Eric Hutchinson (Lyons, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to associate my comments with those of the member for Makin and the member for Gilmore. I also will just acknowledge the conversation I had this morning with Gary Graham, who is the President of the Vietnam Veterans Association in Tasmania. He lives in my electorate on the east coast in the beautiful town of Scamander. It is right and it is proper that, in 2015, this offer has been made to the families of the 26 Australian Vietnam veterans who remain buried overseas.

It was in May 1965, a month before I was born, that 1RAR was deployed to Vietnam in military combat. Prior to May 1965, from 1962 on words, there were 30-odd Australians serving there in an advisory capacity to what was at the time the South Vietnamese army. This is history. It is right and it is proper that we mark and honour the service of all those men who died and, indeed, all those men who served in that conflict at that time.

The opportunity that the Australian government has provided for the families of those who remain buried in South-East Asia is entirely at the discretion of the families involved. If the families wish to have their relatives' remains returned to Australia that is an option now available to them. It is intended, as I understand it, that that will occur between May and June of next year. I think most Australians would agree that this is righting a wrong. History shows that, prior to 21 January 1966, service personnel—it was a legacy of the Second World War—who died overseas were interred in the closest practicable Commonwealth cemetery, unless the next of kin elected to have their remains returned to Australia at their own expense. We are, with this legislation, righting a wrong, I think most would agree.

The 21 January 1966 decision provided for the repatriation from that date onwards of the remains of all Australians who died in Vietnam in the Vietnam War to Australia, should the family so wish. But the decision was not retrospective. Five hundred and twenty-one Australians lost their lives in the Vietnam War. Twenty-six, as I mentioned before, are buried overseas—one in the Kranji War Cemetery in Singapore, one in Ireland, interestingly, which was consistent with the wishes of the family, and the remaining 24 are interred at the Terendak Military Cemetery in Malaysia. The cemetery is located within an operational military base in Malaysia. That is the fundamental reason why access to that cemetery is problematic, as one could appreciate. Whilst it is not the primary reason, it is no doubt one of the reasons why the offer has been made to the families of those men. Again, I think it is right and proper.

In the coming years we will have a number of battles to commemorate—Long Tan, Coral/Balmoral and Binh Ba. During the recent winter break, I had the opportunity to travel to Vietnam. I travelled there with some friends. As it happens, one of them was the Independent member for the legislative council in Tasmania, Mr Greg Hall, who himself was a Vietnam veteran. It was the first time I had visited that country. It was enlightening travelling with somebody who had been there at that time. He was involved in an artillery battalion. I got maybe just a small appreciation of the difficulties. I saw firsthand that on a number of occasions it was quite emotional for him, as I think most people could understand. He lost friends at that time. The difficulties that many Vietnam veterans had on their return to Australia are well documented. Let us hope that this final opportunity for those men who served our country, involuntarily in many cases, will help the healing process. I think all Australians and certainly everybody in this parliament will support the initiative of returning the remains of those 25 men to Australia, if it is so desired by their families.

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