Can’t say I’m surprised Aussie veterans might be less than impressed about pro-Palestinian activists attacking their Anzac commemorations.
Freedom from tyranny, a fine precept Anzacs fought and died for, is hardly high on the agenda of these activists. Neither is criticising Hamas’ terrifying atrocities, human shield warfare or hostage exploitation.
The freedoms Australians have gone to war to protect are under siege as never before.
The egalitarianism and fair-go principles that underscored generations of Aussies are confused, attacked and undermined daily by agitators, politicians and activists whose moral compasses have gone haywire.
You have to feel sorry for our vets. But this is hardly the worst of it. Australia’s defence and its history is under siege on numerous fronts: reputation, resources, revisionists, political support succumbing to idealism and populism.
You’ve got the withering Brereton Report on some 39 alleged war crimes, but now criticised for going easy on the top brass. The divisive Roberts-Smith saga has done nothing to pump the ADF’s tyres, either.
A smoke-screen $330bn 10-year defence capex spend bagged for only boosting things by $5.7bn over the next four years, with the rest on a political never-never, isn’t helping either.
Add reports of the Liberals worried that falling defence manpower will raise the spectre of conscription and there’s a real hot potato on the horizon. Throw in some ongoing veteran issues, a behavioural culture under constant scrutiny … you can go on.
If you want an example of Australia’s defence strength, remember it couldn’t supply a support ship to help fight off Houthi attacks in the Red Sea because it didn’t have anything that could defend itself against drones.
The opposition wants the government to explain why it hadn’t invested in the technology to defeat such emerging threats. But the cone of silence has descended.
For my part, neglecting the Taliban-targeted Afghans allies who helped Aussie troops was a shocker. Especially when visas for shopping centre heroes are drop-everything political photo ops.
Likewise, Anzac Day-timed Kokoda photo ops. Talk about cynical but at least it was a better performance than Joe Biden claiming New Guinea cannibals ate his uncle.
What it didn’t manage to offset, however, is the rude, cold shoulder Australia insists on giving Israel – the only democracy in the Middle East – while handing money to dubious United Nations Hamas sympathisers. Joan Coxsedge would be proud.
All this and more alongside one of the most curious multicultural interactions you’ll find in Australia – the port of Darwin leased to a Chinese company for 99 years.
Good thing, you might think, that some 2000 US marines and sailors are on regular rotation in Darwin. Not that that counts for much. The Chinese brought three warships into Sydney Harbour unannounced four years ago.
It might have been on the QT, Canberra knew but not the NSW Government, but what it really showed at the time, and even more relevant today, was the kind of firepower China has and we simply don’t.
Patriotism is sometimes dubbed the last refuge of the scoundrel but that’s not really true. Just look to the record of your veterans.
Patriotic virtue signalling, on the other hand, is a different matter. Oh, for the jawbone of an ass …
This article appeared in the Geelong Advertiser 30 April 2024. Image: Geelong Advertiser.
