Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Last Sunday I had the honour of being invited by the Sydney chapter of the Vietnam Veterans Motorcycle Club to join their march through Menai to commemorate the Battle of Long Tan. At the service following the march, there was hardly a dry eye in the house as Macca spoke about the Battle of Long Tan and told the story of how, on 18 August 1966, the North Vietnamese were poised to deliver our most crushing military defeat of the war, where more than 2,500 Vietnamese troops had just 108 Australians and New Zealanders, most of them rural conscripts, pinned down in a rubber plantation that offered almost no natural protection. The odds of annihilation were overwhelming. But, instead, the Battle of Long Tan became one of Australia's most extraordinary military victories.

Macca then read out a passage written by Private Jim Richmond, who was injured at the start of the Battle of Long Tan, which I think is worth repeating here today:

I rolled over on my side hoping that the mud would dry out the wound and help to stop the bleeding. The artillery was still coming in and it was dark by now and I knew I'd get no help till morning at least. I kept hoping that the artillery wouldn't get me. I was worried about my mother, and I kept thinking if I died she would be up shit creek, so I prayed a lot and made a lot of promises, but I'm afraid I never really kept any of them after I got back home. It was the longest night I've ever known. The artillery was still coming in and I can remember thinking, 'This one's going over, and this one's falling short, and this one's for you Jim.' … The other thing that was really worrying me was the thirst. I drank all my water and during the night I got painfully thirsty and reckoned if I could survive the Viet Cong troops and the artillery I'd probably finish up dying of thirst. I just lay there helpless and praying and trying to stay awake and wishing to hell it would get light soon.

Macca also read out a passage written by Private Terry Burstall, a survivor of Long Tan, who wrote of the aftermath of the battle:

We recovered the bodies of our friends who had been laughing living beings the day before. Nothing takes the supposed glory out of war more quickly than the sight of dead mutilated friends. Unfortunately it brings about a hardening of feeling toward your enemy that pushes normal human feelings of compassion to the back of the mind. It brings conflict down to a very personal level and gives you the licence to remain aloof from the suffering of others as long as your own little band is protected.

…   …   …

I personally do not care how many troops we faced at Long Tan or whether the body count is accurate or not. Jingoism is the last thing we need. I do not care who claims victory. The only fact I care about is that a lot of good men from both sides died that day and I will be forever saddened by that.

In the Battle of Long Tan we lost 18 young Australians. The eldest was just 22; the youngest only 19. Eleven of the 18 who were killed were national servicemen. Looking through their list of civilian jobs, of those who gave their lives at Long Tan, they included: a butcher, a farmhand, a storeman, an apprentice electrician, a student, a clerk, a labourer, a postman. This was a group typical of any group of 19- to 21-year-olds you would find in any town or suburb throughout Australia. Yet this group was called on to make the ultimate sacrifice. Those 18 who were killed at Long Tan were part of the 500 Australian lives that we lost in Vietnam.

It is to our nation's eternal shame that we did not give those who fought in Vietnam the due recognition that they deserved when they returned home. This left a large number of veterans deeply traumatised and adrift from the society that they returned to. But with the hindsight of time it is now evident that those who served in Vietnam did in fact achieve many of the long-term strategic objectives that our nation set out to accomplish in Vietnam. Firstly, and it must never be forgotten, when Australia first became involved in Vietnam the world was in the midst of the Cold War. The ideological confrontation between communism and those that believed in democracy and free enterprise was at its height. Eastern Europe was one great concentration camp. The communists had taken control of the world's most populous nation—China. Soviet imperialism was on the march in Asia, Africa, South America and Western Europe. The Soviet Union had the intent of dominating the world by using subversion or military power to convert countries to communism. The Warsaw Pact forces had invaded Czechoslovakia. The domino theory was real.

These were dark days for the very future of freedom and democracy. In the 10 years of Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War, when we fought alongside our American allies, this became a holding action for freedom and democracy. During these 10 years we halted the communist advance and this period allowed the Western democracies and other ASEAN nations to grow strong enough to outlast the enemy. It was during this period that history proved for all time that the entrepreneurial efficiencies that are generated by a free market combined with equality of opportunity and protected by strong anti-trust laws would deliver greater wealth and greater prosperity than the communist-socialist ideology of a nation's economy being controlled by giant industrial concerns and centralised planning. It was during the 10 years of Australia's involvement in Vietnam that countries that followed communist ideology of a centrally controlled economy run by a few elites saw their economies stagnate while in contrast during the same period those countries that followed the principles of democracy, freedom and equality of opportunity saw their economies grow and prosper.

It was also during this 10-year period that the contrast between the standard of living between West German and East Germany and North and South Korea became undeniable. So there was a domino effect, but not the one that we rightly worried about in the early 1960s. The domino effect that occurred after the Vietnam War was when countries saw how their neighbours that had rejected communist and socialist ideologies and instead followed the principles of free and open markets prospered and grew strong—and those countries followed. Today communist and socialist economic ideology has been rejected throughout South-East Asia and also the rest of the world, and we see the Vietnamese economy prospering from free-market incentives through the encouragement of private businesses and foreign investment, which has lifted millions of Vietnamese out of poverty. For that we have our troops' service in Vietnam to thank. Their 10-year holding action, a period history will record as being truly the critical decade in the fight against communism, was a period that enabled the Western democracies and other ASEAN nations to grow strong and their economies to flourish and for democracy and freedom to win out. For that we have our Vietnam veterans to thank.

The second outstanding achievement for which our Vietnam vets can proudly take credit for has been the consolidation of our relationship with the USA. During the many trips that I have had the privilege of making to America, many Americans will often comment to me how they will never forget how Australia stood by America during the time of Vietnam. The special friendship that we enjoy with the USA underwrites our national security. It provides immeasurable economic and strategic benefits. For this we have the service and the sacrifice of our Vietnam vets to thank.

We also have our Vietnam vets to thank for standing up for their mates when the government let them down. After they returned from Vietnam many veterans experienced a degree of bitterness from their peers who did not share their experiences during the war. So it has been no surprise that the many Vietnam vets that were shunned by society upon their return in turn shunned society and turned inward to the only people who they could trust and rely upon—their brothers in arms, other Vietnam veterans. It was their mateship forged during the unique nature of military service, where they developed an absolute trust in one another at all times and a strong sense of doing the right thing by one's platoon, ship or aircraft crew that enabled Vietnam vets to be there to take care of their mates when the government failed them. So, to the members of the Sydney chapter of the Vietnam Veterans Motorcycle Club, I say: I am proud that you have elected to be based at Menai, in the electorate that I represent. And to all Vietnam vets, to Spike, and the Sydney chapter of the Vietnam Veterans Motorcycle Club, on behalf of my generation, that enjoys the benefits of your service and your sacrifice, I simply say: thank you, on a job well done. And to my constituents: if you see a member of the Vietnam Veterans Motorcycle Club wearing their club colours with the distinctive black leather jacket with the skull and slouch hat, go up to them and simply say thank you—say, 'Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your service, your sacrifice and your great achievements in helping win the Cold War and making the world a better place for future generations.'

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