Speech delivered on December 9, Royal Military College, Duntroon

Good morning, everybody.

Air Marshal Robert Chipman, Vice Chief of the Defence Force, Lieutenant General Simon Stuart, Chief of Army, service chiefs, senior leaders, cadets on parade and members of the Australian Defence Force.

I also want to acknowledge Army officers who have graduated from RMC over many past decades, many of whom are here today to celebrate with us, including my father, retired Colonel Bill Mostyn. He graduated in 1955. I'm aware that there's also quite a few graduating members of the Class of 1975 here on their 50th anniversary, and I believe they are joined by my immediate predecessor, General David Hurley.

I want to welcome all past classes joining us today, and particularly acknowledge General Hurley.

I also want to take this moment, on this glorious, warm day, to acknowledge the families, the partners, the friends of the graduating class who I know sit here so proud of this magnificent class and the wonderful parade we've just witnessed.

I'd like to acknowledge that there are many members of the diplomatic corps, including representatives today from the countries of cadets that are graduating today: New Zealand, Fiji, Vanuatu and Timor-Leste. Today is a special day, as the first woman cadet from Timor-Leste graduates from the Royal Military College.

I'd like to also acknowledge Aunty Lorraine Hatton, the Indigenous Elder of the Australian Army, and thank her for everything she does for the service and for our defence generally.

Of course, I want to acknowledge the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people as the traditional owners of the land we meet on, and recognize any other people or families with deep connections to the lands of the Canberra region. I pay my respects to Elders past and present.

I also acknowledge all First Nations people here today, and all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have served in the Australian Army from the First World War to the present day.

Now to the graduands: today is a very significant milestone in your defence careers. Your time at Duntroon has prepared you to be officers and leaders. It has been difficult, demanding but rewarding, and has helped you grow into the leaders we see today.

Your training has given you technical expertise grounded in the values of integrity, loyalty and excellence. You have focused on skills and strategy, as well as ethics, empathy and respect for human dignity.

The Australian Army needs officers who understand the responsibility you have to care for yourselves, for those under your command and for the people and places directly affected by your decisions.

In my role as your Commander-in-Chief, I've had the great privilege this year to attend important commemorations—most notably, to give the Anzac Day address at Anzac Cove among so many Australians who make that pilgrimage every year. This year, it was 110 years since the Anzac landings there.

I was honoured to be present in a moment of reverence and respect, standing in the cold waters of Anzac Cove. I watched my Army aide-de-camp, Captain Katie Higgins, who is with me here today, dip her medals into the waters as a mark of respect to all of those soldiers who gave their lives in that place and elsewhere—a moment of solemn, sombre remembrance and reflection at dawn on the day before Anzac Day.

And over this past year, I've learned about our modern Army as I have travelled to Lavarack Barracks in Townsville, Edinburgh Barracks in Adelaide, and here at Duntroon for my first Trooping of the King's Colours last month.

It was very special, as the daughter of a Signaller, to attend the celebration of the centenary of the Royal Australian Corps of Signals at Victoria Barracks in Sydney, together with the Princess Royal, Princess Anne, who is their Colonel-in-Chief.

I've also spent many times at the Australian War Memorial, in particular to mark significant anniversaries: 50 years since the end of the Vietnam War, 75 since the beginning of the Korean War, and 80 since the victory in the Pacific and the end of the Second World War.

At the War Memorial, I have come to know Australia's remarkable tradition of peacekeeping—continuous since 1947—one of the only countries in the world to claim that record.

Now, some of you will know the story of Trooper Jonathan Church. As a combat medic within the SASR, he deployed alongside 302 other Australians on Operation Tamar. Operation Tamar was a multilateral UN peacekeeping mission in which Australians were asked to provide medical support to the Rwandan people and UN forces in 1995.

In the midst of the conflict and surrounded by a hostile armed force, Trooper Church risked his life to save Rwandan civilians and children from massacre. He displayed technical expertise, was steadfast and exemplified the compassion, kindness and respect that lie at the heart of good soldiering and truly exceptional leadership.

These are the values that I hope will guide you wherever your Army career takes you and whatever the Army asks of you. They are the values that I see as foundational to our Australian Defence Force—a modern defence force for a modern, diverse and democratic nation that cares deeply for its people, its friends and partners, and for our collective future.

Class of 2025, on behalf of all Australians, congratulations on this wonderful graduation and my very best wishes for everything that comes in the adventures ahead for you all.