Joel Fitzgibbon served as the Labor Member for Hunter from 1996 to 2022.

He held several ministerial roles, including Minister for Defence under Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

Tragically, his son, Lance Corporal Jack Fitzgibbon, died on March 6, 2024, following a parachuting accident during a routine Australian Defence Force training exercise at RAAF Base Richmond in Sydney.

Jack, aged 33, was a member of the elite 2nd Commando Regiment and an experienced parachutist.

Mr Fitzgibbon’s Anzac Day Dawn service speech at North Bondi has been praised by many Aussies for greatly honouring he memory of his son and others who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of their country.

Read it in full below. 

On this day 110 years ago – early morning, dark, freezing cold, and in a shower of bullets – thousands of Australian and New Zealand troops stormed the beaches of the Gallipoli Peninsula.

They did so against all odds, let down by those who planned their mission.

Former defence minister Joel Fitzgibbon addressed young Australians in his Anzac Day speech at North Bondi, Sydney on Friday

‘To maintain peace in our region we must maintain vigilance,’ Mr Fitzgibbons told the crowds packed onto the foreshore at North Bondi

Despite that, they did all that was asked of them and more. By the end of the day 600 Australian soldiers had sacrificed their lives. By the end of the campaign, around 6,000 more fell with their faces to the foe. Thousands more were wounded, many for life.

The ANZAC legend was born.

Today we honour them, and we thank them for their deeds and their sacrifice.

Just as we pay tribute today, to all those who have been inspired by them and have given their own lives defending – or training to defend – our national interest.

More than one hundred thousand of them. The overwhelming majority of them, volunteers.

But in this increasingly uncertain world, we must do more than honour them and thank them. That’s easy.

We must show how much we mean it, by ensuring their legacy lives on, and their deeds were not in vain.

We owe it to them, to be as committed to the defence of our national interests as they were – today, tomorrow and beyond.

Lance Corporal Jack Fitzgibbon (pictured) passed after a parachute incident at Richmond RAAF base near Sydney

‘The history of the world is largely a story of war. It’s the one great constant,’ the former MP for Hunter said

To protect what we’ve built and what we stand for – our values and our commitment to democracy and its institutions. This we owe them.

ANZAC Day – our most solemn day – is as much about our future as it is about our past. It must be.

As we gather this morning, our men and women in uniform are pausing to reflect too. Some of them are with us.

Like the rest of us, they’ll be drawing strength from the deeds of those who marched before them.

But they’ll soon be back at it, preparing to venture into harm’s way in our name. Preparing to put their lives on the line – for us.

Pushing themselves to their physical and mental limits. Honing their skills and procedures. Thinking about the relative strengths and capability of the foe they might face. Any day.

Yet as a civilian community, complacency has grown amongst us.

The history of the world is largely a story of war. It’s the one great constant.

Channel Seven reporter Grace Fitzgibbon (left) shared a photo of her father Joel (centre) and her boyfriend Az (right) at North Bondi RSL Club on Anzac Day

Royal Australian Navy personnel take part in the Anzac Day March in Sydney

Yet some amongst us act as if they believe human nature has changed. As if the world has matured beyond the futility of war, and now clearly sees the folly of it.

That is despite, the conflicts currently playing out in the Middle East and Ukraine. Despite rising tensions in our own region – in our own back yard.

Just as we in the West appear to have lost the will to reproduce ourselves in sufficient number, we seem to have lost the will to adequately protect ourselves.

Peace is worth fighting for, but avoiding conflict is a better option.

To maintain peace in our region we must maintain vigilance. That means more than just hoping for a capable Defence Force, the will must be there too.

That means we need our people – all of us, including our young people – to appreciate that we need the capacity to deter an enemy and if necessary, to defeat an enemy. Not just as a defence force but as a nation.

And we will only have a nation capable of doing so, if that’s the message we are constantly sending our political leaders.

If it’s our priority, it will continue to be a priority for them – it’s up to us.

Defence policy should be a matter of absolute bipartisanship.

The financial cost of it demands it. The complexity of it demands it. The challenges of it demand it. And the need for it demands it. We owe our fallen no less.

We owe it to those who have returned but lived – or will live – shorter lives due to injury or mental trauma.

And we owe our living veterans no less – those who served in the Second World War, Korea, the Malayan Emergency, Vietnam, the Gulf War, Iraq, East Timor, Afghanistan, Solomon Islands and every deployment before, since, and in between.

And we owe our nation no less, including those who made significant sacrifices on the home front, and those who lost a partner, a parent, a son or daughter, or a brother and sister.

Lest we forget.