Australian MP commends PNG for being ‘our friend’

By MALUM NALU

AUSTRLIA commended Papua New Guinea for being a “great friend” during World War II. 

Australian MP Ewen Jones, on behalf of his government, gave the kudos during the ANZAC Day dawn service at the Bomana War cemetery last Friday.

“To the people of Papua New Guinea, I say thank you for being our friend,” he said. 

“Thank you for allowing us to be part of your collective, to belong to a greater part of your community.

“What your country’s people did for us will never be forgotten. You are indeed a great friend.”

Jones gave the anecdote of being a small boy in Grade 3 in South West Queensland when they learned about a WWII Kokoda Tracks hero named Cpl John French. “It was only a few weeks ago that I was here for the first time, with my Prime Minister Tony Abbott,” he said.

“My Grade 3 education kicked in immediately. I was whisked back to 1968 and hearing about a bloke from up the road at Crow’s Nest going in to battle and single-handedly taking out three machine gun nests. He gave his life for the safety of others. He was brave, there can be no doubt about that, but anyone there on that day was brave.

“In Grade 3, the jungles and fighting of Corporal John French and the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels seemed like a million miles from rural Queensland. When I am here, I suddenly realise just how close Papua New Guinea is to Australia and what brave deeds were done to keep us safe.” Jones said 2014 marked 100 years since the commencement of hostilities in the “war to end all wars, 2015 will be the ANZAC centenary, 2016 will see the 50th anniversary commemoration of the Battle of Long Tan.

“We will continue with many important events until Nov 11, 2018, which will mark the centenary of the signing of the Armistice to officially end WWI.”