One of the most profound requirements of humankind is peace - due to our unfortunate ability to be our own greatest threat. In keeping people safe we have a duty to look after the weaker against the stronger, taking into account what is a just position and who is the rightly afflicted.
Without any peacekeepers many people would be left with no protection whatsoever, their backs to the wall and their throats to the wolves.
Australia has great reason to be proud of the fact as a nation we have done our part but more to the point, there are people who have put their lives on the line for our nation to do its part. Today we celebrate 75 years of peacekeeping in Australia which has seen peacekeepers deployed every year since 1947.
The first of which was to Indonesia and since to India, Korea, Congo, Lebanon, West New Guinea, Yemen, Cyprus, Pakistan, Israel, Syria, Sinai, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Iran, Iraq, Namibia, Thailand, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Persian Gulf, Western Sahara, Somalia, former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Mozambique, Bougainville, Haiti, Guatemala, East Timor, Solomon Islands, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sierra Leone, Sudan, South-Sudan and Mali.
As a nation to those who served and are serving in peacekeeping, we say thank you.