Anzac Day

Australia should honour the sacrifices of our forebears by learning from the war in Ukraine. So, in the coming years we might better defend our values, ...

He appreciates the need to take risks and knows that time is his most precious resource in saving his nation from potential extinction. Perhaps the most important leader in the world right now is President Zelenskyy. He was underestimated by Western leaders before the war, but has since unified his people, exhorted courage from his military and inspired millions around the world to reconsider why democracy is worth defending. We need to expand their numbers, their presence, and their aid budget to shape the regional environment so it is less conducive to external coercion or military conflict. Too many in our national defence community think in terms of decades when it comes to risk and defence procurement. Mick Ryan is a strategist and recently retired Australian Army major general. Australians watched the name of their country rise high in the esteem of the world's oldest and greatest nations." This increase should apply to the larger national defence effort, and not just military spending. The first lesson is that war remains a central aspect of human existence. April 25 is a sacred day in the Australian and New Zealand national calendars. This must change, and quickly. It ended in disaster for the British Expeditionary Force. But, as Australian historian C.E.W. Bean wrote afterwards: As historian Ian Morris has written, war is "something that cannot be wished out of existence, because it cannot be done".