2024 ADFA Graduation Parade Final Rehearsal Speech

Commandant, Commanding Officer, Regimental Sergeant Major, Instructors, Families and Friends and the Midshipmen and officer Cadets of the Australian Defence Force Academy

Thank you for the honour of being invited to address you today.

I can think of NO higher calling than that on which you are embarked; to lead our sailors, soldiers and aviators in the profession of arms.

You have chosen to put service before self – because to lead is to serve.

You are patriots, in the most literal sense of that word, and I stand richer in your presence.

But I must start with a confession.

I stood where you are standing, 36 years ago.

Graduation Day and a Commission as a Lieutenant at midnight.

A head full of ideas, lungs full of energy and a belly full of ambition.

I too was bullet proof!

And yet I have no clue who spoke to me on graduation day!

Not who they were, nor what they said.

Truth be told, I was probably more worried about how I was going to find my cap once we marched off parade for the final time and I tried to launch it into orbit!

So my expectations of you are modest!

Today, now, I ask you to stand easy.

And to listen.

Because, if you want to be a good leader, you’ll spend more time listening and watching than talking and doing.

The RSM gave me a leave pass to go off script, so I thought you might want to hear what I wish I knew, when I stood where you stood, a lifetime ago.

Like you, I graduated into a peacetime army. All of my instructors - or at least the good ones - were Vietnam Veterans.

I spent most of my time and exercises re-prosecuting the Vietnam War with exercises named Binh Ba or Long Hai.

We had a rifle company in Butterworth, some were posted to the British Army of the Rhine and about 13 officers – the thrusters – had postings as UN observers to the Middle East.

But what I wish I knew – or could see – was that we were re-prosecuting the tactics and lessons learned of past wars. We trained for low-intensity conflict in jungle settings, and occasionally imagined what would happen if the fight came to our shores.

But the reality was, that the battles to be fought by my classmates would not be fought in South East Asia or Australia’s Northern Territory. They would fight for their lives and our freedoms and values on the other side of the world, in and over the deserts of Iraq, on the Hindu Kush and the Persian Gulf.

I wish I knew the battles I had trained for were not going to be the ones my generation was asked to fight.

Soon enough, my classmates, followed by a generation of sailors, soldiers and aviators, deployed on peacekeeping, humanitarian and warlike operations so often that they spent almost as much time on operations as at home.

I wish I knew to enjoy the battle rhythm post-graduation, as it didn’t last long.

And I wish I knew then – when standing on parade on graduation day – to look to my left and to my right.

To see who was there.

And to make a promise.

That I would look after them and their families. And look out for them once they returned; because some of them – and some of you - will bring the consequences of that service home.

I wish I knew not to let our longest war be followed by our longest silence.

But I diverge slightly here, only because of the recent Royal Commission into Defence and Veterans’ Suicide.

There is no doubt some have been affected by their service.

We have an obligation as mates, as a Defence Force, as a society, and as a nation, to give those who have worn our uniform and have given us their health, every help they both need and deserve.

But I must also state, emphatically, that I stand before you richer for my service, in every possible way.

For the remarkable training I received.

For the friends I made.

For the leaders I was exposed to.

For the profound experiences I was blessed to have, and which have held me in good stead in uniform and well beyond.

The ADF was my finishing school, and not a day goes by where I don’t draw positively on every element of it.

And so will you!

I wish I knew that rank does not define success.

The safety and skill of your sailors, soldiers and aviators does.

The cohesion of the team you will build and then lead does.

I wish I knew there will be a postings lotto and a promotion lotto.

Some will win, but graduating from this place, none of you will lose.

I promise you.

I wish I knew that when you graduate, you don’t stop learning.

You start learning.

Graduating from ADFA does not make you smarter; it makes you luckier. That someone, somewhere, saw in you the potential to invest in you a tertiary education.

But your best teachers – if you are humble enough - will be the women and men you have the honour to lead; especially the Senior Non Commissioned Officers.

Trust your Senior NCOs. They have a wisdom born of lived experience and a determination to help you succeed.

Trust them, and they will trust you; with their lives.

But above all else. Well done.

Take a deep, deep breath.

Over the past week the Australian War Memorial has hosted reunions of the Class of 1974 – which included amongst its ranks, former Chief of the Army, LTGEN Peter Leahy. I also hosted the Class of 1984, which included in its ranks former CDF Angus Campbell, and Former Queensland Premier Campbell Newman.

And at each of these reunions there was a constant. They treasured their time in uniform and they loved and respected each other.

And they remembered fondly this day!

At some stage, after you leave here, and happen to be visiting Canberra as young officers, go to the Hall of Memory at the Australian War Memorial.

As I challenged the leadership group a few weeks ago when you were taking the graduating class photo, study the 15 stained glass windows designed by a one-armed veteran of Bullecourt and the values written below each:

The fighting qualities of: Coolness; Control; Audacity; Endurance and Decision.

The personal qualities of: Resource; Candour; Devotion; Curiosity; and Independence.

And the social qualities of Comradeship; Ancestry; Patriotism; Chivalry; and Loyalty.

And then, choose one – just one – and make that your compass heading for the remainder of your career.

The women and men you are about to lead will be richer for it, but so too will you.

Immeasurably richer.

Please know you inspire me.

You fill me with hope for the nation’s future.

To Lead. To Excel.