Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today on this condolence motion for the last two members of the Australian Defence Force missing from the Vietnam conflict. On 3 November 1970, Flying Officer Michael Herbert and Pilot Officer Robert Carver of No. 2 Squadron RAAF, on a mission in a Canberra bomber, were reported missing in action. ‘Missing in action’ is a terrible term. It is an incomplete story, and one of the most difficult stories for the families to deal with. I congratulate those on the Air Force investigation team who have now recovered the full six missing-in-actions from the Vietnam War and thank the Vietnamese government and people for their assistance.

Michael Herbert was from Glenelg in South Australia and a veteran of 198 sorties. I have learnt quite recently that Michael’s father, John, came from Port Pirie, in my electorate, and that his uncles, aunties and cousins still reside there. I can tell you that the 40 years since his disappearance have been very difficult for them and that they have struggled to deal with the nature of their loss. They are relieved that he has been located and brought back to Australia.

Robert Carver, the navigator, was from Toowoomba and was a relative novice who had been in Vietnam for just eight weeks. Both were 24 years old and had started on that great journey of life. Both, it is worth reflecting, would now be 63. I am always quite moved by the RSL ode when I hear the line: ‘They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old.’ It causes me to reflect on not only those that we have lost in war but also the number of friends that I have lost. When I travel around my electorate and visit people and I am invited into their living rooms I will often see a photo of a young soldier on a mantelpiece—it may be from any of the conflicts—that is still there 40, 60, 80 years on because that is someone they lost. The young face stares back at you and the very old face which belongs to their brother or sister will be alongside it. I reflect on that, because we grow old but they never shall.

We may never know what happened on 3 November 1970, but we do know about these men’s courage and commitment to Australia. The recovery of their remains is of great solace to their families and I thank them for the greatest contribution of all that they can make to this nation. Today, the recovery of these remains is more—much more. It is a symbol of the closing of a chapter in the book. It is not the last chapter in the book because the last chapters of the book of the Vietnam conflict will not be written until the last survivors and the last people who have collective memory of that war have passed away, but we are nearing the end of the book. The Vietnam War for Australia went from 1962 to 1972—10 years. In Vietnam, interestingly enough, it is called the American war. It is all about perspective. I guess it just depends on where you are sitting and the way you look at the world.

For Australia, there were 60,000 personnel involved, 2,500 wounded, 521 dead and thousands with their lives changed forever by the conflict. Australia, on one hand, had a very proud record. We were very proud of our servicemen; the way they conducted themselves operationally and the respect in which they are held to this day in Vietnam. On the other hand, it involved a shameful event in Australia’s history: shame on this nation for how we treated our servicemen when the war became unpopular. There is no point now arguing about the rights and wrongs of the war—largely seen as a useless war—but there is the old question: if a butterfly flaps its wings on one side of the earth, does it a cause a cyclone on the other? If the Vietnam War had not occurred, would the whole world be different now? We will never know. But we do know that Australia will never again allow people to attack our armed forces for the decisions of government. Rightfully they should attack governments, but they should never, ever target the workmen.

The Vietnam War is very real to me. It was the first time that conscripts had been sent to a theatre of war. In 1972, I was 16. My friends and I, nearing our last years of school, had expected that we would go into the draft and that some of us would serve. Had our marble been drawn, we almost certainly would have all gone. So this was a very real thing in our lives. For the first time in our living rooms, on television, we were looking at action shots of the war as it was happening and action shots of the protest movement as it was evolving around Australia. It is an interesting thing, as I reflect on my youth and my time at school, talking with my friends as we spoke of the Second World War, in the mid-60s it all seemed so long ago. It was something that happened a million years ago, if you like. You failed, as a child, to understand how people could still be offended by what happened so long ago. In reality, it was only 15 or 20 years.

When you now look at the Vietnam War you can see that personal contact is what keeps the memories alive. As long as people have personal contact with these events, the memories will remain fresh. Those born after the Vietnam War probably look at it as just another conflict, but for those of us who lived through that era it will always be something very real. I had the pleasure a few years ago of visiting Vietnam with my family. We explored some of the sites where Australian troops had been represented and the war museums. When I saw the famous photos from the press corps that I had seen 35 years ago in our newspapers it brought back to me what a very real part of my life it was.

I congratulate the Vietnam veterans associations around Australia on the excellent job they do in helping the veterans of that conflict overcome the pain, and resettle and remake their lives. The recognition of the Vietnam conflict with Vietnam Veterans Day on 18 August, a date that represents the Long Tan battle, has been a great move forward in the healing with the rest of Australia. This year on Anzac Day I launched the Bruce Plane Memorial Medal at Yorketown. It was for the best player of the rematch of last year’s grand final in the Yorke Peninsula Football League. Bruce Plane was a soldier from Price who died in Vietnam. Although it has taken 40 years for this recognition to occur, it is very important this war has moved into mainstream Australia now and is not considered a boutique war. It was a very real confrontation; a very real war.

At this time when the families of Michael Herbert and Robert Carver are settling the last unknowns they can have some closure in their lives. I hope this brings peace to them. For the population as a whole it is a time to remember all who have put their lives on the line for Australia’s interests, including those who are serving in international theatres of conflict as we speak and the families of the 10 servicemen who have given their lives in the line of duty in Afghanistan. This is especially a time to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifices in Vietnam. On behalf of a grateful nation, I say to their families, thank you.

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