From Gallipoli’s Fire to Darwin’s Shame: ANZAC Day Must Ignite Australia’s Defence Revival, By Peter Bennett

On April 25, 2025, as dawn breaks, Australians will honour the ANZACs—those fearless Diggers whose 1915 Gallipoli campaign forged our nation's soul. Their courage, born of a united Anglo-Celtic spirit, wasn't just a sacrifice; it was a clarion call to defend Australia against all odds. Yet, today, that call goes unanswered. Our nation, fractured into a "nation of tribes" as Geoffrey Blainey laments, is woefully unprepared for war, with Darwin's port leased to China and our military a shadow of its 1914 might. ANZAC Day must be more than remembrance—it must be a battle cry to revive our defence, reject multicultural division, and restore the resolute unity that once made us strong. Anything less spits on the graves of our heroes!

In 1915, Australia was a nation of action. With under five million souls, mostly Anglo-Celtic, we rallied as one. Over 416,000 men volunteered, driven by mateship and duty, their Christian faith steeling them against Gallipoli's carnage. This unity fuelled bold moves: we built steelworks at Lithgow, armed ourselves with rifles, and funded HMAS Australia, a dreadnought that awed the world, as Blainey notes. When war broke, we seized German Rabaul, projecting power from a tiny population. ANZAC Day enshrined this spirit, urging each generation to stand ready. Growing upI'd watch veterans march, their pride a reminder that Australia once valued strength over sentiment, unity over division.

Contrast that with 2025. Blainey's scathing critique in The Australian lays bare our decline: a volunteer army can't recruit, fuel reserves at bases like Learmonth last ten days, and we lack factories to arm ourselves. Worst of all, Darwin's port—our northern gateway, vital for defence—is leased to a Chinese firm for 99 years, a 2015 blunder by the Northern Territory government that Beijing must laugh at. This isn't just strategic suicide; it's a betrayal of the ANZACs, who'd never let a rival hold our lifeline. The Albanese government's refusal to cancel the lease, fearing a "difficult conversation" with Xi Jinping, reeks of cowardice. China's warships probed our waters in 2025, yet we dither, our resolve sapped by a nation too divided to act.

That division is our Achilles' heel. Blainey's "nation of tribes" nails it: multiculturalism has splintered the cohesion that drove 1914's defence zeal. Over half of Australians are now foreign-born or have overseas parents, many with loyalties split between here and abroad. The Albanese government's Voice referendum, pushing special powers for one group, deepened this fracture, prioritising tribal identities over national unity. Unlike the ANZACs' shared ethos, today's Australia struggles to muster collective will. Some communities, encouraged by woke elites, see ANZAC Day as a relic of "white" history, not a call to defend the nation. This fragmentation paralyses us, leaving us unable to match the decisive spirit that built HMAS Australia or stormed Gallipoli.

Our leaders are complicit. The AUKUS deal, signed in 2021, promises nuclear submarines, but they're decades off. Meanwhile, Albanese prunes immediate needs—ships, drones, aircraft—while squandering cash on bloated generals, whose numbers doubled in 20 years, as Blainey's cited experts note. No Higher Priority, by Peter Jennings and others, warns that China's rise demands urgency, yet Labor dithers, cozying up to Beijing. Fuel reserves are a joke; a single squadron would exhaust Learmonth's supply in days. Drones, proven game-changers in Ukraine, are underfunded. This isn't governance—it's surrender. The ANZACs, who faced death with rifles they made themselves, would scorn this spinelessness.

ANZAC Day 2025 must be our wake-up call. It's not enough to lay wreaths; we must channel the Diggers' fire to rebuild our defence. Start with Darwin: cancel the Chinese lease, no matter Beijing's protests. Fund drones and fuel reserves now, not in a decade. Slash the general's club and hire soldiers. Blainey's call for 16,000 U.S. marines in Darwin is a start, but we must arm ourselves first—America won't always save us. Regional allies like Papua New Guinea, with its Christian majority, can bolster our flank, but only if we lead with strength, not Albanese's appeasement.

This revival demands unity, and that means rejecting the tribalism multiculturalism breeds. The ANZACs fought for one Australia, not a patchwork of grievances. The Voice's failure showed Australians crave cohesion, not division. We must rally around our Anglo-Celtic, Christian roots, as the Diggers did, teaching youth that ANZAC Day isn't just history—it's a mission. Parents should take kids to dawn services, not for nostalgia but to instil duty. Churches, once pillars of ANZAC support, must preach defence as a moral cause, echoing the padres who prayed at Gallipoli.

Your role is clear. Write to your MP—minewill hear from me—demanding more defence funds, not welfare handouts. Support veterans' groups like the RSL, who keep the ANZAC flame alive. Above all, reject the woke mantra that our past is shameful. The ANZACs weren't "colonisers"; they were heroes who built a nation worth defending.

Gallipoli's fire still burns. As we face China's shadow and a world on edge, ANZAC Day must ignite our resolve. The Diggers didn't falter; neither can we. On April 25, stand tall, pray fiercely, and demand an Australia armed and united. Darwin's shame must end, or the ANZACs' sacrifice was for nothing. Let their legacy drive us to fight—not just to remember, but to prevail!