Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Manufacturing) Share this | Hansard source

I speak in support of the Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2013. This bill is similar, although not identical, to a bill introduced by the previous government, by the member for Lingiari, the Hon. Warren Snowdon, who at the time was the Minister for Veterans' Affairs. That bill, as the member for Batman has pointed out to the House, lapsed in the Senate when parliament was prorogued in 2013. It is therefore legislation that is well overdue.

The legislation provides improved arrangements for the payment of travel expenses for treatment under the Veterans' Entitlements Act and the Australian Participants in British Nuclear Tests (Treatment) Act, otherwise referred to as the BNT(T) act. Participants eligible under the BNT(T) act include Defence personnel, public servants and civil contractors.

British atomic weapons testing, as the member for Fraser quite properly pointed out, was carried out between 1952 and 1963 at the Montebello Islands, off the west coast of Western Australia, and at Emu Field and Maralinga, in South Australia. Many Australians at the time were exposed to radiation from the testing, not only Defence personnel but scientists and public servants, who were also at the time in close proximity to or in the vicinity of the test sites, and other people who entered the contaminated sites at a later date.

In 1985, the McClelland royal commission into the British atomic testing found that significant radiation hazard still existed at many sites many years later. Amongst its seven recommendations, the commission recommended another clean-up of the areas concerned. That clean-up was completed in the year 2000 at a cost of $108 million. In addition, in 1994—again as the member for Fraser has quite rightly pointed out—the Australian government paid $13.5 million in compensation to the local Maralinga Tjarutja people, and that was also a recommendation of the commission. So the effects of the nuclear testing have been well documented and should not be dismissed, diminished or denied.

I want to focus my remarks on Defence personnel in particular who were affected by the atomic testing both at Montebello and in South Australia at Emu Field and at Maralinga. Often in this place and outside it we praise the service given to our nation by our Defence personnel. That praise, however, is not always matched by the level of support given to them after their service has ended, the kind of support that I believe we would all expect for ourselves and which we would consider to be fair and reasonable if we were in their shoes.

Instead, there seems to exist a culture of denying legitimate claims, avoiding government obligations or making it as difficult as possible to access government assistance even when it does exist. Since being elected to this place I have been made representations on behalf of several veterans who from my observations were denied legitimate assistance, or recognition, arising from their defence service. Just before Christmas I met with a resident of my area who discussed with me his experience of the British atomic testing and the injustice related to the testing that he and others have endured. On the same subject, late last year I received an email from Mr Reuben Lette, the national president of the Atomic Ex-Serviceman's Association, relating to the British atomic testing. I understand that the email was sent to all members of this place. Today I spoke with Mr Lette and I take this opportunity to quote excerpts of his seven-page email. He writes:

We didn't ask our Government to poison us with radiation many years ago.

We didn't ask to roll around in the nuclear fallout dust from the bomb blast that settled onto the ground, we were ordered to do so. Nor did we ask to be lined up with our backs to the nuclear bomb as it went off and then again to turn around and face it. This was done in an unsafe area with no protection at all. We did as we were ordered to. It was as though the British treated us like toast, they wanted both sides done to find out which side got the most radiation poisoning from the bomb blast or the fallout and after-effects. The powers that be needed to know what would happen to us by doing so. We were the guinea pigs used so to keep safe their own personnel.

Well, we died, that is what happened to us, or we got very sick, then and for many years later with many different cancers or attacks to our bones of our bodies.

He goes on to say:

While at all times the British were fully aware as they equipped their own men with all protection that they could issue at the time, the Australians had none.

We didn't ask to fly our planes through the clouds of nuclear radiation caused by the explosion of the atom bomb. We did our ordered duties to fly through the cloud to get samples for testing.

We didn't ask to unload trucks and to carry in our bare hands with no protective clothing or masks highly contaminated with radiation material directly from the nuclear bomb sites into the British scientists' building at the RAAF base Edinburgh in South Australia, we were ordered to.

One of the Air Force servicemen carrying that contaminated material in his bare hands now has bones growing out of each disc in his back, top and bottom, front and back, which are joining up to each other and fusing all his spine together. This is not normal. No doctor can help him nor wants to. He is a too hard basket case to the medical profession.

We didn't ask to get onto the back of the truck and sit on the contaminated material but were ordered to by the officer in charge. We choked on the desert dirt and dust which was full of contaminated particles as the truck raced along the runway over to where the British scientists were. At every bump we would go up in the air with the contaminated materials but when we came down we were covered again in the dirt and dust that came off the contaminated materials. Our clothes, only a pair of overalls, were completely covered in the contaminated desert dirt and dust which had come directly from the nuclear bomb sites.

Nor were we allowed to change our clothes immediately on returning to our normal duties or have a shower from the period from early in the morning until 6.30 pm that night. We were once again ordered that we could not shower or change but to continue on with our daily work.

As Navy servicemen, we were ordered up on deck to witness the nuclear explosion at Monte Bello Islands. We were ordered to turn our backs to the blast, take off our glasses, close our eyes and cover them with our hands. This turned out to be useless as when the blast from the nuclear bomb happened we could see straight through our eyelids, through our hands past the bones, exactly the same as looking at an X-ray of our hands.

Mr Lette states that out of the veterans involved in the testing less than 700 remain today. Amongst the things that the Atomic Ex-Servicemen's Association are seeking is recognition of their service by way of a full TPI pension, a gold card so that all of their medical expenses are covered and a medal in acknowledgement of their service.

This legislation does not go that far but it does introduce important and welcome changes. In particular, the legislation allows for the payment of travel expenses for treatment to be approved by the Repatriation Commission before or after the travel has been undertaken. It also recommends that the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 and the Veterans' Entitlements Act allow for special assistance or benefits under these acts to be extended to those who would not otherwise be eligible, by way of a legislative instrument made by the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission or Repatriation Commission respectively, rather than by regulation.

I welcome any processes which make the lodgement of claims simpler and less stressful for veterans and others who may already be suffering. Over the years since I have been in this place representing the people of Makin I have had the privilege of associating with many of the veterans in my area. In fact, just over a week ago I attended a National Servicemen's Day memorial service in my electorate, again listening to and speaking to some of the veterans who continue to be active within the area. I have seen them first-hand and have spoken to them on many occasions about the difficulties that many of them have endured since leaving their service. About a year ago I spoke to a young veteran, and I say young because he was only about 40 years old. Both he and his wife had been Defence personnel for Australia. Both of them are now out of their service. Both of them are going through their troubles right now. Both of them argue very strongly that as a government we need to do more for our veterans, particularly after they leave the service.

I make this point very strongly because many of the Defence veterans whom I refer to, and particularly those who might have been affected by the British atomic testing, are now elderly people who cannot and do not have the ability to any longer continue to stand up for themselves. So, in turn, they come to members of parliament like myself and others in the community to make representations for them. This legislation, I believe, goes part of the way to doing that. It is good legislation and I commend it to the House.

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