Victorian Minister for Veterans Affairs and Defence Personnel, Andrew Gee, has today extended his appreciation to all those who came together yesterday to restore the sanctity of Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance following it’s use as a protest site on Wednesday.
“We have witnessed our veterans and community members volunteering their time to remove discarded glass, bottles and other debris abandoned during the protest,” Minister Gee said.
“I would like to recognise and congratulate their community spirit in undertaking this clean up. They shouldn’t have had to do it.”
He also expressed a thank you to Victoria’s veteran community who were involved in the clean up efforts at the sacred site.
“I know for many veterans this would have been heartbreaking and caused enormous distress,” the Minister said.
“[Wednesday’s] events were shameful and denigrated our service men and women, veterans and their families. I hope none of us will ever see this sort of disrespect again.
“All of our memorials should be above any form of protest as they stand timelessly to remind all Australians of those who have served and sacrificed for our nation.
“The Shrine of Remembrance is a solemn place of reflection and commemoration and is recognised as such around Australia and the world.
“All those who have given their time to restore the Shrine have done Victoria and Australia proud.”
