Live, captured through television microphones, compressed for Youtube and otherwise imperfectly recorded nothing could contain or limit the exuberance, esprit de corp and humanity of the French national anthem La Marseillaise - in particular the unaccompanied male voices at 1.30, building to a magnificent all-in call to arms.
You can see excerpts of the whole service here, thanks to reader KM for the tip.
And in a magnificent Up Yours to the vile Mohammaden philosophy that caused the murders, the final piece of music was from an Italian composer Joe Green (Guiseppe Verdi to his mum) and his opera Nabucco.
It follows the plight of the Jews as they are assaulted, conquered and subsequently exiled from their homeland by the Babylonian King Nabucco (in English, Nebuchadnezzar II). The historical events are used as background for a romantic and political plot. The best-known number from the opera is the "Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves", Va, pensiero, sull'ali dorate / "Fly, thought, on golden wings", a chorus which is regularly given an encore in many opera houses when performed today.
The Slaves Chorus echoed through the square of the Hotel des Invalides as the crowd left yesterday's ceremony - in much the same way as Verdi described the thoughts of the Jewish slaves.
Go, thoughts, on golden wings;
Go, settle upon the slopes and hills,
where warm and soft and fragrant are
the breezes of our sweet native land!
Greet the banks of the Jordan,
the towers of Zion ...
Oh my country so beautiful and lost!
Or so dear yet unhappy!
Or harp of the prophetic seers,
why do you hang silent from the willows?
Rekindle the memories within our hearts,
tell us about the time that have gone by
Or similar to the fate of Solomon,
give a sound of lament;
or let the Lord inspire a concert
That may give to endure our suffering.
And up yours Mohammed, you, your mates and your barbecues.
Nicholson - http://nicholsoncartoons.com.au captures the essence of Slater and Gordon today.
Here is some lazy (and lengthy) weekend reading.
In January 2014 we posted a series of articles about some of the problems Slater and Gordon were confronted with on Monday, 14 August 1995.
HERE'S THE FIRST OF THEM
Around the time that Bruce Wilson's adventures with other people's money became an agenda item at the AWU Finance Committee - Slater and Gordon had at least two other major cases that could have destroyed the firm.
Each of the 3 issues came to a tipping point around 11-14 August, 1995.
Nick Styant Browne was responsible for the massive lawsuit against BHP in the operation of the Ok Tedi copper and gold mine.
In April 1991 Julia Gillard tells us she commenced advising Bruce Wilson on matters relating to the "stalking of the AWU Banch Secretary" and Wilson's ambition to get that job.
On 3 April 1991 Bruce Wilson opened a bank account at the CBA
DDA Account 6001 1002 0466 styled AWU WA Branch A/C (opened since 3/4/91)
We know that from the banking records associated with the National Construction Fund filed here.
By at least 1995 Ralph Blewitt was also a signatory.
But something went astray in April 1995. 11 April 1995 to be specific.
This letter (below) from Phillips Fox lawyers, acting for Woodside explains.
Glen Anderton was at the time the AWU WA Branch President.
In early April AWU staff were transitioning to the new National Construction Branch and amalgamated WA and Victoria arrangements.
Wilson would no doubt have been very concerned to hear that he'd lost control of at least one of the Woodside payments - with Glen Anderson intervening. We learn from this letter that on 11 April 1995 the Woodside quarterly payment was deposited into the AWU WA Branch operating account. This may have been the impetus for the shut down of the AWU WRA Inc as Wilson's influence over WA accounts and control of audits etc waned.
While the Batman Street stamp was referred to by Phillips Fox's partner, that BSB refers to a central clearing branch. The original cheque is amongst these 3 quarterly deposits made within days of each other on 13 and 19 June, 1995 by Wayne Hem.
For reasons you'll see shortly, the correspondence from Pillips Fox in July would have been most unwelcome news at Slater and Gordon.
On 14 July 1995 the AWU Members Welfare Association bank account was frozen as Wilson attempted to transfer $160,000 to another slush fund he controlled. Gillard claims she ceased acting for Wilson (personally) around that date and handed the matter to Bernard Murphy. But no one in the AWU knew about that cheque being bounced. AT that point why wasn't Wilson advised to simply tell his superiors he had banked the money into the wrong account, he was sorry and here are the cheques?
On 8 August 1995 Murphy claims to have ceased to represent Bruce Wilson, although he concedes he represented Wilson in negotiating his bogus redundancy from the AWU for some time after that.
Peter Gordon contacted Slater and Gordon in August 2012 to check the dates in the relevant Slater and Gordon files - files which were later said to have disappeared - for this statement made public later that month.
Julia Gillard worked in the industrial department of Slater & Gordon in 1990 through 1995 where she was accountable to Mr (Bernard) Murphy. She was also within Mr Murphy’s‘camp’ of close associates and friends at the firm at the time. Mr Murphy and Ms Gillard acted for the Victorian state branch of the AWU from 1991/1992 until 1995 and also for two of its officials Mr Bruce Wilson and Mr Ralph Blewitt.
Mr Murphy and Ms Gillard left the firm in late 1995 in circumstances where their relationship with the equity partnership group had become fractured, and trust and confidence evaporated.
....the partnership was extremely unhappy with both Mr Murphy and Ms Gillard, considered that proper vigilance had not been observed and that their duties of utmost good faith to their partners especially as to timely disclosure had not been met.
The partnership considered terminating Mr Murphy and Ms Gillard.
Ms Gillard elected to resign and we accepted her resignation without discussion.
.....the relevant Slater & Gordon files reveal that certain relevant ‘new’ information was made to Mr Murphy in July 1995, and very shortly thereafter to Ms Gillard. No evidence in any of the firm’s records exists that information as to any matter which can incontrovertibly be described as wrongdoing was available to or known by either of them before this time. Shortly after this time, this‘new’ information was passed on to the other partners. There was a small delay in the transmission of this information by Mr Murphy to the rest of us which I interpreted as mediated only by the serious deterioration in our relationship and the mental strain under which he obviously labored at the time. When the information was conveyed to the other partners, the firm immediately ceased acting for the AWU, for Mr Wilson and Mr Blewitt.
The period between 2 August when Bob Smith's allegations were raised at the AWU National Finance Committee meeting and 11 August are critical.
On 4 August 1995 Bob Smith sent this letter.
On Monday 7 August 1995 Bob Smith, Ian Cambridge, Bill Ludwig and Steve Harrison met in Brisbane to discuss the Wilson allegations. There was no talk of a redundancy. There was no talk of returning money to the companies that had paid it to the AWU/Wilson. The only thing that was discussed was that Wilson and put the money in the wrong bank account.
Between 8 August 1995 and 11 August a deal was struck. It involved Slater and Gordon.
On 9 August 1995 Ian Cambridge wrote to the Commonwealth Bank in Melbourne.
The Royal Commission did not, so far as I am aware, receive this Affidavit of Jim Collins the former AWU official and co-signatory on the Members Welfare Association account into evidence. We published it here;
According to Jim Collins, by early July Wilson knew the jig was up - around the time the cheque to the National Construction Branch was bounced.
But Cambridge did not know about that transaction. He did not know about the National Construction Fund at all. And because the bounced cheque appeared on the National Construction Fund statement and not the Members Welfare Association statement, he would not have discovered the fact that the cheque was bounced when the CBA sent him the statements either.
On 11 August 1995 Joanne Painter of The Age newspaper wrote this story:
The national construction branch of the giant Australian Workers Union was in turmoil yesterday following the departure of almost half of the senior officials.
At least three senior organisers, including the national branch secretary, Mr Bruce Wilson, yesterday accepted voluntary redundancy packages that have been offered to all staff.
The future of the remaining five officials is unclear.
The surprise redundancies come a week after the AWU national office was forced to bail-out the financially troubled branch after it was unable to pay workers for three weeks.
The AWU national secretary, Mr Ian Cambridge, said he was not aware that any redundancies had been offered to staff in the national construction division but confirmed the branch faced serious financial problems.
``I am unaware of any redundancy packages that have been finalised with anyone in the national construction branch (but) I am aware of some financial issues relating to the branch." Mr Cambridge said the staff had since been paid their entitlements.
The national construction division of the union was created in February to spearhead a major recruitment drive in the industry and to take on the rival Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union in key areas of coverage.
But according to union sources, the branch ran into financial difficulties when membership numbers plummeted to less than 2000. The financial crisis was exacerbated when the branch became financially independent of the national AWU organisation on 1 July. Mr Wilson could not be contacted for comment.
So why the hurry to get out Bruce? Why did Bob Smith go from writing to Cambridge about police charges, to secretly agreeing to the return of money to the companies that paid it in. Were any checks made on the basis for the payments?
At this point it's useful to look at what the companies say the money was given to Wilson for.
John Holland - the money was clearly paid to the AWU for union membership tickets.
The only company that did not respond was Thiess - it waited until the AWU Workplace Reform Association's activities were made public through Ian Cambridge's efforts almost one year later.
Remember that it's only in the last week or so that we have put two and two together to show that rather than being for an asbestos study, the $20,160 payment from Thiess that Wilson banked into the AWU Members Welfare Association Inc account was a cheque made out to the AWU Workplace Reform Association Inc. in answer to an AWU WRA invoice.
There are two dimensions to Bob Smith's potential charges.
1. Were the payments from those companies (excluding Thiess) extraordinary or on their face unlawful. By the standards of the day, the fact that Wilson was out soliciting those sorts of payments doesn't seem terribly unusual. Bulk union tickets and payments to subsidise officials appear to be the norm at the AWU. It's unlikely someone like Wilson would have been so keen to resign and take his whole branch with him over soliciting the Woodside, John Holland Fluor Daniel or Chambers Consulting payments.
2. Were the banking arrangements a hanging offence? Wilson doesn't strike me as the sort of bloke who would throw his career and the jobs of those close to him away over that, certainly not without a fight. He arranged for the payments he'd solicited to go into a single account. He had plenty of arguments to make - the money was still there, it was a time of turmoil etc etc etc. He had never in his past demonstrated such a defeatist attitude. Given the laissez faire banking arrangements and Wilson's natural propensity to fight and defend, it strikes me as unusual that he would have gone so timidly, quickly and secretly, without any right to defend himself. And it wasn't just himself (if he had any conscience) it was the livelihoods of those around him.
The AWU Workplace Reform Association was then unknown to the AWU and it remained that way until the next year. Likewise the link between the Association and the Kerr Street property. Similarly the central role of Slater and Gordon in the association was unknown at the time Wilson left the AWU.
When Slater and Gordon took instructions from Wilson the firm was the National Construction Branch's lawyers. The National Construction Branch was brand new and Slaters had done the work to set it up. It had the support of the entire AWU and as a national body must have been an attractive and growing client for Slaters.
But rather than look for the means to defend Wilson, Murphy and Gillard didn't even give defence a chance. They advised him to fold the tent and get out of Dodge City ASAP. Their legal work included negotiating to extinguish the very branch they had just worked so hard to establish.
Why? On the face of it because Bruce Wilson solicited payments from bosses but banked the payments into the wrong account. And when his lawyers were made aware of it, they apparently did not advise him to put his hand up, admit the banking error account for all the money and promise never to do it again. They were faced with a circumstance where the money was still there, no one in the AWU (beyond possibly Bob Smith) knew about the account and Wilson could have at least arguably explained away the banking "error".
Wilson even had the potentially reasonable "excuse' that Wayne Hem had done all of that banking. "Those cheques went where? I'm terribly sorry, Mr Hem was probably confused in the scheme of things with the new branch arrangements, it won't happen again etc etc etc".
Wilson went to Slater and Gordon and admitted to his lawyers what he had done.
Even though the money was manifestly AWU money, paid to the AWU for AWU purposes, Slaters and Maurice Blackburn each participated in a scheme to return it to the companies that had paid it in. With the exception of the Thiess payment, all the returned money was unquestionably AWU money. The money wasn't unlawfully acquired by the AWU - it was improperly banked. It wasn't the getting of the dough that constituted Wilson's major drama, it was simply the way he'd banked it.
That is with the exception of Thiess.
The advice and complicity in the return of the money makes no sense at all. Wilson's sudden departure along with his people makes no sense at all if this matter related simply to Woodside, John Holland, Fluor Daniel and Chambers Consulting. All of those companies made legitimate payments that Wilson improperly banked - the legal advice and Wilson's response are illogical, way over the top and patently absurd.
But add Thiess and the fact that one of the cheques in the AWU Members Welfare Association was made out to the AWU Workplace Reform Association and things become clearer.
Slater and Gordon had a conflict of interest all right.
WahWah speaks of Russia and a new world war centre on Ghouta - the site of horrible chemical weapon (gas) attacks, photos here if you can stomach it.
And while we're at it - this sermon was given a couple of months ago by a Sheikh from the nation that heads up the United Nations Human Rights Council, Saudi Arabia.
This little girl has the message from the sermons in Palestine "I want to stab a Jew".
This video shows the murderer Ahlam Tamimi who helped to kill 15 Jewish people in a suicide bombing - or as she calls it a Martyrdom Operation.
Fast forward to the present day and this children's television show in Palestine praises the "young heroes" who seek martyrdom killing Jews. Shameful.
And this freak from Qatar, home to the 2022 Soccer World Cup explains how we are ignorant of Allah's law which tells us wives must be beaten - he says Muslims should not be ashamed of beating their wives because Allah's law beats the laws we invented down here on earth.
The downing of a Russian warplane in Syria by Turkey appears to be a pre-planned provocation, the Russian Foreign Minister said. Ankara failed to communicate with Russia over the incident, he added.
“We have serious doubts that this act was unintentional. It looks very much like a preplanned provocation,” Lavrov said, citing Turkey’s failure to maintain proper communication with Russia, the abundance of footage of the incident and other evidence.
Lavrov added that many Russian partners called the incident “an obvious ambush.”
Earlier in the day, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu slammed Russia for "attacks on Turkmen" in Syria, which according to Ankara preceded the incident with the downed Su-24.
The Russian FM said the region where the incident happened is not just home to Turkmen people. There are also hundreds of foreign fighters affiliated with known terrorist groups and elements of their infrastructure such as weapons depots and command points there, he said.
“I asked [Turkish FM Çavuşoğlu] whether Turkey’s close attention to this region, including the calls to create a buffer zone there, was motivated by a desire to protect this infrastructure from destruction. I didn’t receive any reply to this question,” Lavrov said.
He added the downing of the Russian warplane occurred shortly after a series of airstrikes on terrorist oil convoys and facilities by the Russian Air Force. The incident “sheds new light” on the issue, according to the Russian foreign minister.
The Russian diplomat criticized NATO for failing to express condolences to Russia over the loss of its troops lives.
“Very strange statements were voiced after a NATO meeting called by the Turks, which didn’t express any regret or condolences and in effect were aimed at covering up what the Turkish Air Force did yesterday,” Lavrov said. “A similar reaction came from the European Union.”
Lavrov reiterated the statements of the Russian Defense Ministry, which denied Ankara’s allegations that the Russian warplane had violated Turkish airspace.
Turkish intelligence chief: Putin's intervention in Syria is against Islam and international law, ISIS is a reality and we are optimistic about the future
Ankara--- Hakan Fidan, the head of Turkey's National Intelligence Organization, known by the MİT acronym, has drawn a lot of attention and criticism for his controversial comments about ISIS.
Mr. Hakan Fidan, Turkish President's staunchest ally, condemned Russian military intervention in Syria, accusing Moscow of trying to 'smother' Syria's Islamist revolution and serious breach of United Nations law.
ISIS is a reality and we have to accept that we cannot eradicate a well-organized and popular establishment such as the Islamic State; therefore I urge my western colleagues to revise their mindset about Islamic political currents, put aside their cynical mentalité and thwart Vladimir Putin's plans to crush Syrian Islamist revolutionaries,” - Anadolu News Agency
Quebec corruption report flags ‘culture of impunity’ in construction industry
LES PERREAUX
MONTREAL — The Globe and Mail
A painful chapter in Quebec’s history has concluded with the release of a detailed report on how corruption infiltrated every corner of the province’s multibillion-dollar public construction industry and seeped from the biker gangs and the mafia into bureaucracy and politics.
Justice France Charbonneau and co-commissioner Renaud Lachance issued their long-awaited report on Tuesday with a 60-recommendation blueprint to finish cleaning up the system. The next chapter in the book on corruption in the province will be written by Premier Philippe Couillard, who promised to act quickly to examine and adopt some of the findings.
“The revelations showed our society went to sleep, our vigilance was dropped,” Mr. Couillard said after the report was released. “We were sitting on the fact we had laws more advanced than elsewhere, which was true, but we can see there was need to tighten the rules. This process started a few years ago, it’s ongoing, and will continue.”
The Liberal government under Jean Charest called the inquiry in 2011, after resisting repeated demands from the opposition for one. News reports over the years had exposed a system in which public officials accepted gifts from entrepreneurs and engineers in the construction industry and a handful of firms divided up public contracts among themselves. Many of those companies were also linked to political donations at the municipal and provincial level.
The $45-million inquiry lasted for 263 days of hearings and heard from 300 witnesses. Nearly two-thirds of the 60 recommendations would tighten rules for tendering public contracts, including the establishment of a new government body to oversee the process.
Witnesses testified at the hearings that organized crime figures and construction and engineering firms gave public officials lavish gifts – Montreal Canadiens hockey tickets, Caribbean trips, home renovations, yacht sojourns. The report recommended an explicit ban on such gifts for all public servants, elected officials and their political staffers.
A dozen recommendations seek to separate political lobbying and donations from the awarding of contracts, including a ban on political staff in government soliciting political donations. Other recommendations are whistleblower protection and extending the power of the ethics commissioner to oversee cities and other public organizations.
Justice Charbonneau said “a culture of impunity” took over a vast section of Quebec’s public tendering in construction in which organized crime, political figures and bureaucrats, political parties, unions and entrepreneurs worked together to skim public funds to illicit ends.
“This inquiry showed there was a real problem in Quebec, and it was a lot more vast and entrenched than we realized,” Justice Charbonneau said.
While the report summarized the evidence of alleged misdeeds by some key figures now facing criminal trials, such as former construction magnate Tony Accurso and the former head of Montreal’s executive committee Frank Zampino, Justice Charbonneau did not say who the leaders were.
The report produced an unusual note of discord between Justice Charbonneau and Mr. Lachance, who failed to agree how high the rot rose into the province’s political hierarchy.
Justice Charbonneau found construction bosses broke rules to funnel millions to political parties – especially the Quebec Liberals, who have ruled the province much of the past 12 years – in an implicit exchange for construction contracts.
Justice Charbonneau said in the report the provincial parties and businesses “bypassed electoral law on a large scale,” including getting around a ban on corporate donations by having employees make contributions and reimbursing them. She said such masked donations were not solicited on individual contracts but for “an ensemble of contracts obtained.” She said the link is indirect, but evidence showed companies that received many contracts would be solicited for funds.
Mr. Lachance said he could not reach that conclusion. “Did a donation to a provincial political party allow a business to get a contract? Every business head who testified at the inquiry, including those who were very co-operative and made other serious admissions at the inquiry, answered ‘No’ to that question, whether it was the Parti Québécois or the Quebec Liberal Party in power,” he wrote in the report.
The disagreement highlighted the different backgrounds of the two commissioners. Mr. Lachance, an accountant, needed more direct evidence. Justice Charbonneau, the former prosecutor who built a successful case against biker boss Maurice “Mom” Boucher using a mass of circumstantial evidence, was more prepared to draw inferences.
They did agree on a dozen recommendations to reform political financing, including improved reporting on party finances and the disclosure of the employers of donors.
Amir Khadir of the left-wing Québec Solidaire party said the report let the Liberals off the hook, and party officials would be “popping champagne corks.”
Unions, construction and engineering firms and municipal and provincial governments and political parties of many stripes lined up Tuesday to say they have changed procedures to keep an eye on ethics.
Liberal and PQ governments have instituted anti-corruption measures in recent years, reducing annual political contribution limits to $100 per person, forcing companies bidding on big contracts to get ethics certification from the provincial securities regulator, establishing an anti-corruption inspector-general in Montreal, and making permanent an anti-corruption provincial police squad.
Parti Québécois critic Bernard Drainville accused the Liberal government of cutting resources for the prosecutors’ office that is dedicated to fighting corruption. “They’ve yet to show they are really determined to fight corruption,” Mr. Drainville said.
ENDS
Carmen Lawrence's Labor Government stopped a tender process and awarded the Dawesville Channel contract - $60M if you don't mind Commissioner - directly to Thiess. The head of the union covering the site received a $300K corrupt payment from Thiess.
The Premier Lawrence believed the head of the union Wilson had the power to destroy her career.
Some months after the contract award, Wilson as head of the AWU (which recorded a $700K deficit in its financial performance that year, was heavily in debt and without access to funding from its national parent was trading while insolvent) made a then record political donation of more than $100,000 to Premier Lawrence's campaign. The money came from the union's accounts, not the slush fund.
And our Trade Union Royal Commission thinks that examining that matter would amount to embarking on a fishing expedition.
Justice Charbonneau found construction bosses broke rules to funnel millions to political parties – especially the Quebec Liberals, who have ruled the province much of the past 12 years – in an implicit exchange for construction contracts.
Justice Charbonneau said in the report the provincial parties and businesses “bypassed electoral law on a large scale,” including getting around a ban on corporate donations by having employees make contributions and reimbursing them. She said such masked donations were not solicited on individual contracts but for “an ensemble of contracts obtained.” She said the link is indirect, but evidence showed companies that received many contracts would be solicited for funds.
Mr. Lachance said he could not reach that conclusion. “Did a donation to a provincial political party allow a business to get a contract? Every business head who testified at the inquiry, including those who were very co-operative and made other serious admissions at the inquiry, answered ‘No’ to that question, whether it was the Parti Québécois or the Quebec Liberal Party in power,” he wrote in the report.
The disagreement highlighted the different backgrounds of the two commissioners. Mr. Lachance, an accountant, needed more direct evidence. Justice Charbonneau, the former prosecutor who built a successful case against biker boss Maurice “Mom” Boucher using a mass of circumstantial evidence, was more prepared to draw inferences.
Not one moderating voice. Everyone wants a piece of the action. These are supposed to be Obama's mates, funded by the CIA et al. And yes, this is a war crime.
This from the www.zerohedge.com website:
That would of course be the same FSA that's backed by the US and the same FSA who is allied with al-Nusra with whom the group shares American and Saudi-supplied TOWs and other advanced weaponry (see here).
As The Telegraph notes, "Alwiya al-Ashar [who fight with the FSA] is one of around a dozen Turkmen groups fighting alongside Syria's rebels. It is linked to a Turkish and CIA-backed logistics supply programme that funnels a near-constant stream of small arms, ammunition, and cash for salaries to rebel groups across northern Syria.
So just to be clear on what's happened here in case the gravity of the situation is somehow lost on anyone, a NATO member from whose airbase the US is flying combat missions, just shot down a Russian fighter jet and the US-backed, al-Qaeda aligned FSA has released not one, but two videos depicting their fighters dancing over the body of a dead Russian pilot while shouting "Allahu Akbar" and holding up the "we're number one" hand signal.
Please don't watch this with children around - but watch it. And think about whether the people who did this had Twitter accounts or websites. Think about whether the people dropping from the sky were worried about the contents of your capability stocktake, the stuff you tell us is important.
The Islamist movement you'd have us believe is weak, the one with more Twitter accounts than rifles - well it did this with a dozen men armed with Stanley knives.
Each Australian on the Roll of Honour was killed in action against Islamic terrorists.
None was killed by Twitter.
Who amongst them do you say was killed in a battle with a weak enemy?
Sergeant Andrew Russell, SASR, died of wounds sustained when his patrol vehicle struck an anti-tank mine on 16 February 2002.
Trooper David Pearce, 2/14 LHR QMI, was killed when his ASLAV was struck by an Improvised Explosive Device on 8 October 2007.
Private Luke Worsley, 4RAR (Cdo), was killed by Taliban insurgent small-arms fire on 23 November 2007.
Lance Corporal Jason Marks, 4RAR (Cdo), was killed by Taliban insurgent small-arms fire on 27 April 2008.
Signaller Sean McCarthy, SASR, was killed when the vehicle he was travelling in was struck by an Improvised Explosive Device on 8 July 2008.
Lieutenant Michael Fussell, 4RAR (Cdo), was killed by an Improvised Explosive Device during a dismounted patrol on 27 November 2008.
Private Gregory Sher, 1st Commando Regiment, was killed in a rocket attack on 4 January 2009.
Corporal Mathew Hopkins, 7th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment, was killed during an engagement with the Taliban on 16 March 2009.
Sergeant Brett Till, Incident Response Regiment, was killed by an Improvised Explosive Device during a route clearance task on the 19 March 2009.
Private Benjamin Ranaudo, 1st Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment was killed as a result of an Improvised Explosive Device on 18 July 2009.
Sapper Jacob Moerland, 2nd Combat Engineer Regiment was killed as a result of an Improvised Explosive Device strike on 7 June 2010.
Sapper Darren Smith, 2nd Combat Engineer Regiment died of wounds sustained during an Improvised Explosive Device strike on 7 June 2010.
Private Timothy Aplin, 2nd Commando Regiment died as a result of a helicopter crash on 21 June 2010.
Private Scott Palmer, 2nd Commando Regiment died as a result of a helicopter crash on 21 June 2010.
Private Benjamin Chuck, 2nd Commando Regiment died of wounds sustained in a helicopter crash on 21 June 2010.
Private Nathan Bewes, 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment was killed as a result of an Improvised Explosive Device on 9 July 2010.
Trooper Jason Brown, SASR, died as a result of gunshot wounds sustained in an engagement with insurgents on 13 August 2010.
Private Tomas Dale, 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment was killed as a result of an Improvised Explosive Device strike on 20 August 2010.
Private Grant Kirby, 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment was killed as a result of an Improvised Explosive Device strike on 20 August 2010.
Lance Corporal Jared MacKinney, 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment, was killed during an engagement with insurgents on 24 August 2010.
Corporal Richard Atkinson, 1st Combat Engineer Regiment, was killed as a result of an Improvised Explosive Device strike on 2 February 2011.
Sapper Jamie Larcombe, 1st Combat Engineer Regiment, was killed during an engagement with insurgents on 19 February 2011.
Sergeant Brett Wood MG DSM, 2nd Commando Regiment, was killed by an Improvised Explosive Device during a dismounted patrol on 23 May 2011.
Lance Corporal Andrew Jones, 9th Force Support Battalion, died of wounds as a result of a small-arms fire incident on 30 May 2011.
Lieutenant Marcus Case, 6th Aviation Regiment, died of wounds sustained in a helicopter crash on 30 May 2011.
Sapper Rowan Robinson, Incident Response Regiment, died as a result of gunshot wounds sustained in an engagement with insurgents on 06 June 2011.
Sergeant Todd Langley, 2nd Commando Regiment, was killed during an engagement with insurgents on 4 July 2011
Private Matthew Lambert, 2nd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment, died of wounds as a result of an Improvised Explosive Device strike on 22 August 2011.
Captain Bryce Duffy, 4th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, was killed as a result of a small-arms incident on 29 October 2011.
Corporal Ashley Birt, 6th Engineer Support Regiment, was killed as a result of a small-arms incident on 29 October 2011.
Lance Corporal Luke Gavin, 2nd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment died of wounds as a result of a small-arms incident on 29 October 2011.
Sergeant Blaine Flower Diddams MG, from the Special Air Service Regiment was killed during a small arms engagement with insurgents on 02 July 2012.
Sapper James Martin, 2nd Combat Engineer Regiment was killed as a result of a small-arms incident on 29 August 2012.
Lance Corporal Stjepan Milosevic, 2nd/14th Light Horse Regiment (QMI), was killed as a result of a small-arms incident on 29 August 2012.
Private Robert Poate, 6th Battalion RAR was killed as a result of a small-arms incident on 29 August 2012.
The Victoria Cross is the nation's highest honour, ranking above all others. It is rarely awarded.
Do these men wear the Victoria Cross because they had a weak enemy?
Was this man killed by your weak, more Twitter than weapons easy-beats Malcolm?
The man in the coffin is more man than you or your speech writer Waleed Sophisticated Cosmopolitan Aly will ever be.
The man in the coffin wasn't killed by EasyBeat Nothing-To-Do-With-Islam criminals acting alone. He was killed in action against Islamist terrorists. Who want us dead.
Let's make sure the late Cameron Baird VC MG didn't die in vain.
Oh, Waleed you don't know who he is? I'd imagine you probably didn't move in Cameron's circles.
Cameron truly had nothing to do with Islam. Except for getting killed because of it.
Lest We Forget.
Personal details of Corporal Cameron Stewart Baird VC MG
Corporal Baird was a member of the Special Operations Task Group and was from the 2nd Commando Regiment based at Holsworthy Barracks in Sydney, New South Wales.
Corporal Baird is survived by his parents and his brother.
Corporal Baird was born in Burnie, Tasmania, in 1981. He joined the Army in January 2000 and upon completion of his initial employment training was posted to the then 4th Battalion (Commando), Royal Australian Regiment, now the 2nd Commando Regiment, in February 2000.
Corporal Baird was an outstanding special forces soldier. He exemplified what it meant to be a commando, living by the attributes of uncompromising spirit and honour, which in turn earned him the unconditional respect of his fellow commandos. His leadership in action was exemplary, constantly inspiring those around him to achieve greater things. Corporal Baird was an extremely dedicated and disciplined soldier, always striving for excellence in everything he did.
Corporal Baird died how he lived - at the front, giving it his all, without any indecision. He will forever be remembered by his mates and the soldiers he served with in the 2nd Commando Regiment.
Corporal Baird has been awarded the following honours and awards
Victoria Cross for Australia
Medal for Gallantry
Australian Active Service Medal with 'East Timor', 'Iraq 2003' and International Coalition Against Terrorism (ICAT) clasps
Afghanistan Medal
Iraq Medal
Australian Service Medal with 'Counter Terrorism / Special Recovery (CT/SR)' clasps
Australian Defence Medal
United Nations Medal with Ribbon United Nations Transitional Authority in East Timor
NATO Meritorious Service Medal
NATO Non-Article 5 Medal with 'International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)' and multi-tour indicator '3'
Meritorious Unit Citation - Task Force 66 (Special Operations Task Group), Afghanistan
Infantry Combat Badge
Returned from Active Service Badge.
During Corporal Baird's service in the Australian Army he deployed on the following operations:
Operation TANAGER (Timor-Leste) - April 2001 - October 2001
Operation BASTILLE (Iraq) - February 2003 - March 2003
Operation FALCONER (Iraq) - March 2003 - May 2003
Operation SLIPPER (Afghanistan) - August 2007 - January 2008
Operation SLIPPER (Afghanistan) - March 2009 - July 2009
Operation SLIPPER (Afghanistan) - July 2011 - February 2012
Operation SLIPPER (Afghanistan) - February 2013 - June 2013.
Australian Army To be awarded the Victoria Cross for Australia (posthumous) Corporal Cameron Stewart Baird MG
For the most conspicuous acts of valour, extreme devotion to duty and ultimate self-sacrifice at Ghawchak village, Uruzgan province, Afghanistan, as a Commando Team Commander in Special Operations Task Group on Operation SLIPPER.
Corporal Cameron Baird enlisted in the Australian Regular Army in 2000, was discharged in 2004, and re-enlisted in 2006. In both periods of service, he was assigned to the 4th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (Commando). His operational service includes Operations TANAGER, FALCONER, BASTILLE and five tours on Operation SLIPPER. He was awarded the Medal for Gallantry for his service in Afghanistan in 2007-08.
On 22 June 2013, a Commando Platoon of the Special Operations Task Group, with partners from the Afghan National Security Forces, conducted a helicopter assault into Ghawchak village, Uruzgan province, in order to attack an insurgent network deep within enemy-held territory. Shortly after insertion, Corporal Baird's team was engaged by small arms fire from several enemy positions. Corporal Baird quickly seized the initiative, leading his team to neutralise the positions, killing six enemy combatants and enabling the assault to continue.
Soon afterwards, an adjacent Special Operations Task Group team came under heavy enemy fire, resulting in its commander being seriously wounded. Without hesitation, Corporal Baird led his team to provide support. En route, he and his team were engaged by rifle and machine gun fire from prepared enemy positions. With complete disregard for his own safety, Corporal Baird charged towards the enemy positions, supported by his team. On nearing the positions, he and his team were engaged by additional enemy on their flank. Instinctively, Corporal Baird neutralised the new threat with grenades and rifle fire, enabling his team to close with the prepared position. With the prepared position now isolated, Corporal Baird manoeuvred and was engaged by enemy machine gun fire, the bullets striking the ground around him. Displaying great valour, he drew the fire, moved to cover, and suppressed the enemy machine gun position. This action enabled his team to close on the entrance to the prepared position, thus regaining the initiative.
On three separate occasions Corporal Baird charged an enemy-held building within the prepared compound. On the first occasion he charged the door to the building, followed by another team member. Despite being totally exposed and immediately engaged by enemy fire, Corporal Baird pushed forward while firing into the building. Now in the closest proximity to the enemy, he was forced to withdraw when his rifle ceased to function. On rectifying his rifle stoppage, and reallocating remaining ammunition within his team, Corporal Baird again advanced towards the door of the building, once more under heavy fire. He engaged the enemy through the door but was unable to suppress the position and took cover to reload. For a third time, Corporal Baird selflessly drew enemy fire away from his team and assaulted the doorway. Enemy fire was seen to strike the ground and compound walls around Corporal Baird, before visibility was obscured by dust and smoke. In this third attempt, the enemy was neutralised and the advantage was regained, but Corporal Baird was killed in the effort.
Corporal Baird's acts of valour and self-sacrifice regained the initiative and preserved the lives of his team members. His actions were of the highest order and in keeping with the finest traditions of the Australian Army and the Australian Defence Force.
Australian Army Awarded the Medal for Gallantry Lance Corporal Cameron Stewart Baird
For gallantry in action during close quarters combat in Afghanistan on Operation SLIPPER.
Lance Corporal Cameron Stewart Baird was part of a Commando Company mission assigned for clearance and search of a Taliban stronghold in November 2007. During the initial phase of the clearance, Lance Corporal Baird's Platoon came under heavy fire and during the ensuing close-range fire-fight, a member of his team was mortally wounded. Displaying complete disregard for his own safety, Lance Corporal Baird led other members of his team forward under heavy fire from machine guns and assault rifles to recover the wounded team member back to a position of cover.
He then re-entered the compound and continued to engage the enemy. Even though under constant fire, Lance Corporal Baird continually moved amongst his team members coordinating their fire, and throwing grenades to neutralise the enemy machine gun positions. Once the close quarter battle had been won, Lance Corporal Baird again led his team forward and began room-to-room clearance, where he was again engaged by several enemy. Lance Corporal Baird continued to lead the fight, killing several enemy and successfully completing the clearance.
Throughout the action, Lance Corporal Baird displayed conspicuous gallantry, composure and superior leadership under fire. He was personally responsible for killing several enemy combatants during the clearance, ensuring the momentum of the assault was maintained, and undoubtedly preventing further members of his section from becoming casualties. His performance and his actions were of the highest order and were in the finest traditions of the Australian Army and the Australian Defence Force.
Statement from the family of Corporal Cameron Stewart Baird VC MG
Defence releases the following statement on behalf of the family of Corporal Cameron Baird.
The family of Corporal Cameron S Baird, VC, MG, would like to thank everyone for the overwhelming support, and condolences that they have received during this time of grief. The support received from family, friends, the 2nd Commando Regiment, the Australian Defence Force and Australian Football League has been deeply appreciated. They wish to thank everyone for respecting their privacy during this time.
Statement from the family of Corporal Cameron Stewart Baird VC MG
Defence releases the following statement of behalf of the family of Corporal Cameron Stewart Baird, VC, MG.
Our dear Cameron, who was also known as Cam/Baird, loved his family, the 2nd Commando Regiment and serving in the Australian Army, but it was only one part of what made the man.
Cameron was born in Burnie, Tasmania, on 7 June 1981. He moved back to Victoria in late 1984 with his parents and brother. It was while Cameron lived in Victoria that he conducted his primary and secondary education, completing his VCE. It was also during this period, he combined with his schooling, his sporting career that included anything with a bat, ball and athletics.
Cam was not one to spend loads of money on extra kit; he was always the one who would demonstrate his professionalism through his actions, utilising issued equipment and always leading from the front to inspire all around him. Everyone always looked up to Cam and everyone would always gravitate to him. He always went to the extreme to ensure that the ones he loved knew they were appreciated and he could always be relied upon to give a helping hand.
Cam was a very humble man and a straight shooter, who told you what he thought but never held a grudge. We never heard Cam say a bad thing about anyone. He had an enormous love for his family which was apparent to all that knew him.
The constant professional with an easygoing personality would be the perfect way to describe Cam. Nothing was a problem for him. Cam lived for the moment and enjoying getting in his Hot Rod of a weekend and going for a drive with his favourite AC/DC track blasting. You would always know when Cam was around, as he had an enormous boisterous laugh that would echo for miles.
It speaks volumes about Cam that he'd reached his ultimate career goal of joining the 2nd Commando Regiment, making it to the rank of Corporal and becoming a Team Commander within the Regiment. He did not ever ask for responsibility nor demand respect, but forged it through his comrades and ability to push through the odds and bring his team out the other side of an operation.
We will miss Cam's caring, loving and honest ways and he will always be a hero to all of our family.
We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to Cameron's friends, relatives, members of his beloved 2nd Commando Regiment brothers, the Australian Defence Force, the AFL and NRL as well as Virgin Australia Airlines and the general public, for the overwhelming amount of cards, flowers, condolences and support.
