THE desecration of war memorials in Canberra by pro-Palestinian activists in recent days is completely unacceptable.
What’s more, the Greens calling it ‘free speech’, is an absolute scandal.
If you hadn’t heard, graffiti with pro-Palestinian messages was discovered on the Korean War, Vietnam War, Australian Army monuments and a wall between the memorials along Anzac Parade in Canberra.
People are entitled to their views on the Israel-Hamas conflict – but they’re not entitled to emblazon them in red spray paint across what are sacred sites.
It’s the third time since March that sites in this area have been targeted by vandals.
The Australian War Memorial was also defaced just a few weeks ago.
I think about our veteran community in Forde, and across the country, and wonder what they must be feeling.
A few have contacted me, and they’re outraged, but more than anything they’re hurt.
“They deserve our reverence. They certainly have mine.”
Perpetrators of these acts should be hauled before a court and penalised – not be given a pat on the back by members of the Greens party.
Their response has been abhorrent. They’re stoking the flames.
I dare say, the protesters who scaled Parliament House last Wednesday and unfurled their antisemitic banners across our Coat of Arms felt emboldened by the Greens’ response.
These people are not committed to peace, they’re committed to division.
Members of the LNP used some of their time on the floors of Parliament last week to condemn what we’ve witnessed.
There were some moving speeches.
My friend and colleague, the wonderful Member for Braddon, Gavin Pearce MP, a veteran with some 20 years of military service, delivered a heartfelt speech.
“Our memorials represent those young Australians who have given their lives to defend this country. It is sacred. It means more than anything else in the world. Those families that give up their loved ones, their brothers, their sisters, their sons, their daughters, their fathers, their mothers – our flag, those memorials, mean everything,” he said.
“When we see those graffitied, walked upon and painted with terrible slogans – this is an indictment, not only on those memorials, not only on those war dead, not only on those families, but on the democracy of Australia itself.”
It’s for those reasons that I will, and the LNP will, stand united against these acts.
