29 September 2026

I always start here by acknowledging the Ngunnawal people, the traditional owners of this land, and pay my respects to Elders, past and present.  

And before I do any acknowledgement of distinguished guests, as I did tonight at the memorial, I really just want to acknowledge the families of those whose names were added to memorial tonight- Sergeant Mark Anthony Bransgrove, Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, Senior Constable Vadim De Waart-Hottart, and Detective Senior Constable Maxine Bembridge. 

Those names were solemnly added to the National Police Memorial just this afternoon, with all of us bearing witness. And with everyone here I hope the families know that we are remembering them and standing supportively alongside all of those who had a close relationship with those four exceptional Australians.  

Thank you, everyone, for being with us tonight. It's lovely that we've been able to regroup here after the ceremony, and particularly after that terrible news in Sydney on Friday.  

Our thoughts, of course, remain with the family and colleagues in Constable Mia Lay.  

I do want to acknowledge a few people who are special here tonight. I want to start with Matt Anderson PSM, Director of the Australian War Memorial. Matt and his team did a remarkable job to bring us to this wonderful place and to open recently the new galleries. Matt, congratulations! It's fitting that we are here celebrating the 20th anniversary.  

I encourage everyone, if you did not spend time around the new galleries, do find that time and put away a few hours to see some of the remarkable things that are happening here at one of the most important national cultural institutions we have in our country.

Acting Commissioner Ian McCartney APM, Australian Federal Police; Scott Weber, CEO of the Police Federation of Australia.

Of course, all of our police commissioners and representatives right across our nation; the very important representatives of police associations, unions, and organisations; current serving and former police officers; members of the diplomatic corps; and, of course, families, friends, and everyone gathered here this evening for what is a very important time together.  

I particularly want to thank the Police Federation of Australia for bringing us together with Matt here at the Australian War Memorial, because this is a very important place for us to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the other memorial, and we've just come from that place, the National Police Memorial.  

And as the Assistant Commissioner said, it was a beautiful evening. It's my third time attending the memorial, and other years have been colder and a bit windier. Tonight, to have something very beautiful and poignant about that glorious sunset as the blue lights came up and across the lake and across the memorial itself. It was deeply moving, particularly see families approaching the memorial.  

I think we were all moved by those moments, and I hope you're doing okay here after the very deep emotional toll it must take on you.  

The service there did ask us to do something very important: it asked us to stop and remember. Tonight, the evening gives us something else to do after that pausing – time to talk, to reconnect, and reflect on what that memorial has become over twenty years.

Because when it was dedicated twenty years ago, Sharon Gillett was at the memorial with her mother and sisters. Her brother, Senior Constable Robert Spears, had no grave that they could visit. His ashes had been scattered at sea.  

And looking at the new memorial back then, Sharon said, 'We're going to come here now'. And for her family, the new memorial immediately became the place they could visit to remember him, alongside everyone else who comes to the memorial.  

Now, you know this. When it opened, the memorial carried 719 names. In the years since, many more names have been added. Four more tonight. With those four names, it now bears 836 names.  

Each name, as you know, appearing on a bronze touchstone designed to be touched. I hope many of you are to move forward to the touchstones this evening and touch the names, touch those touchstones. They're names from different police forces and generations sitting together, while the granite underfoot carries words from families and colleagues. It's wonderful to go and read those words that are embedded in the granite that we walked across to go to the memorial.  

Commissioner Mick Keelty wrote at the time that the memorial was as much a dedication to bereaved families as it was to the officers who had lost their lives.  

It had taken years of persistence to create that place. We've just seen the video that told us all about that. Police associations and unions have been calling for a national memorial since the 1980s, and the Police Federation didn't stop working indefatigably, working with police forces, governments, and the National Capital Authority to bring it into glorious being.  

There was also a policing connection in the design, which you will have heard about on the video. Architect Liam Proberts was himself the son of a Queensland police officer.  

Among those preparing to attend that first dedication was an ACT police constable, Peter Zegenhagen. Peter was only six months old when his father, Senior Constable John Zegenhagen, was seriously injured on duty. His childhood memories of his father were all about visits to the hospital together with his mother, and sadly John died just six years after sustaining those injuries.  

Peter remembered police officers coming to his home throughout his childhood, checking that he and his family were all right. And when he graduated himself as a police officer, he wore his father's Commonwealth epaulets under his own.

Speaking about his father's place on the new memorial, Peter said, 'It means everything because it is a lasting memory for Dad.'

So, over the past twenty years, so many people have returned.  

Each year, the Wall to Wall Ride brings riders from police memorials around Australia to Canberra, honouring officers who have died and raising really important funds for Police Legacy.  

This year's ride arrived at the National Police Memorial just over two weeks ago on the 12th of September. It's another way that people from different parts of policing come together around remembrance and around families who remain part of that community.  

Now, as you know, police stories are important to tell, and police stories have a very important place here at the Australian War Memorial. I've been coming to this memorial as the daughter of an Army officer for almost 50 years, and it has long been a place of contemplation for me and my family.  

In June, I had the ultimate privilege of opening the new Atrium and Anzac Hall, including the Australian Peacekeeping Gallery, which tells part of the story of Australian police serving overseas.  

Now, when speaking about the work of the War Memorial – I'm going to quote you, Matt – Matt is fond of saying, 'We don't collect objects, we collect stories.'

Matt, your visit to Cyprus in 2024 helped bring one of those stories back to Canberra: the United Nations Land Rover, in which Australian police peacekeeper Sergeant Ian Ward was sadly killed while escorting a local family during his peacekeeping service.  

With the RAAF's help, the vehicle was brought to Australia. When the crate was opened 50 years to the day after Ian's death, his two sisters were there.  

And in preparing for the new peacekeeping gallery, it was the curators here, led by Matt and his team, who spoke with hundreds of people who had served on those operations. Their experiences helped shape how that history is now told, particularly including the contribution of Australian police to peacekeeping.  

Now, the National Police Memorial holds stories in a very different way. It honours the names of those who died because of their service, but it is much more than a place simply to return to. The people who knew those officers bring different and new and important stories with them, as they did tonight.  

Earlier this evening, we honoured four police officers: Mark, Neal, Vadim, and Maxine. We heard something of their lives, but their families and colleagues here tonight know so much more than any inscription – or speech by the Governor-General – could ever hold.

And many of the stories that keep a person close will never sit in an archive or appear in an official history. They are shared from one person to another.  

Tonight, this reception gives us the time for those stories. So do spend time with each other, sharing those stories, things people may not have heard. Unburden yourself letting other people tell you how important the people you lost are, and to learn something more of them.

Twenty years ago, Sharon Gillett looked at the new memorial and she said, 'We're going to come here now.” I said that earlier. “We're going to come here now.”  

Twenty years later, loved ones, colleagues, and others like all of you are coming – are coming in big numbers, and will come well into the future.

I hope tonight at this very special place, after such a solemn occasion at the memorial, this gives you time to reconnect, to talk, to meet new people, and share the stories of the people who brought us here.  

Thank you for all coming. Thanks for the chance for us to reflect on those that we've lost, those who currently serve and are here tonight, who serve our country every day, a sense of selflessness at great risk, often in the families that stand beside you.  

Tonight, it's really important that we do also reflect on the 20th anniversary of the National Police Memorial, and the work it took to get that happening twenty years ago.  

I'll be back here again next year, and every year that I’m Governor-General. I won't miss one of these memorials. This is my third, and I won't miss any of them as long as I'm your Governor-General. It's one of the most important events that I can attend on behalf of those Australians who are not here.  

I hope you enjoy your evening, and I'd love to hear more of the stories.  

Take good care, and if you get a chance, talk to Matt about why this place is an important place, just as the National Police Memorial has been for us all to be together this evening.  

Thank you, everybody.