Speech delivered on 18 August 2026 at Anzac Parade, Canberra.
Good morning, everybody.
It's wonderful to see you here, and so many members of the public joining us as well. I'm delighted to see the wattle taking centre stage.
We're just a few weeks away from the beginning of spring, and Wattle Day on the 1st of September. And the golden wattle does remind us about how we can lift our sights, and it's important on a day like today that we have the wattle here.
I acknowledge the Ngunnawal as traditional owners of the land we meet on and recognise any other people or families with connection to the lands of Canberra and the region.
I pay respect to elders, past and present, and all First Nations people here today, and all Aboriginal people who have served in our Defence Force.
In a break with tradition and protocol, the first people I'd like to acknowledge this morning are all Vietnam veterans who are joining us, your families, your friends and colleagues, all veterans of all theatres of conflict that we have been part of, and your families and all of those who have cared so deeply for you over time.
I’d also like to acknowledge:
• The Hon Matt Keogh MP, Minister for Defence Personnel, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, today representing the Prime Minister of Australia.
• Senator James Paterson, Shadow Minister for Defence, representing the Leader of the Opposition
• Senator David Pocock, Senator for the ACT
• Lieutenant General Susan Coyle AM CSC DSM, Chief of the Australian Army, representing Chief of the Defence Force
• Commodore Ryan Gaskin RAN, representing Chief of the Navy
• Air Vice-Marshal Martin Nussio AM, representing Chief of the Air Force
• Commander Ward Gainey RAN (Retd), President, Vietnam Veterans and Veterans Federation, and as ever, our host today. It’s wonderful to join you again.
• Alison Frame, Secretary, Department of Veterans’ Affairs
• Kahlil Fegan DSC AM, Repatriation Commissioner
• Suzanne Orr MLA, representing the ACT Chief Minister
• Caitlin Tough MLA
• Peter Cain MLA
• Matt Anderson PSM, Director, Australian War Memorial
All the very many representatives of our diplomatic corps who join us here today.
I’d also like to join in the thanks for the work of the Federation Guard and the Catafalque party, and the wonderful RMC Band, who always make these events very special.
Now, as your Governor-General, Commander-in-Chief, and the very proud daughter of a veteran who served in Vietnam, I am honoured to join you this morning for Vietnam Veterans Remembrance Day.
Here on Anzac Parade, our nation’s avenue of honour, I am grateful to stand at the Australian Vietnam Forces National Memorial in tribute to the veterans of that war.
On the 60th anniversary of the fierce Battle of Long Tan, which we’ve heard about this morning and we’ll hear more of, we remember the 17 Australians killed and the 1 who later succumbed to their wounds, the 24 wounded, whose physical lives were forever changed, and those who returned home with the memory of that ‘short, sharp, savage battle’.
And, as we always do, we also remember all those who served in Vietnam between 1962 and 1973 and, very importantly, their families and friends, and those who did not return.
We honour their extraordinary service, sacrifice and dedication to duty in a particularly difficult moment in history.
Across Australia, at grand memorials and modest places of commemoration of service across all theatres of war and peacekeeping, we are always invited as Australians to pause and promise, ‘Lest we forget’.
And, sadly, and for many of you here today particularly, we know that this was not always the case for those who came home from Vietnam.
In an atmosphere of social and political dissent, those veterans, many of you, were too often dismissed or met with hostility, and their acts of valour were not at that time generally acknowledged with respect and the gratitude they deserved by the public and all Australians.
Since that magnificent march through Sydney in October 1987, organised by veterans for veterans, and the opening of this National Memorial in 1992, places and spaces of Vietnam remembrance have come to be a cherished and important part of Australia’s landscape of commemoration.
Now, two months after the opening of the galleries in the Australian War Memorial’s new Atrium and Anzac Hall, it is timely to reflect on why telling stories of service, or service across time, is so important.
As you know, through its exhibitions and displays, our War Memorial offers the public an understanding of Australia’s engagement in conflicts from the Frontier Wars to 1914, from 1941 to Afghanistan and Iraq, and of our role, our critical role, in peacekeeping operations through the decades.
They tell the story of Australia’s history, character and spirit in war and peace.
I’m grateful to the Director of the War Memorial, matt Anderson, who joins us, who reminded me that it because they were denied it that Vietnam veterans of early recognition and acknowledgement of service, and they – and you – have long worked to attain it on behalf of all with whom you served.
I think that has encouraged me to think more deeply about the fact that the advocacy of Vietnam veterans has in part, led to those newer galleries in our War Memorial coming to fruition in a timely manner to tell those stories close to that time of conflict.
We should be grateful for those veterans who fought so hard for appropriate recognition.
Here, on Anzac Parade, or in the Australian War Memorial, where the Long Tan Cross hangs after being returned to Australia from Vietnam in 2017,ii or at Gundagai, where a memorial to the Battle of Coral Balmoral and the heroism of Private Richard Norden VC was unveiled earlier this year, and I was proud to attend that unveiling, are the places where Australians are invited to visit, to pause, to learn and remember.
When we gather there, or anywhere across the country, we fulfil our promise to pay tribute to the men and women of the ADF and, to the veterans whose lives have been shaped by their service, to help them pick up the pieces when the physical or psychological impact of service weighs heavy.
And of course to honour their families and communities who have supported them in their service and in retirement.
Today, as we do each year, we gather to say Australia honours all those who served in Vietnam.
We mourn those who died and stand beside those who came home.
We are so grateful to you for the courage, selflessness and honour with which you served in defence of our nation.
It gives me great pride as your Governor-General to convey these words on behalf of all Australians on this important day of commemoration, lest we forget.