Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Defence Personnel) Share this | Hansard source

I'm pleased to support this motion from the member for Braddon. I note that, like many of his coalition colleagues, the member was a late convert to the campaign for a Victoria Cross for Teddy Sheean. If I recall, he said he was satisfied with the government's initial decision, in May, not to posthumously award the VC and said the Prime Minister had taken the right decision. I think it's pretty clear that, when he saw the huge community backlash, he had a change of heart, which is when he and some of his Tasmanian colleagues started lobbying the Prime Minister. So I'm sure he too welcomed the Prime Minister's backflip on 10 August, when he announced that Ordinary Seaman Edward 'Teddy' Sheean would finally be awarded our highest military honour, the Victoria Cross for Australia. After nearly 80 years, it was the right decision, and overdue.

Teddy Sheean showed extraordinary bravery, sacrificing his own life to save and protect his comrades. He was only 18 when he died on board HMAS Armidale on 1 December 1942. He refused the chance to board a life raft when his ship was sinking, returning to his anti-aircraft gun and going down with the ship while defending his shipmates from enemy attack. What courage. These exploits are the stuff of legend and have been immortalised in Dale Marsh's painting at the Australian War Memorial, and Lee Kernaghan's song 'Teddy Sheean—Forever Eighteen'. And now there are even plans for a movie celebrating his life.

Teddy's family and supporters and our veterans community can be proud they did not give up the fight to see, finally, justice for Teddy. But the reality is that it should not have taken this long and it should not have taken yet another review to do the right thing, and the government cannot take credit for this outcome. Its handling of this whole process has been a complete shambles and a trashing of good process. First, after the Defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal unanimously recommended that Teddy be awarded a posthumous VC, following its 2019 review, its report was buried by the government for nearly a year. The Minister for Defence Personnel supported the tribunal's recommendation, but he was rolled by his colleagues. Then the Minister for Defence had to correct the record because she got the facts so wrong that the tribunal chair felt compelled to write to her, calling her out in relation to the matter. The Prime Minister said that one of the reasons for not recommending the VC was that he didn't want to offend the Queen. Good grief, what a pathetic excuse by the Prime Minister. There was a robo-poll from the Liberal Party pollster, quizzing Tasmanians on whether it was important to them that Teddy's actions were recognised. Finally, after sustained pressure from Labor, Tasmanians, the veterans community and Teddy's family and supporters, the Prime Minister ordered a review of the review, because he couldn't simply admit that he got it wrong. Labor then revealed that two of his review panel members were paid more than $60,000 for six weeks work to state what was obvious to everyone—everyone except the Prime Minister perhaps. What a saga.

On top of this, Labor requested government advice and correspondence on this matter under freedom of information, and we received a small number of documents—some of which were heavily redacted or blacked out—but only after the Prime Minister's announcement on 10 August. What a disgrace—and a further breach of process. The documents reveal the Prime Minister and defence department were stubbornly opposed to a retrospective VC for Teddy because they thought there was not enough evidence of his bravery, and it would also undermine the integrity of the honours system and open the floodgates to other applications. For example, as late as May this year, the Prime Minister was writing to the Tasmanian Premier, justifying his decision on these bogus grounds. Of course, I and many others, including current and former tribunal members, have all shown these arguments to be utterly baseless.

Firstly, the tribunal's 2019 review found compelling new evidence of Teddy's bravery which clearly met the standard for a VC—even before the Prime Minister's latest review found even more evidence. Secondly, the Prime Minister ignored the awarding of two posthumous VCs to British naval personnel, and the tribunal found Sheean's actions exceeded those of very similar cases. Thirdly, the expert panel said there was unlikely to be a flood of applications, given Teddy's case was so extraordinary. So, if anything undermined the integrity of the whole honours and awards system, it was the Prime Minister's decision to ignore the tribunal.

Contrary to the member for Braddon's previous claims, Labor hasn't been trying to politicise this issue or say it was parliament's role to award the VC. All we're trying to say is that the government should have accepted the recommendations of the independent umpire, the tribunal. After all, it was Labor that established this body to independently consider honours and awards, outside of Defence, and to keep the politics out of these decisions—and, in government, we've always accepted its recommendations. It was this government that politicised the issue by ignoring the panel of experts on the tribunal and setting up a review of the tribunal's own review. It undermined the role of the tribunal and it sets a dangerous precedent, as its future recommendations could be dismissed at the whim of a future government and future politicians. That's not a good process. So, all up, this was a terrible process with a just result in the end.

As the Prime Minister's panel report admitted, the 'true story of Sheean had always been there'. But, if that's the case, why did it take another review to tell us that Teddy was a hero and deserved a VC? It's clear this was a cynical exercise designed to give the government political cover to back the 2019 inquiry findings as the tide of public opinion in Tasmania and elsewhere swung in behind a VC for Teddy.

Now Teddy is our 101st VC, as the motion acknowledges, and the first Australian Navy sailor to receive our highest military honour. It's worth noting that Australia's Navy community campaigned long and hard for this, and was highly critical of the government's initial snub of Teddy. Former naval officer and military historian Tom Lewis has argued that Teddy Sheean and other naval servicemen had been unjustly overlooked for the Victoria Cross in the past. As Dr Lewis has pointed out, during World War II every approval for Navy gallantry awards had to go through London, while the other two forces had their awards approved here. In Teddy's case, his initial mention in dispatches was based on a 'hastily written' report which failed to do justice to his actions and even misspelt his name. This award will go a long way towards overcoming the manifest individual injustice perpetrated upon Teddy. But it's also long overdue recognition for our gallant men and women of the Navy. It also follows representations from the Naval Association of Australia, representing current and former Navy personnel, who wrote to the Prime Minister over his earlier decision to reject the VC and slammed Defence's attempts to undermine the tribunal.

Finally, I want to congratulate the veterans community; Teddy's family and supporters, and his nephew Gary Ivory in particular; and fellow Tasmanians who campaigned so strongly over many years to recognise Teddy's bravery in the way he deserves. I want to congratulate and recognise my Labor caucus colleagues, especially my Tasmanian colleagues, who worked very hard in seeking justice for Teddy. They include the member for Lyons, who is also speaking on this motion. I know Teddy's birthplace of Lower Barrington falls in his electorate, and he's been a passionate advocate for the young farm labourer turned war hero.

We hope an investiture ceremony befitting the magnitude of the award and its significance to Australia can be held at an appropriate time, noting the current COVID-19 restrictions. I note Garry Ivory said he hoped the event would be live streamed or televised—and I think that's a terrific idea—so that all Australians can celebrate Teddy's extraordinary achievements.

Teddy Sheean is a great Australian hero, and this is a VC for all the Australian people. Teddy embodies courage, mateship and self-sacrifice, and in these challenging times his example should be inspirational to all of us. As a nation we will be forever grateful for his service, dedication and sacrifice. I commend the motion to the chamber.

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