On Anzac Day I like to post on social media a list of birthdates in the national service lotteries from 1965 t0 1972. I do it because the March 1966 ballot, which was for men born between January and June 1946, includes my dad’s birthday. He was picked and he fought in Vietnam, arriving just before the Tet Offensive in 1968.

Not only is my dad’s birth date in that March 1966 ballot; so is mine. And that chills me.

It’s part of why I revere the Australian War Memorial as a sacred place – it’s hard not to when you’ve stood beside your dad as he pointed to the names of those he knew on the Roll of Honour.

It is why I have no qualms in saying I hate the AWM’s lack of commemoration of the frontier wars, and deeply despise the $500m spent turning it into a “Disneyland of war”.

It’s also why I have deep contempt for a party using the days before Anzac Day to announce a jingoistic $21bn in defence spending and which talks about putting us on a “war footing”. But it is mostly about very expensive, redundant toys.

I also ask the question that is often linked to Anzac Day: what are we defending? What are these values we hear soldiers sacrificed their lives for? And are our politicians brave enough to propose policies that reinforce and deliver those values?

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