Senator BOSWELL (Leader of the National Party of Australia in the Senate and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Transport and Regional Services) (12:45 PM) —A couple of weeks ago we all assembled in Melbourne to celebrate the 100th year of federation. At that time, the leaders of the various parties were to speak. Unfortunately, because of circumstances, I was not able to make a contribution. I would like to take the opportunity now to give the speech that I was going to give on that day.

The great federation of states and territories that we proudly call Australia, and whose 100th birthday we celebrate this month, is a democracy unparalleled in time and place. For that, we are indebted to the past, obliged in the present and hopeful for the future. We are Australians. Our ancient land was born to humanity in the dreaming of our indigenous peoples and nurtured by waves of people from other lands. Together, we make our nation a sanctuary of freedom, hope and equality. Australia unites us all.

Our constitution safeguards Australia. God bless all who proudly state, `We are Australians.' Many of our generation of Australians know their family links back to the time of federation—grandparents and great-grandparents. These were the sons and daughters of federation, children at the birth of a nation on an island continent that seemed so far from anywhere else. To them fell the obligation of the beginning, the Great War and the Depression.

Today we stand in a unique place in history, able to reach out behind us to just touch the birth of our nation while being pulled in another direction towards the unknown. To us falls the obligation of keeping intact the virtues of the first generation of national Australians so that 100 years from now they will still be recognisable in the Australians of 2101. These virtues are to be found forever in two symbols born out of federation: the federation star and the rising sun. The Australian flag salutes the constitutional coming together of states and territories with a seven-point star. Each state and territory has a unique and equal place in the Commonwealth of Australia. Each member of the federation is sovereign to itself and to Australia as a whole. Each state has its icons, landscapes, strengths and challenges. The Senate was given a special responsibility to keep the federation star shining brightly by reflecting the interests of individual states.

We are a healthier nation by virtue of our interstate rivalries and differences. There is great strength in diversity. This translates to a political challenge to represent all Australians—regardless of where they live, what they look like, where they come from, or what creed they profess. We began national political life as a series of penal colonies, a place of exile and abandonment. We continue it as a mature, independent federation, a Commonwealth of freedom and of sanctuary. This was achieved only because Australians came together to achieve national aims and to develop our own ways of lifting ourselves beyond servitude and suffering.

The federation star reminds us of the strength and vitality that get us through the dark hours of natural and man-made disasters, of endless toil and grinding suffering. Our constitution binds our different lights together to harness more energy as a whole than as separate lonely struggles. The federation star is the star of mateship. After every time of hardship, Australians have found a new lease of life. The world wars of this century tested us as a nation, and we prevailed. The sacrifices were rewarded by new life from great waves of migrants who brought prosperity and added diversity and diminished the distance between us and the rest of the world.

There is no better symbol of the promise of Australia than the sun's rays at dawn. This symbol was so popular at the time of federation that it was worked into the architecture of homes built in that period: a new country, a new life. Mostly, though, we are familiar with the rising sun as it continues today—the emblem worn by our servicemen and women. The rays of the rising sun remind us of our hopes for the future. They stand for the warmth of the Australian spirit, the will to overcome despite the odds and the certainty of a bright tomorrow. They stand for a nation of new beginnings. The dawn rays illuminate a level horizon where everyone is equal. The beams radiate out and upwards, beckoning and welcoming.

Leaders have played no small part in our fate. Australia owes its depth of freedom to political leaders of courage like Curtin, of comprehension like Menzies and of compelling vision like Earle Page. Our constitution has never witnessed civil war. Our shores are hardly touched by the terror of terrorism. We are on the world's A-list for everything that is good. Our federated democracy is a precious inheritance that we must value in order to preserve. The matilda spirit waltzes most freely in those who never seek public acclaim. Australians expect their parliaments and their parliamentarians to reflect those values—to befriend the defenceless, to stir at tyranny and injustice and to fight but never surrender.

The nation is warmed by the fire of ordinary Australians who do the extraordinary: those who answer the call, who become the light in the darkness, who accept and act upon the obligations which come to every Australian in different guises. One ordinary bloke was Private Fred Flanagan, a saddler in the Australian forces in World War I. He was born into a colony and grew up the son of federation. Private Fred Flanagan fell on the fields of France. He died an Australian. He never once saw his daughter. I am his grandson and my grandson wears his medals on Anzac Day. We could never know him.

But Australians know him and all the other Fred Flanagans, and mothers, wives and daughters. On Anzac Day we carry those timeless marchers with us. If we are to keep in step with them we must take up our obligations as they did theirs—with the federation star in our back pocket and the rising sun on our faces.