Indian News Queensland | CORONA CRISIS
Anzac Day: PM Scott Morrison all praise for sacrificial soldiers
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ere’s the opinion piece by PM Scott Morrison that he wrote just before the Anzac Day, all praise for the selfless soldiers who made the supreme sacrifice for Australia. He also exhorts the citizens to learn from the past generations and their strong and sacred values in dealing with the present corona crisis.
lian War Memorial are the names of 102,000 men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. This year, Anzac Day has a poignancy that will cause most Australians to pause and reflect. As well, our veterans and service personnel won’t be able to gather and renew the bonds between them all.
Earlier this week, I spoke on the phone to two members of the Australian Defence Force about Anzac Day.
While war and pandemic are very different, they both require enormous sacrifices of citizens.
I spoke to a Reservist from Brisbane who served as an ICU nurse in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a soldier from Adelaide who served in Afghanistan. Both continue to serve today.
This Anzac Day, Australia faces the most difficult circumstances since the Second World War. The circumstances before us cause us to look to past generations and ask “how did they do it?” and “what can we learn from them for our own times?”
As I listened to them share with me details of their service, I was struck by their humility, their values and their practical Australian patriotism. In their stories, I could hear a deep love of our country, our way of life and our people. Across Australia, there are hundreds of thousands of veterans and servicemen and women who have sacrificed much for our country – and along the walls of the Austra-
We find the answer in the service and sacrifice of our servicemen and women and the values that underpinned their actions. They understand that patriotism is an expression of our love of family, love of community and love of country. This love expresses itself through courage, sacrifice and selflessness; and is underpinned by stoicism,
service, generosity and unwavering loyalty to each other. Combined, these values have resulted in so many Australians doing extraordinary things. That is what we honour today. The values that protected Australia throughout the past, still protect us to this day. I believe that Australian heroes still walk among us. And the values that defined us in past times are just as much a part of us today – and we will need to rely on them in the coming weeks, months and years. With our traditions interrupted this year, we all have a duty to reach out to our veterans and servicemen and women today. Today will be a hard day for many veterans. Normally, Anzac Day is a day for our veterans to gather. For many, it is the central point of their calendar. For our veterans, Anzac Day is a time to laugh, have a drink remember, share memories and remember comrades. It’s a powerful way our veterans support each other. So if you know a veteran, please call
them and check in on them. Whilst this Anzac Day might feel different, the truth is, it’s not the first time Australia has adjusted Anzac Day to meet threats. When the first Anzacs returned at the end of the First World War, their very first Anzac Day at home coincided with the outbreak of the Spanish Flu here in Australia. It is estimated that pandemic affected almost 40 per cent of the population in Australia and took 15,000 lives. So in 1919, there were no citywide Anzac Day parades or marches for the veterans who won a great war. That year, they defended Australia by staying at home. Again, during the Second World War, there were times when gatherings were curtailed and memorials closed because of the fear of Japanese bombing raids. In those years, Australians weren’t forgetting their history, they were in fact living the lessons of Anzac. On those Anzac Days everyone was very much in the fight: defending Australia, defending lives, defend-
Prime Minister the Hon Scott Morrison MP Courtesy PM's Facebook ing our way of life. That is what we are doing this year. Though we must all stay physically apart this year, the Australian people are united by the same love of country, neighbour and family that has inspired generations of veterans. This year, the lesson of Anzac Day is that when Australians support each other, as they have in generations past, we can withstand any hardship and overcome any enemy, including this virus that threatens us today. Today we thank all our veterans for their service and for the example they have given us to follow. Lest we forget. By Prime Minister the Hon Scott Morrison MP
Modi most popular leader Commemoration on Facebook, Trump leads service at the Indian interactions Heritage War Memorial cancelled W ith around 45 million likes on his personal page, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi continues to be the most popular world leader on Facebook, while US President Donald Trump dominates the rankings for the most interactions even as leaders across the world grow their audience on the social networking platform amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a study said on April 21.
Trump is the second most popular world leader on Facebook, with around 27 million likes and Jordan’s Queen Rania is in third position with 16.8 million likes, according to in the latest 2020 “World Leaders on Facebook” rankings by leading global communications agency BCW (Burson Cohn & Wolfe). Ahead of his India visit in February this year, Trump bragged about being No. 1 on Facebook. “Great honor, I think? Mark Zuckerberg recently stated that “Donald J. Trump is Number 1 on Facebook. Number 2 is Prime Minister Modi of India.” Actually, I am go-
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D
ue to the coronavirus restrictions, the Australians of the Indian Heritage War Memorial Committee (AIHWMC) and other members of the community were unable to perform commemoration service at the Indian Heritage Memorial at the Sunnybank RSL Garden.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets US President Donald Trump at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Feb 25, 2020 (Photo IANSPIB) ing to India in two weeks. Looking For the first time the study, now forward to it!,” he said in a tweet. in its fourth year, has incorporated the true reach per post for each Although Trump is the second of the Facebook pages of world most popular world leader on Face- leaders defined as a prediction of book, the new study found that the number of real views an inthe US President dominates the fluencer gets per post rather than rankings for the most interactions the volume of followers alone. with 309 million comments, likes and shares on his Facebook page Modi reaches on average 1.7 million over the past 12 months, ahead of of his fans which represents only 3.8 Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro per cent of his Facebook communiwith 205 million interactions. ty. Brazil’s President reaches on average 956,000 of his 10 million fans Modi is in third place with a total of and Trump reaches 877,000 fans, 84 million interactions over the past said the study. 12 months, the research revealed.
While the coronavirus has put down the Dawn services and Anzac Day marches, many thousands of quite tributes took place on 25 April all over Australia as people took part in the RSL Light Up the Dawn commemoration to say thank you to our fallen hero’s for their services, said Surendra Prasad OAM, Chairman, AIHWMC.
Flowers laid on the Indian Heritage War Memorial at the Sunnybank RSL Garden last year (file photo)
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