In Their Footsteps hits the ground running

In Their Footsteps premiered last Sunday on the Nine Network at 6.30pm with an outstanding ratings performance against very strong opposition.

Despite facing a two-and-a-half hour special of Dancing With the Stars, Footsteps pulled over a million viewers and ended as the day’s fifth-ranked program overall, eclipsing 60 Minutes, Merlin, Blood Brothers and Hawaii Five-O

The first episode featured the remarkable story of Tommy Johnson, one of the survivors of the sinking of the HMAS Perth.

Perth Mum, Julie Bryce, had grown up with the photo of her great uncle, a handsome, smiling sailor, but never knew what happened to him. Last Sunday she took us with her as she embarked on an emotional quest to find out what happened to Tommy after the Perth went down in early 1942, taking 353 of his shipmates to the bottom with it.

Tommy and a handful of his mates survived the sinking but they were picked up by Japanese ships and forced to endure the nightmare of the Thai-Burma Railway. When the railway was completed Tommy and his pals were crammed on board one of the ‘hellships’, rusting transports used to take POWs to work as slave labour in Japan.

Once again, Tommy’s ship was torpedoed, this time by an American sub, which mistook it for a Japanese troopship. Once again, Tommy and his mates survived, only to be rescued by the Japanese and taken to Tokyo.

Julie Bryce follows Tommy to the site of the Burma Railway in Thailand, where she walks part of the melancholy trail of death, she visits the site of the Perth’s sinking and lays a wreath, and finally she takes us to Tokyo for the conclusion of her journey of discovery.

Julie hears Tommy’s story through the eyes of one of his best mates, still alive in his 90s. She learns the remarkable sacrifices made by her great uncle and her life is changed by her quest. We are all enriched by following in Tommy Johnson’s footsteps.

This Sunday, we travel to Malta for Tony Boyd’s story. He was one of the bravest of the brave, a fighter pilot in the Battle of Malta in WWII.

Spare a thought for Peter and the others

As the reactions to the death of Osama Bin Laden rebound around the world, spare a moment for those who lives have been irreparably changed by his beliefs and by the actions of his followers.

Peter Hughes was one of them He was one of hundreds holidaying in Bali on the evening of 12 October 2002. He had arrived in Denpasar late that afternoon and had been out for dinner. Just after 11pm he arrived at Paddy’s Irish Pub at Kuta Beach with a group of friends and was waiting for his first shout when he found himself propelled through the air by a massive explosion.

After coming to his senses, Peter helped other victims to find the exit. They staggered out of the firestorm into the street only to be swept almost back inside Paddy’s Pub by a second explosion from the nearby Sari Club.

Peter had instinctively looked left as he exited the bar. Had he looked right he would almost certainly have been killed by the lethal shower of shrapnel from the second blast.

In the shocking first hours of the ensuing media coverage of the tragedy, Peter Hughes’ blistered and grossly swollen face was the image that symbolized the spirit of the Australian victims. Millions of Australians saw him tell rescuers that he was OK and to concentrate on those worse off. We instinctively knew he was gravely injured.

In fact, he was at death’s door. He had burns to almost 60% of his body: full-thickness burns to his arms, legs, stomach and back and serious shrapnel wounds to his stomach and legs. Doctors gave him a 5% chance of survival. They were forced to place him in an induced coma for a fortnight. During that eternity for his family and friends, Peter died three times and was revived each time by his heroic medical team.

He fought and survived this nightmare but ahead lay a world of pain: years of grafts and rehab and long nights of lonely doubts and depression.

But Peter Hughes never gave in. He outlasted the pain and the depression and the doubts and now he has outlasted Osama Bin Laden. More power to him and his spirit.

Spare a thought for Peter and the others

As the reactions to the death of Osama Bin Laden rebound around the world, spare a moment for those who lives have been irreparably changed by his beliefs and by the actions of his followers.

Peter Hughes was one of them He was one of hundreds holidaying in Bali on the evening of 12 October 2002. He had arrived in Denpasar late that afternoon and had been out for dinner. Just after 11pm he arrived at Paddy’s Irish Pub at Kuta Beach with a group of friends and was waiting for his first shout when he found himself propelled through the air by a massive explosion.

After coming to his senses, Peter helped other victims to find the exit. They staggered out of the firestorm into the street only to be swept almost back inside Paddy’s Pub by a second explosion from the nearby Sari Club.

Peter had instinctively looked left as he exited the bar. Had he looked right he would almost certainly have been killed by the lethal shower of shrapnel from the second blast.

In the shocking first hours of the ensuing media coverage of the tragedy, Peter Hughes’ blistered and grossly swollen face was the image that symbolized the spirit of the Australian victims. Millions of Australians saw him tell rescuers that he was OK and to concentrate on those worse off. We instinctively knew he was gravely injured.

In fact, he was at death’s door. He had burns to almost 60% of his body: full-thickness burns to his arms, legs, stomach and back and serious shrapnel wounds to his stomach and legs. Doctors gave him a 5% chance of survival. They were forced to place him in an induced coma for a fortnight. During that eternity for his family and friends, Peter died three times and was revived each time by his heroic medical team.

He fought and survived this nightmare but ahead lay a world of pain: years of grafts and rehab and long nights of lonely doubts and depression.

But Peter Hughes never gave in. He outlasted the pain and the depression and the doubts and now he has outlasted Osama Bin Laden. More power to him and his spirit.

We’re not as philanthropic as we think!

Most Australians would say that, as a nation, we’re one of the most generous nations in the world.

Sadly, that’s not backed up by the facts. Australia spends just 33 cents out of every $100 in helping the world’s poor. Britain spends 50 cents in every $100. In fact, we rank 16^th out of 23 OECD countries in the proportion of overseas aid spent. Yet we were one of the few countries to escape relatively unscathed from the Global Financial Crisis.

Yesterday, one of our most respected leaders in the field of social justice, the head or World Vision, Tim Costello, described Australia’s performance in delivering overseas aid as “shameful”.

He called for both the Federal Government and the Opposition to ensure that our nation adheres to the bipartisan promise of reaching 50 cents per $100 (0.5%) by 2015. He noted that Britain has already reached this goal and will reach 0.7% in two years.

Mr Costello pointed out that, apart from humanitarian motivations, at the very least, “enlightened self interest” should dictate that we do more. We are situated among some of the world’s poorest nations, they play a vital role in our economy, indeed they were the very countries who played a significant role in allowing us to escape the GFC.

Mr Costello named PNG and the Solomons, along with Indonesia as countries we should be doing far more to help.

He referred to a health clinic in PNG where pregnant women were forced to provide their own buckets of water to give birth because sanitation was so lacking. Yet, he added: "You can literally see Australian islands from that health clinic's shore, which says to you, what's the moral significance of this piece of sea?"

In support of his argument, Mr Costello noted that our neighbours, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and PNG had more people with malaria than anywhere else in the world. He claims we must strive harder to help these countries to reach the Millennium Development Goals, which have halved the numbers of children dying each day from preventable diseases. 

Let’s hope our government doesn’t use the excuse of having to bring the budget into the black to cut back on our overseas aid. Let’s hope they show some moral courage.

If Britain, which has been so badly affected by the GFC, can not only maintain its 50 cents level but strive for 70 cents, surely we can match or better them.

How can we live in the Lucky Country and do any less?

PNG honours ‘Chief’ Malcolm Fraser

In this autocue age so many political leaders are ‘presenters’ rather than premiers or prime ministers and genuine leaders are as rare as philanthropic bankers.

So it was heartening yesterday to see Papua New Guinea’s High Commissioner to Australia, His Excellency Mr Charles Lepani, honour former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser for his leadership during PNG’s fledgling days as an independent nation.

Acting on behalf of his nation’s Governor-General, Mr Lepani conferred PNG’s highest honour on Mr Fraser: Grand Companion of the Order of Logohu, which carries the honorary title of Chief.

Mr Lepani explained that logohu is the Motu word for bird of paradise, PNG’s national emblem. He said the award recognised Mr Fraser’s services to PNG, particularly in its early years of independence.

Mr Lepani recalled that he was the head of his country’s planning department at independence and that his country faced a potential financial crisis as it made the transition from colonial control to national independence.

When Mr Fraser assumed the prime ministership in 1975, he was greeted by blunt advice from his Treasury: now that PNG was an independent nation, Australia should treat it as it did other nations and only give it project-based aid, rather than the budgetary support it had previously given.

This prospect caused panic in the PNG government and bureaucracy. They knew they did not have the fiscal and structural depth to withstand such a drastic change in support. The new nation would have been stillborn.

Malcolm Fraser overrode his treasury advice and maintained the budgetary support, allowing PNG time to stabiles and grow. It was a gesture that has lived long in Mr Lepani’s memory.

Speaking after the award, Mr Fraser said he was well aware of the consequences of following the hardline treasury advice. “It wasn’t the only time I rejected treasury advice in those years,” he added with a smile.

Mr Fraser called on PNG and Australia can work together to continue to be a force for good in the Pacific region.