Prime minister delivers speech at Isurava memorial along Kokoda Track
The prime minister Anthony Albanese has spent the past two days walking the Kokoda Track to mark Anzac Day, culminating with a dawn service this morning at the Isurava memorial.
Albanese has been walking the track with Papua New Guinea prime minister James Marape.
Addressing the crowd, Albanese said they were on “ground made hallowed by Australian sacrifice” where “we now have the privilege of joining together in peace and liberty”.
He remembered and honoured the 625 Australians killed on the Kokoda track, including the 99 who fell in the battle of Isurava. Albanese continued:
Every Anzac Day across Australia, and in battlefields like this one, we honour all who served and all who continue to serve today. It is a collective act of remembrance, reflection and gratitude carried out by multiple generations…
We are gathered in a place that has known the most pitiless ferocity of battle, fought with bullets, bayonet, mortar and the desperation of bare hands. It is also a place that has seen the unadorned strength of the Australian spirit.
Key events
Anzac Day trading hours
Each state and territory sets its own restrictions around trading hours for Anzac Day.
In New South Wales, retail trading is restricted until 1pm, with some exceptions. The same applies in Victoria, with trading to resume from 1pm on Anzac Day.
In Tasmania, trade can resume at 12.30pm.
In Queensland most large stores, including supermarkets and department stores, will remain closed all day. Most stores in Western Australia will also remain closed today.
In South Australia, only stores within the Adelaide CBD can open from noon to 5pm.
Only the Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory has no restrictions on trade today, which will operate as normal.
Anzac Day parade kicks off in Sydney
The Anzac Day parade has kicked off in Sydney, where more than 10,000 are preparing to march from Martin Place to the Anzac Memorial in Hyde Park.
Some photos from the parade have begun to roll in:
NSW Health warns of severe opioid overdoses in Penrith
NSW Health is investigating around 20 severe opioid overdoses in the Penrith area from the past month, and have issued a warning.
In a statement NSW Health said nitazenes – synthetic opioids which can be stronger than fentanyl and hundreds of times more potent than heroin – have been found in drug samples related to a cluster of around 20 overdoses.
These were reported in the Nepean Blue Mountains local health district and investigations into the cases are ongoing.
Nitazenes are more likely to decrease or stop breathing than other opioids, a statement said. NSW Health’s chief addiction medicine specialist, Dr Hester Wilson, said drugs containing strong opioids can cause severe overdose or death:
Nitazenes are extremely potent. It is important that people recognise the signs of an opioid overdose early and know how to respond.
Opioids such as heroin can cause pin-point pupils, drowsiness, loss of consciousness, slowed breathing/snoring and skin turning blue/grey and can be life-threatening.
One of the dangers of illicit drug supply is the strength and contents of the substance you are getting is unknown and can be inconsistent. In light of this detection, people who use drugs such as heroin should carry naloxone.
NSW Health said take-home naloxone is a life-saving measure that can temporarily reverse an opioid overdose, including with nitazenes.
Anyone who uses naloxone should called triple-zero for an ambulance “immediately” for follow up care, NSW Health said, as higher and repeated doses are often required.
Beachside dawn service held at Currumbin in Queensland
Queenslanders have gathered in their thousands across the state to pause and reflect on the contributions of defence personnel and their sacrifice to Australia, AAP reports.
Near the state border with NSW, surf boats performed a burial at sea as a large crowd paid their respects at the Currumbin dawn service.
Atop Elephant Rock, flags were at half mast to recognise the contributions of nearly 1.5 million Australians who have served and fought for the country.
Hundreds gathered as early as 3.30am in Brisbane city before governor Jeanette Young laid a wreath commemorating the 16,000 Australian and New Zealand soldiers who at dawn 109 years ago, landed on the shores of Gallipoli.
By the time the service had concluded, between 12,000 and 15,000 people had attended Anzac Square in the city’s CBD.
Former and current ADF personnel are set to march through the city between 9.45am and 12.30pm in the annual Anzac Day parade.
Five charged following joint counter-terrorism operation across Sydney
NSW police have confirmed five teenagers have been charged as the joint counter-terrorism team continues to investigate “associates” of the alleged offender involved in the Wakeley church stabbing.
About 11.15am yesterday investigators executed 13 search warrants across Sydney, in suburbs including: Bankstown, Prestons, Casula, Lurnea, Rydalmere, Greenacre, Strathfield, Chester Hill, and Punchbowl. A premises in Goulburn was also searched.
The operation involved more than 400 police from NSW and the AFP.
As we reported yesterday seven juvenile males were arrested and a further five people – including two men and three juvenile males – assisted police with inquiries.
Police said a number of items were seized yesterday including “a significant amount of electronic material.”
Five juveniles have been charged with the following:
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Two males, aged 17 and 14, were charged with possessing or controlling violent extremist material obtained or accessed using a carriage service.
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Two males, both aged 16, were charged with conspiring to engage in any act in preparation for, or planning, a terrorist act.
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A male, aged 17, was charged with conspiring to engage in an act in preparation for, or planning, a terrorist act and custody of a knife in a public place.
All five were refused bail to appear before a children’s court today.
Prime minister shares photos from Kokoda Track, dawn service at Isurava memorial
Anthony Albanese has spent the past two days walking the Kokoda Track with PNG’s prime minister, James Marape, culminating in a dawn service at the Isurava memorial this morning (see earlier posts).
The PM has now shared some photos from the dawn service:
Courage. Endurance. Mateship. Sacrifice.
Words that adorn the Memorial at Isurava on the Kokoda Track where I was honoured to commemorate Anzac Day at a moving ceremony, together with PNG Prime Minister James Marape. pic.twitter.com/ZNBPxVCv61
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) April 24, 2024
It is heartening to see so many Australians who have made the journey to be here.
We paused to remember the sacrifices of those who fought to defend this land. pic.twitter.com/K7rW3c2MGD
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) April 24, 2024
Anzac Day asks us to stand against the erosion of time, and to hold on to their names. To hold on to their deeds.
We will remember them.Lest we forget. pic.twitter.com/D3zSexvffY
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) April 24, 2024
Shadow assistant defence minister honours veterans who have ‘succumbed to their war within’
The shadow assistant defence minister, Phillip Thompson, has shared some photos from a dawn service this morning and taken the chance to remember veterans who have “succumbed to their war within back here in Australia”.
In a post to X, he wrote:
On Anzac Day I remember my mates and the many Australians who have paid the ultimate sacrifice on operations in service to this nation, as well as those who have succumbed to their war within back here in Australia.
On ANZAC Day I remember my mates and the many Australians who have paid the ultimate sacrifice on operations in service to this nation, as well as those who have succumbed to their war within back here in Australia.
LEST WE FORGET pic.twitter.com/q681Y76PFB— Phillip Thompson OAM MP (@P_Thompson88) April 24, 2024
Supporting veterans in transition from defence force to community key to tackling suicide rates, RSL head says
RSL Victoria’s acting head of veteran services, Ben Webb, says supporting veterans in their transition from the defence force back into everyday life in the community is vital to addressing suicide.
He spoke with ABC News Breakfast earlier this morning from Melbourne and was asked how veterans are being looked after. He said “certainly things are always improving.”
We have a royal commission happening at the moment as well and that will bring its own improvements in time.
One of the most pleasing things to see is [that] the amount of collaboration in this space is dramatically increasing over the years, and that is what I see with Anzac Day. It is not just coming together, commemorating those who have lost their lives [but also] those who are still with us but struggle with their own traumas and have that almost live-in sacrifice, particularly their family members. The collaboration around those individuals, those families, year-on-year is getting better.
Asked what needs to be done to address veteran suicide, Webb said the answer is “connection”.
Come together as a community to support these men, women, these families, because that transition … from defence force into the community is such a crucial piece in your life, and if you have got those traumas from service and that transition does not happen very well, that is one of those big points of risk of where things can go horribly wrong.
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Support for veterans and their families is available 24 hours a day from Open Arms on 1800 011 046 and Safe Zone Support on 1800 142 072. Hayat Line is a free and confidential crisis support line for Muslims on 1300 993 398.
Paul Daley: On Anzac Day you’ll hear stories of courage and mateship but it’s a way to rationalise war
It’s worth pointing to columnist Paul Daley’s piece again. He notes that while we’re likely to hear familiar numbers today about how many troops lost their lives in service, we too often accept these figures without challenging the reasons for going to war.
Daley wrote:
Some of those numbers are recited at times of national commemoration such as today. It is hard to equate each single one – 1 – with a likely horrible, squalid individual violent death (which is what war always delivers). There are just too many 1s to recount the experiences of, to emotionally account for, to understand the killings and deaths of.
That is why nations weave grander, often more poetic, narratives around all of those 1s, to storify the end of their lives more collectively in war into some sort of relatable – and justifiable – context. For it is only through bigger stories of battlefield courage and endurance, spirit and mateship and loss (rarely “death’’), and of the sacrifice of the fallen (rarely the “dead’’) that we can rationalise what happened in the context of war – and authorise our politicians to do it again…
Here is a number you probably won’t hear referenced today: one serving or former Australian Defence Force member has a suicide-related contact with emergency services every four hours in Australia.
You can continue reading his piece below:
More than 30,000 attend dawn service at Australian War Memorial in Canberra
In Canberra, a single didgeridoo pierced the silence at the Australian War Memorial where some 32,000 people were present for a dawn service.
Letters from Anzacs in World War I were read out and the names of fallen soldiers were illuminated on the building in Canberra, as the service began at 5.30am and ended with a minute’s silence and the Last Post.
The governor general, David Hurley, and New Zealand’s high commissioner to Australia, Andrew Needs, laid wreaths at the Stone of Remembrance. The vice-chief of the ADF, David Johnston, asked all Australians to also remember the families who mourned on Anzac Day.
– from AAP
