I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, and pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging.
I acknowledge Her Excellency Hilda Heine, President of the Republic of Marshall Islands;
I also acknowledge my colleagues from across the parliament;
Admiral David Johnston, Chief of the Defence Force, and senior officers from across the services;
The Honourable Peter Tinley, National President of the RSL;
Alison Frame, Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs;
Wing Commander Sharon Bown, representing the Chair of the Council of the Australian War Memorial; and
Matt Anderson, Director of the Australian War Memorial.
We come here each year carrying the simplest of phrases in our hearts:
Lest we forget.
It comes down to us through the years, four syllables tapping softly but steadily like a heartbeat.
We hear it in every corner of the earth made hallow by our fallen, every military cemetery and battleground.
Every cenotaph and war memorial in every city and every country town. Every old photograph in which the smile and the eyes refuse to fade.
Every letter in which a long-silent voice lives on, sometimes laconic, sometimes humorous, and so often aching with longing for home and a reunion with loved ones that never came.
"Lest we forget" is the foundation stone of this place.
It is both a vow, and a reminder.
In all its solemn power, it begins each parliamentary year for the same reason the War Memorial and Parliament House face each other across the lake.
To remind us that the spirit of democracy that our national Parliament embodies is built upon the spirit that permeates these very walls.
Generations of Australians have served in our name with a spirit that has never bent to tyranny.
They have served with courage. With character. With humanity.
Just as Australia has offered refuge to those fleeing the darkness, Australians in uniform have stood as a beacon of hope to the world.
And all too often, they have paid the greatest price.
All around us here, the names our fallen and the places they fell are mapped out in constellations of sacrifice.
Each name the heart of its own universe of grief.
Yet as we reflect on all this loss, and every shoulder that has borne its burden, we finds its counterweight in all that we have gained - because of them.
All we have been able to hold on to as a people and as a nation - because of them.
When Prime Minister John Curtin spoke at the opening of Australian War Memorial on Remembrance Day in 1941, the Second World War had already been raging for more than two years, and was only months from reaching our shores.
Curtin understood the gravity of that threat, yet he looked to the future.
To what he called "a peace worth the winning".
A peace worthy of all the courage, sacrifice and faith that Australians had shown to win it.
When the war finally ended, his successor Ben Chifley spoke of those who had fought the darkness - but not lived to see the light. As he implored the nation:
Let us remember those whose lives were given that we may enjoy this glorious moment and may look forward to a peace which they have won for us.
Let us remember those whose thoughts, with proud sorrow, turn towards gallant, loved ones who will not come back. …
Nothing can fully repay the debt we owe them nor can history record in adequate terms their deeds.
Chifley was right, but we go on, honouring our debt as best we can by honouring every Australian who fell.
Every Australian who came home.
Every Australian who came home but never left the battle.
Every Australian who has served, every Australian who serves now.
And we remember them.
Time marches on relentlessly, but we do not let it become a thief.
Together, we tend memory like a flame, ensuring its glow can be passed into the hands - and hearts - of generations of Australians to come.
So that many years from now, they too will look back with gratitude and pride, drawing together as we do today to say those three words:
Lest we forget.
