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Merchant Navy Day

Published on: September 2019

Record: HANSARD-1323879322-107364

Merchant Navy Day

Ms FELICITY WILSON (North Shore)

—Speaker I pay tribute to the bravery and sacrifice of the Australian Merchant Seamen who played a vital role carrying cargo across our oceans to support the Allied war effort. I was pleased to have joined with local veterans to commemorate Merchant Navy Day. I was touched by the words of June Spiers who spoke of her late husband Dr John Spiers. I recognise also Jannion Kaufman who, along with her daughter Joan Taylor, spoke movingly about her late husband Capt. L.W. Taylor. All across NSW, the returned services league is making a difference for current and returned servicemen and women. I am proud to say, in my own electorate, we have fantastic RSL sub-branches providing support and making a difference for the servicemen and women serving our country. Thank you to Merrill Barker and Don Kennedy for inviting me to honour the hundreds of merchant mariners who lost their lives since World War I to protect our nation during the desperate times of war. Lest we forget.