Our national identity is becoming increasingly militarised. Today I’m thinking of a mother’s words - not the veneration of war dished out by politicians

Countless are the times politicians have spoken for the Australian military personnel whose names appear on the roll of honour at the Australian War Memorial because they were killed in service.

Remembrance Day, like Anzac Day on 25 April, is an opportunity for our political leaders to reaffirm, with bipartisan assurance, words to the effect that none of the 103,000 people named on that roll died in vain.