General Hickling the Chief of the Australian Army, Brigadier Pursey, other distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. It is a special privilege for me on this stunning Canberra morning to address this parade. To express on behalf of everybody who is here the respect and admiration that we feel for those men and women who are graduating today, to those men and women who have chosen a professional career in the armed services of Australia. You along with the entire Australian nation inherit great traditions.
None is more special or treasured in the Australian ethos than the Anzac tradition.
And none more totally permeates the defence forces of Australia, none instils those defence forces with more justifiable pride than that particular tradition. I thank you for the commitment that you are making, the commitment you are making to a lifetime as professional members of the Australian Defence Force. It is the constant prayer of any sensible Prime Minister of this country that never again will we ask the young people of our nation to put their lives on the line the way in which it occurred far too often in the earlier years of this century. But in order for that prayer to be realised we must always have ready and able defence forces. And to have ready and able defence forces we need to have men and women superbly trained, of high intelligence with a strong sense of professionalism.