali on the 12th of October. And I';ve come here on behalf of the entire nation to thank you for the extraordinary achievement in evacuating so quickly all of those people who required medical evacuation to Australia. It was an amazing effort that within 16 hours you had the most serious cases back in Australia and it was quite astonishing that all of those requiring evacuation were evacuated within a period of some 36 hours.
When an outrage such as this occurs the priorities are very clear. The first priority is to evacuate and care for the injured and then sadly you must turn to the task of identifying and burying the dead. And the way in which everybody came together so quickly and in such a team spirit and in that great Australian tradition of being able to work together and pull together in adversity I can tell you has filled the nation with great and very emotional pride in our capacity as a people to react and work together in such tragic circumstances.
It would have been a very challenging task for all of you and I want to join the Air-Marshall in extending my thanks to everybody. The medical staff on the plane could not have done what they did without the skill and professionalism of the ground staff in getting them ready. And it';s on an occasion like this that the professionalism and the sense of dedication come through. Without there being a great feeling of comradeship and mateship amongst the men and women of the Royal Australian Air Force this task would not have been completed. So it speaks volumes for the esprit de corps of the Royal Australian Air Force, it speaks volumes for the spirit of this particular airbase. And above everything else it speaks well of the good heart and good intent of all Australians when our country is subjected to such an outrage, and it was an outrage and I think all of us tried that much harder to respond as best we could and none better than you men and women. It was just an amazing effort to do it so quickly, to do it so well, to do it so compassionately. Without any exaggeration it has won the admiration, not only of Australians but of others around the world who';ve spoken to me of the way in which people were so well cared for so quickly, the parents, the relatives, the friends of people who you assisted and others are filled with admiration.
So on behalf of Australia I say thank you for a fantastic job and I';m delighted to have the opportunity of being here today, to thank you, your commanding officers and to Wing Commander Stead, I think it is, Wing Commander? I';ve given him a promotion? Air Marshall Stead. But I just want to thank you and everybody else for doing such an absolutely fantastic job. You were, and are, magnificent.
Thank you.
[ends]