PM pays tribute to our Diggers

SCOTT Morrison has paid tribute to Australia’s WWI heroes whose sacrifice “set them apart for eternity” at the national Remembrance Day service in Canberra where security appeared to have been beefed up in the wake of Friday’s terror attack in Melbourne.

Snipers were positioned on the roof of the Australian War Memorial to monitor the crowd as 12,000 people gathered to mark 100 years since the end of World War I.

“It is easy from the vantage point of a century to lose sight of the sacrifices made in our name,” the Prime Minister told the crowd.

“Those who fought in the Great War had the same flaws and frailties as any other Australian of any other generation.

“Yet their selflessness at the darkest of times has set them apart for eternity in our nation’s consciousness.”

Mr Morrison highlighted the bravery of war heroes and also remembered those who lost their lives after the war, either from injury or trauma.

“We often say that men and women like this were fearless but I actually don’t believe that,” he said. “Because bravery is not the absence of fear, it is the choice to commit to a purpose greater than your fear. That is the moment when fear is conquered.

“They feared greatly but acted nonetheless.

“And it is this that embodies our highest aspirations as a nation and its people — to live for others even when to do so is unimaginably hard and the cost extreme.”

Australian War Memorial director Brendan Nelson would not comment on security measures, but said: “We take any and all advice that’s provided to us by the intelligence and security agencies and that’s precisely what we have done on this occasion as we do on all of them.”

Dr Nelson’s message to all Australians was to never forget the sacrifices made to keep our country free and to always aim to be worthy of them.

“Beyond the wreathes and the tributes that we make, which we should, the best way to honour every single one of them is the way we choose to live our lives and shape our nation,” he said.

“The record crowd is saying to those inconsolably grieving mothers from the first world war through to the families of the men and women who are serving today, it says we remember you, we honour you, we seek to learn from the mistakes we’ve made as a nation, we recommit ourselves today, if we possibly can, to a peaceful world.”

The crowd fell silent at 11am to remember those who fought and to mark 100 years since the end of WWI.