Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this very important motion and to acknowledge the contribution that our service personnel made in Vietnam. The Vietnam War was a war like no other war. In practically every other war and every major conflict where Australians fought, our service personnel had the support of this nation. The Vietnam War took place during my teenage and early adult years and it involved a number of young men I was associated with. I know it had an enormous impact on them and has had a subsequent impact on their lives. Those young service personnel who served in Vietnam did so based on a decision of their government. Unfortunately, when public opinion in this country changed and the war was no longer supported, those young service personnel felt the brunt of that lack of public support.

I have a very strong Vietnam veterans community within the Shortland electorate. I like to sit down and talk to the guys and to their wives and partners about what it meant to them and how it impacted on their lives. The partners of Vietnam vets is a very strong organisation. It started in the Shortland electorate. Those wonderful women have provided enormous support to their husbands and partners over a very long period of time. I think the type of support that they have needed to provide has to a large extent been determined by what happened during that period of time.

It was the longest major conflict that Australia has been involved in. It covered the span of years from 1962 to 1972. The start of it is just a very vague memory to me. The concluding stages of it are very vivid to me. Sixty thousand personnel were involved in the conflict. Every one of our service bodies were involved: the Army, the Navy and the RAAF. All of those had casualties and all of those had soldiers, sailors and airmen injured. The highest casualties were within the Army and then the Air Force; the Navy also lost eight personnel. There were 521 lives lost all up. The actual casualties are greater than those who died in the conflict. Those people who were involved in that war have had to come to terms with a very different type of war that was fought in Vietnam, the reaction to that war at home and then the reaction that they had when they came back and tried to resume their lives in Australia.

It is important to note that there were a number of national servicemen involved in the Vietnam conflict and in my area a number of them were involved in Vietnam. They have told me about what it was like and how it impacted on their lives.

I have attended two Vietnam veteran services following Vietnam Veterans Day on Thursday, 18 August. One was before and that was at Doyalson RSL, where they celebrated victory in the Pacific and Vietnam Veterans Day; it is a tradition within that RSL sub-branch, a very strong sub-branch. The guest speaker there really portrayed what it was like to be involved in that conflict and how it affected him and his fellow Air Force buddies. He also managed to bring out very clearly the camaraderie that existed between all those who were involved. That camaraderie has extended beyond the battle and has in some cases been the very thing that has helped those Vietnam vets to survive their involvement in that conflict. Those Australians who served in Vietnam showed courage and they made enormous sacrifices; so did their families. Some of those people are still making enormous sacrifices each and every day and are coming to terms with what that war meant to them.

I suppose the message for all of us in this House is: you can disagree with a war, you can feel that it is not a place that Australian troops should be, you can feel that maybe we would be better if we were not involved there, but each and every person of this parliament needs to stand up and support our service men and women when they are fighting for our country. Australia's history has been intertwined with the conflicts we have been involved in. It has been very formative on our nation. We need to learn from what happened in Vietnam. We need to support our Vietnam veterans. I commend the Prime Minister's motion to the House.

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