Fraser Anning (Queensland, Katter's Australian Party) Share this | Hansard source

First I'd like to acknowledge the brave service men and women in the gallery and thank them for their service.

Honourable senators: Hear, hear!

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Defence, Senator Payne. During the Malaysian counterinsurgency war, 1968 to 1989, an Australian infantry rifle company was deployed on rotation to protect RAAF assets at Air Base Butterworth from attack by communist insurgents. The Australian Defence Committee's secret minute of 11 January 1973 stated that this deployment could be publicly portrayed as being for training purposes. Subsequent military directives confirm this deception. By virtue of this deception of classifying warlike service as peacetime service, the troops—some 9,000 in all—were denied their eligible entitlements under the Veterans' Entitlements Act. Why have successive governments continued to perpetuate the deception surrounding service at Air Base Butterworth for this period when evidence provided to government advisers indicates that it meets all the criteria for warlike service?