Remembrance day affects people. Some have family connections with loss. Some not connected with a direct action, and yet all are part of a larger body which has endured loss. Endurance suggests continuity, and there is the rub. For we who stand, now is the time to reflect on those who cannot. Australians who participated in the First World War were volunteers. And yet not all so, for civilians got caught in the battles too. Some of the great poets of the age arose from the war. Some lost to it. All sacrificed much. Ginger Mick was a fictional character who asked for nothing from me. Yet I would give him his life if I could. He didn't want to be called a hero. Yet he died one.

What can be said in such a sacred day of former PM Paul Keating branding ALP with a speech writer's words to associate with Remembrance Day? He did not write those words "He is one of them. He is all of us" for the unknown soldier. ALP don't have a proud history of governance with serving troops. Sacrificing many in Singapore, abandoning POWs, Union strikes organised to hinder troops, shaming soldiers who chose to fight. In recent years, Australia has been involved in her longest armed conflict in Afghanistan. Six years under the conservatives, and six years under the ALP. Forty deaths under the ALP, none under the conservatives. It is a compelling soccer score for people like Keating who view lives as a game through which ALP must triumph in memory. Probably it best to view Keating in paraphrased terms "He is one of them, against all of us"

Australian troops achieved much in WW1, but were quite humble. They didn't treasure awards, possibly disgusted at the reality and the cost which such things entailed. And what award compensates for the loss? I thank those who were awarded. They definitely earned it. As did many who never were given one. Some complain of the atrocities committed. Such things happen in war, but overwhelmingly, Australians fought with honour. I write 'Australians' and many might point out so many weren't, being from NZ, England, South Africa, PNG, India .. I know not the full allegiance, but I give them this gift. For the war ended at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month on 1918. Today, Australia has wounds from her local petty battles. We don't really know who is ridgy didge. Our future is clouded. And yet in freedom and liberty, we rule. People come to our land from places thousands of years rich in history. Risking all. Because of the sacrifice of those soldiers. They might not have had Australia in mind, and yet they gave her this rich gift. A bowl, drenched in their blood, giving us a drink of hope for tomorrow.