Radio Interview - 6PR Perth Radio Mornings

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
6PR PERTH RADIO
MORNINGS WITH GARY ADSHEAD
THURSDAY, 25 APRIL 2024

SUBJECTS: Anzac Day.

HOST, GARY ADSHEAD: And right now, we cross to France, where Matt Keogh, the Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Defence Personnel, is preparing to attend the Dawn Service at Villers-Bretonneux in France, joins me on the line. Thanks very much for your time Minister.

MINISTER FOR VETERANS’ AFFAIRS AND DEFENCE PERSONNEL, MATT KEOGH: Great to be with you, Gary.

GARY ADSHEAD: Just in fact, you know, as I'm sort of going back through the history of that particular area where you are now standing, it's a lot harder to know where to begin in terms of the significance to us here in Australia. So, I mean, how do you sort of see where you are and the significance of that particular area to us?

MINISTER KEOGH: Well, I think as well as being a place where so many Australians came to fight and died, the significance comes from the fact that the way in which the French embrace the Australians and continue to do so more than a century later just demonstrates what a difference in a positive way the Australians made when they were here, regarded as some of the hardest fighters, but taking some severe casualties. But also, Gary, what I've really found, talking to Australians that are here visiting, they have this experience of tracing back and understanding better their own family members that fought here. And I've had that great opportunity myself, visiting the grave of my grandmother's cousin who died here. And just hearing those personal stories that continue to reverberate for Australian families from their relatives that fought here on the Western Front.

GARY ADSHEAD: Is this your first time as Minister in that particular area? I know you were at Anzac Cove last year for Anzac Day.

MINISTER KEOGH: It's my first time I've ever been able to come to the Western Front and it's certainly, you're really present to and moved by the extent of what happened here, Gary. And just as you move through the different villages, the number of different, small little cemeteries, as well as significantly large cemeteries of Australians and allied troops, many of those headstones marking the grave of somebody where we don't know their name, but so many are known and family members visiting those gravesites as well.

GARY ADSHEAD: You said that Australians are sort of warmly thought of there. What is it like being particularly a dignitary who goes to Villers-Bretonneux? I mean, I think the population's less than 5,000 there. How do they sort of accept what's happening and get involved in it today?

MINISTER KEOGH: Well, I've been- when I visited Villers-Bretonneux yesterday, was warmly greeted by the mayor. I visited a local school there, the Australian school that still remembers not just Anzac Day, but the work that the Australians did to protect the village here and have Australian flags and signage and indeed even their own Indigenous art projects that they've been doing, which just shows you how much they continue to remember. And I think when we're more than a century on, the fact that I spoke to some Australians yesterday who had someone from the village come up to them and hug them to thank them for what Australians did here over a century ago, it sort of sends chills down your spine to think of that sort of connection that continues to exist.

GARY ADSHEAD: I had a story which you would know very, very well. It was in relation to the great uncle of a lady I spoke to on the radio this morning who had finally been identified doing DNA matching after he was put into a mass grave by German forces. The discovery only came in 2007, but, of course, he lost his life in the Battle of Fromelles in 1916. This was Private Alfred William Ansell. I mean, that is an extraordinary story that these seven servicemen have now been identified and will get the sort of memorial and the service that they well deserve.

MINISTER KEOGH: Look, I think, Gary, what we see there in the announcement, we're able to make identifying those seven, and even yesterday, George Hook was laid to rest in the sense that his gravesite's now been identified and his family members were able to come and be involved in a ceremony where they knew he was deceased here on the Western Front, and now able to stand at a gravesite that they know is his, was incredibly moving for them. And the families that you just spoke about, of the seven that we have announced as being identified will be able to have that same opportunity at the anniversary of the Battle of Fromelles in July this year. And it really speaks to how the words that we recite at the end of the ode, Lest We Forget, are not just words, they're not just a concept. They are something that have a real practical demonstration in the ongoing work that we undertake to continue to try and identify the remains of Australians, not just here on the Western Front, but in other theatres of war and conflict as well, that we won't forget. We do remember and we will continue to work to identify those soldiers where they are, so that they can be properly remembered, and their families have a greater degree of closure as well.

GARY ADSHEAD: I know you'll be heading out to the service soon, so what does the day look like for you and the people that have come to commemorate there?

MINISTER KEOGH: So many Australians in different parts of the world and in Australia. It's an early start with the dawn service at the war memorial at Villers-Bretonneux and then attending a service in the town itself, where we have - they run their own Anzac Day commemoration that we'll be participating in. And there's a number of other services through the day. We get to visit a number of small sort of memorials that have been established by locals here, as well as by different Australians that have come to France over the time since the First World War. And that's sort of been matched by a number of ceremonies in the lead up to today as well. And it just demonstrates how every village, every part of the Western Front, the French people, continue to maintain that connection and want to be part of commemorating what Australians did here for them. And that has now led to more than a century of friendship between Australia and France. And it's so great to be a part of.

GARY ADSHEAD: Just finally, your counterpart at a state level, Paul Papalia, spoke to me a bit earlier as well, and he sort of summed up in his words what Anzac means to Australia and how significant it is to the country and what we stand for. What does it mean for you, Matt Keogh?

MINISTER KEOGH: Look, I think when I reflect about what Anzac means, we often think about the values that the Anzacs espouse and we particularly think about mateship and we think about courage. And for me, it's about not just that on the battlefield, but it's about how that's been reflected and ingested back into our Australian culture all the way through the centuries, particularly by our armed forces in all battles and conflicts ever since. But I think also, just as the nature of who we are as Australians, we learn about this growing up, we reflect on that, that egalitarian approach that our boys on the front took to the war, but is reflected in our society now back home, and has been for over a century, really means that those values, first espoused there, are something that all Australians not just relate to, but try to live out and continue to do so. And I think that's only a good thing.

GARY ADSHEAD: Yeah, and in a fast moving world where lots of things have changed, I'll tell you what, there's lots of reports of record numbers at various services this morning. So, that's extraordinary to see that the legacy of everything that Anzac means is living on and continuing.

MINISTER KEOGH: Absolutely. And we've seen here we'll have over 2,200 people at Villers-Bretonneux. That's the most people we've had since the centenary of the battle of Villers-Bretonneux. And that just shows how the spirit of Anzac and the want to commemorate and remember all conflicts is so significant for Australians more than a century on from what happened here at the Western Front.

GARY ADSHEAD: Thanks very much for joining us from France on a very significant day for you. Appreciate your time.

MINISTER KEOGH: Thanks, Gary. It's been great to be with you.

END

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