Your Excellency, the Chief of the Defence Force, General Leahy, General Hindmarsh, Colonel McMahon, my Parliamentary colleagues, ladies and gentlemen. Can I both for the Government and I know for all of the people of Australia express my thanks to the men of the SAS who have served with such tremendous courage and commitment in Afghanistan during this rotation.
I did, as you know, have the opportunity of meeting a lot of you where you were deployed in Afghanistan in November. As well as being tremendously stimulated by and encouraged and enthused by the extraordinary professional commitment, on the way in I learnt an even a newer and greater respect for the flying skills of those men of the Air Force who operate the C130s going through that rather challenging terrain.
But the job that you are doing on behalf of Australia is a very important job. It is a dangerous job and none of us pretends for a moment that it isn't and on an occasion such as this we think particularly of Andrew Russell and David Nary who in different circumstances lost their lives and I want to say to all of you that I am, as Prime Minister, very conscious that Governments take decisions to send forces overseas, but the burden and the risk and the courage required to give effect to those decisions is carried by the men and women of the Australian Defence Force.
The SAS have an enviable international reputation. There are no better Special Forces anywhere in the world and I think in a gathering like this, one might even go a touch further than that. Your reputation, your ability, your courage, your skill has the admiration of all of the Australian people. The struggle against terrorism in which this country is engaged is not going to end soon. It will go on for some time. It will require a great deal of persistence. There will be times when people will wonder whether it is worth the effort. But let me say to you that it is worth the effort because the sort of way of life that we are opposing is a way of life that would never win any acceptance in our country, it's a way of life which is completely anathema to everything that this country stands for.
So in thanking all of you for your courage and your professionalism, in congratulating your commanding officers and in calling to mind the great tradition of this regiment, may I also send a special word of thanks to the families. The wives and sweethearts, the children, the parents, the brothers and sisters and the friends. We do in different ways everything we can while you are away to look after them and there's no greater reward of course than to see you return home safely. I know this has been a particularly happy time for the families of the men who came back in January and I hope that you make the very best of it.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you for what you have done for Australia. We are immensely proud of all of you. You are a wonderful demonstration of the Australian spirit.
Thank you.
[ends]