This week we remembered the Anzacs and all service people past and present.
The Anzac address was given by Captain Shaun Fogarty, who grew up in South Dunedin. In his address he remarked on wars destroying lives and creating refugees. Dunedin has been host to many groups of refugees.
Capt Fogarty spoke of the Vietnamese refugees of his 1970s childhood and the enormously positive contribution they made to Dunedin and New Zealand.
This caused me to reflect on my childhood, a decade later in the 1980s, and the Cambodian refugees who settled in Dunedin. I had good friends at Balmacewen Intermediate and Otago Girls’ who fled the Khmer Rouge. At intermediate we had a speech competition, won by my friend, who described his family’s escape. It remains the most powerful speech I have heard.
More recently the Dunedin community has actively sought to house refugees, resulting in the Government announcing in 2015 that Dunedin would join other cities as a resettlement city. Since then, more than 500 refugees (mostly from Syria, but also Palestine and Jordan) have joined our community.
Like Capt Fogarty, I am thankful for what refugees have contributed to Dunedin and the humanity they show by giving our community so much. I cannot begin to fathom the violence they flee. This is why I am proud that the Labour Government has agreed to resettle 150 refugees from Australia’s Manus Detention Centre.
On the afternoon of Anzac Day, I attended the University of Otago Students’ Association service on the University’s Memorial Walk. This service was focused on World War 1, the 500 students who went to war and the 97 who did not return. Our Anzac troops invaded (what is now) Turkey, and yet Kemal Ataturk made a tribute to them, which was read out in both Turkish and English.
Minister of Veteran Affairs Meka Whaitiri is visiting Gallipoli. She is with our ambassador Zoe Coulson-Sinclair (an Otago graduate with strong links to Dunedin) as a guest of the Turkish government and I admire the grace with which Turkey allows New Zealanders and Australians to commemorate our fallen.
In a modern example of the Anzac spirit, Australians have been able to travel to Aotearoa again since the middle of the month, in time for Easter. From May 1, tourists from all visa-waiver countries will also be able to visit as we reopen to the world. I’m looking forward to hearing more accents and languages again as we welcome visitors back to Otago.
I’m thankful to live in Aotearoa, far from conflict, and that we have a defence force that is able to evacuate refugees from Afghanistan and provide support to Ukraine. And I’m thankful to past service people whose sacrifices have protected our peaceful democracy.
Ka maumahara tatou ki a ratou. We will remember them.
