Transcript of doorstop interview

Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, France

Transcript, E&OE, proof only

25 April 2011

MR RUDD: It's extraordinary to be among literally thousands and thousands of Australians here on the Western Front.

It says a lot about young people.

I've just been with stacks of them, and they've all made their pilgrimages. They're all looking for names of friends, of family, of loved ones, but all celebrating what it is to be Australian. It makes your heart proud to be Australian.

JOURNALIST: In terms of Anzac Days, how does this rate for you, as an experience, coming to France?

MR RUDD: You know, this is the first Anzac Day I've ever been abroad. I've always been at home.

For me, it is a personal privilege and an honour to be here at Villers-Bretonneux. I've read about this since I was a kid at school - the same age as these guys over here - but have never, ever been here. To be able to represent the Australian Government at an extraordinary ceremony like this is a great honour.

The faces of all Australians, wherever they've come from – kids from Wesley in Melbourne, kids I've just been speaking to from parts of Perth, St Michaels in Adelaide – they're all here with one purpose: to honour the sacrifice of Australians.

On these walls behind us are etched their names – tens of thousands of them. It takes your breath away.

JOURNALIST: Take us through the other events in your day, Foreign Minister.

MR RUDD: There are many things on here on the Western Front today.

Later in the morning I'll be catching up with the mayors of some of the towns and cities that have a special custodial relationship to the Australians who rest here. Also I'll be speaking at a ceremony in Bullecourt, which was the scene of an extraordinary series of battles where many thousands of Australians lost their lives. At the end of the day I will return to Paris for a series of meetings with French Government officials, including Foreign Minister Alain Juppé, Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, and others.

JOURNALIST: In France we are always surprised that there are a lot of young people here. How do you explain this phenomenon?

MR RUDD: Well, its interesting, and I've been thinking about this. For Australia, when we come here, we think of this: Why did our forebears travel to the other side of the world to fight someone else's wars? And of course, the reason is that we were defending liberty and freedom. We were defending an ideal. You in France had something to do with that ideal - liberté. Australians are therefore attracted by this notion of sacrifice, not just within our own shores, but around the world.

So young people come here to honour this sense of sacrifice - in pursuit of an ideal called freedom - wherever it is in the world. And here in the fields of France, much blood was spilled for that.

ENDS

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