This is the text of the Anzac Day speech delivered by the Minister for Defence, Senator Robert Hill, at the Dawn Service, on HMAS Kanimbla, in the Persian Gulf.

The speech was given just a month after the start of the Iraq war.

On this day last year I had the honour to present the ANZAC Day address at the national commemoration in the forecourt of the Australian War Memorial. The War Memorial in Canberra is a poignant reminder of the enormous sacrifice that has been made by so many Australians over the generations. They were lives lost to preserve our freedom and that of our friends and allies – often very distant from Australian shores and in many instances in this region of the world. [Read more...]