18.6.12 Army Reserve Bands

Mr HAWKE (Mitchell) (20:51): It is a pleasure to rise to support the member for Berowra's fine motion on Army reserve bands tonight. It is interesting to follow the Parliamentary Secretary. I want to start by saying I was a member of the 1st/15th Royal New South Wales Lancers and, for the Parliamentary Secretary, to suggest there is any difference between regular service and reserve service is a falsehood. It is in fact a hallmark of a free society to have the citizen soldier at its disposal. The 21 battle honours of the 1st/15th, the most decorated regiment of the Australian Army, are a fine testament to that regiment and all of its serving men and women over the years.

This particular motion relates to the bands, and the band form part of the rich Australian cultural heritage that has developed through the Australian military. This band formed in 1891, and even in 1891, before Federation, £250 was received from the New South Wales government and, after Federation, £150 from the Commonwealth government. If it was good enough in 1891 to fund this band, what is wrong with funding it today?

The service of the band has been recorded in the regimental history over more than 100 years. This is a regiment that has lasted the test of time. It has seen service in 21 different conflicts in defence of this nation. The rich tapestry that has been formed by the band goes to show the strength of our local community in Parramatta, and it was extraordinary to see the member for Parramatta come into this place and speak against the local Parramatta regiment, the 1st/15th Royal New South Wales Lancers, based at their historic headquarters at Parramatta. It was extraordinary for the member for Parramatta to come in here and say, 'That is an Army decision.' This is a direct decision of government that this motion relates to tonight—to fund the Australian Army and its reserve forces to be able to conduct its duties in Australia today—and it is the responsibility of this parliament to call to attention those deficiencies that come about when funding is not available for the reserve forces. We could fund it in 1891 with pounds from the New South Wales and Commonwealth governments, but we cannot afford to fund it today when we have $10 billion for a Clean Energy Finance Corporation? We cannot find instruments for people to play in their regimental bands on our Anzac Days and at our memorial services in our communities, to help recruit young men and women to these reserve regiments to serve as citizen soldiers, to follow in that fine tradition of the Roman citizen soldier Cincinnatus—'I am not a soldier; I am a farmer'—and of the minutemen, and of privateers in Elizabethan England? Free societies have been dominated by citizen soldiers, and the 1st/15th Royal New South Wales Lancers is a fine example of a citizen soldier regiment, giving us great service.

These people in the band do not do this for the money; I want to make that clear. They are not in this for the money. They do more service and voluntary activity than the government can ever possibly fund. We have heard from the member for Herbert about the dedication and the voluntary and selfless service that these young men and women provide. Yet this government says that there is no funding available for these great reserve regiments and for their bands. And that affects many bands. I have the minute here from Australian Army headquarters. These are the regiments affected: in 1st Brigade, 5RAR and 7RAR; in 7th Brigade, 2nd/14th LHR; and in 2nd Division, 1st/15th Royal New South Wales Lancers, the 4th/19th, the 23rd Field Regiment, the 2nd/10th Field Regiment, 8/7 RVR, 5/6 RVR, 9 RQR, 10/27 RSAR, 2/17 RNSWR, 25/49 RQR, the Queensland University Regiment, the Sydney University Regiment, the University of New South Wales Regiment and the Western Australian University Regiment—all of those reserve regimental bands. For the parliamentary secretary to stand here today in this place and say, 'Somehow they will find the funding,' and that they should be a charity case is really demonstrating a lack of understanding of the importance of these reserve regimental bands and how they operate.

These people are already volunteering a lot of their time and a lot of their effort, putting their hearts and souls into these units that provide the social fabric at the heart of so many local communities around Australia. That is what a reserve regiment does. That is what a citizen soldier regiment does: it provides the corps at the heart of those communities—another social setup that provides unity and cohesion in society without the need for government to be involved.

If it was good enough to fund the RNSWR Lancers in 1891 with £250 from the state government and £150 from the Commonwealth government, it is good enough for us today to continue that fine tradition of 110 years of dedicated and selfless service that this regimental band and all of these regimental bands that I have mentioned, in all their societies all around Australia, provide, serving our nation, doing us proud and providing invaluable service to our communities. And it is a great motion before this House today to support them in what they do.