Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Manufacturing) Share this | Hansard source

I only intend speaking briefly. I entirely support the comments of the member for Gilmore in respect of this matter. I can fully understand the sentiments she was trying to express and relay to the House about what it must be like to have next of kin buried in a country far, far away. It would be my view that it would never truly bring closure to those families until those ex-service personnel are brought home and rightfully brought back to their own home town, which is where they should lie in rest.

This matter is appropriately being debated right now as on this coming Sunday I will be attending the Vietnam Veterans Day in Adelaide. The memorial day is held each year at about this time in memory of the people who served Australia in Vietnam, where, as we know, 521 soldiers were killed and many, many more were brought back injured either physically or mentally.

The Vietnam War was indeed a defining period for Australia in many respects. It was a polarising war. There have been debates in this place time and time again with respect to how it impacted not only families back here but more particularly how that polarising effect throughout the community in turn also impacted on the veterans themselves as they returned. It took some years for the government to try to build the bridge that was necessary to be built and acknowledge that those soldiers who represented Australia were doing their duty to this country, and that they deserved the appreciation and respect of all Australians for doing so. It was not their choice, it was not their call as to whether there should or should not be a war and it was not their judgement as to the rights and wrongs of it. They simply did their duty and for that we should be grateful and show that gratefulness through treating them with the respect that they quite rightly deserve.

I was very surprised to learn that there are still several of our defence veterans buried in Terendak in Malaysia and in the Kranji War Cemetery in Singapore. I understand that 24 Vietnam vets are at Terendak and one is at the Kranji War Cemetery. There are also eight service dependents buried at Terendak. I think it is regrettable that they were not brought back to Australia earlier. I know, not only from listening to the member for Gilmore but also from my own research, it would have cost families some £500 at the time to bring back one of their Defence Force family members—it seems to me a gross injustice that that should have been the case. They should have all been brought back without that cost being imposed upon the families. I also know that it would mean an incredible amount to the Vietnam veterans that the government is taking this action and that the opposition is supporting it. We will now do what we can with the support of the families—at their request and with their permission—to bring those people back.

The Vietnam veterans in the northern region of Adelaide—which the member for Wakefield, who is sitting here in the chamber, could well attest—have for many years had their own subbranch of Vietnam veterans. It is a very strong subbranch. They have set up a facility alongside the Edinburgh defence base where there are other Defence Force personnel. They have their own centre there. It is a centre that has been going for some years, but for them it is an important centre because it enables them to come together and support one another in a way that nothing else could. The support is needed for the very points that I made earlier about how the effects of the war upon them were very different to, I suspect, the effects of other wars on other soldiers, because of what they found when they came back to Australia.

I have had over the years similar experiences to the member for Wakefield, where I have worked very closely with Vietnam veterans. In my own community, in fact literally at my own backdoor, there is a memorial to the Vietnam veterans who came back. Each year we have what we refer to as the Long Tan memorial on 18 August to commemorate and remember the Vietnam veterans who died in Vietnam. Montague Farm, which is part of my electorate and as I have stated on previous occasions, is a community that was designed by a person who ensured that all of the street names were named after Australians who had lost their lives in Vietnam. The whole community of Montague Farm is effectively dedicated to the Vietnam veterans. As I said I will be going to a service on Sunday, as I do each year, to pay my respects.

I am pleased that the member for Wakefield is here because I understand he will perhaps be joining me at a commemoration event on 20 September this year. The northern branch of the Vietnam veterans will be commemorating all of those Australians who lost their lives by dedicating a section of their facility, which they will call the Keith Payne Memorial Garden—Keith Payne being one of the Vietnam Victoria Cross recipients. That again will bring some recognition to them.

In talking about recognition, last year I was asked to launch a book by Dr Glen Edwards, who was a Vietnam medic. He has written two books—The War Within and Beyond Dark Clouds. Both books track the lives of not only the soldiers but also the families of soldiers who served in Vietnam. The families are from Australia, New Zealand and the US and study the effects that the war had on the families and on the individuals who participated in those wars. It is quite an eye-opener to get inside the thinking of those families and how it truly affected them, in particular the traumatic situation that many of those families still face today.

Getting back to this legislation, that the government has finally come to the position that, if families request it, it will bring back the bodies of all of those Vietnam veterans who are buried overseas I believe will be seen by all Vietnam veterans as a huge step towards closure on their participation in that war. It will go a long way towards showing that the government does care about them, is prepared to respond and is prepared to support them on what I am sure they would say is the fair and decent thing to do.

We on this side of the House have for years supported the efforts to bring those people back home. For their families in particular, as I said at the outset, I suspect this is the only way to bring them closure. For those reasons, I am sure that I am speaking on behalf of all members of this House in saying that this is a move that not only is long overdue but will have the support of all members in this place.

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