Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

I rise to speak on the order for the production of documents, particularly in relation general business notice of motion No. 595. I want to speak on the display of utter arrogance by the Prime Minister, who has defied an order of the Senate to produce documents in accordance with that order, and that was regarding advice received on the decision to deny a Victoria Cross to Ordinary Seaman Edward 'Teddy' Sheean.

On 1 December 1942, 18-year-old Teddy Sheean made several profoundly courageous decisions when ordered to abandon his ship, HMAS Armidale, after it came under aerial bombardment and torpedo attack from the Japanese, decisions that would protect, defend and ultimately save the lives of his crewmates. Sheean did not abandon ship. He turned back, returned to his gun, strapped himself to it and fired on the enemy aircraft that were strafing and killing his mates. Wounded, he persisted and shot down at least one of them, remaining at his weapon until he was killed and the Armidale disappeared beneath the waves.

Teddy Sheean is a hero. He was posthumously mentioned in dispatches—a great honour. But it has been consistently asserted by his many supporters that an MID does not adequately reflect Teddy's gallantry. Those supporters straddle all political divides. Chief amongst them are his tireless family, supported by former senator Guy Barnett, now the Tasmanian Minister for Veterans' Affairs. For decades, they have worked towards a comprehensive review of his case to prove just how valiant this young lad was and that he deserves to be awarded the Victoria Cross.

In 2013 they were sorely disappointed when a valour inquiry by the Defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal found Sheean's actions did not meet the criteria for that award. Determined that a full merits based review was the only way to achieve justice, they pushed on. In 2018 the Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Noonan, wrote to Mr Barnett, saying that he had considered the matter and formed the view that there was no new evidence to support a review of Sheean's actions. In October that year, Mr Barnett applied to the tribunal, seeking a review of this decision by Vice Admiral Noonan. The review went ahead. It examined the story and the witness accounts in detail—process and precedent. It was the full merits based review that they had hoped for.

Finally, on 23 July last year, the tribunal recommended to the Minister for Defence Personnel, Darren Chester, that the minister recommend to the sovereign that Ordinary Seaman Edward Sheean be posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. I'll repeat that: the tribunal recommended to the Minister for Defence Personnel, Darren Chester—a member of this government, the Morrison government—that he recommend to the sovereign that Ordinary Seaman Edward Sheean be posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. Shortly after, Minister Chester advised the tribunal that he was comfortable with the recommendations and would be communicating with senior ministers, including the Prime Minister, Mr Scott Morrison.

All the way through this, Teddy's supporters have been most respectful of process, procedure and the reverence in which the VC is held. After all those years of work, it looked like Teddy was finally going to get the medal that he so well deserved. Then things went absolutely awry. The Prime Minister, Mr Scott Morrison, intervened. That's when things went bad. He rejected the recommendations of the tribunal and his own minister out of hand and refused to recommend to the Queen that the VC be awarded.

I guess one of the disappointing things from my point of view is that the Tasmanian senators on the other side of this chamber, as I understand, have also supported the position that Teddy Sheean be awarded the Victoria Cross. They're not silent in this; I understand they've pressed the Prime Minister to uphold that decision. But they have been silent in this chamber, so they should be speaking out and they should be supporting this decision. Defending this decision, the Prime Minister claimed that he had taken advice from Australia's military chiefs—not chief but chiefs, past and present. This is the very advice that the Senate demanded be tabled in this place by noon today—12 noon; that was six hours ago, actually. But Mr Morrison could not be bothered to meet that deadline and the documents have been received now, over six hours later—4½ hours late, defying a Senate motion. The only advice was one letter from General Angus Campbell that was already publicly available. There were no other letters. We wind back to the radio interview where the Prime Minister made a statement on ABC Tasmania on 26 May 2020. He said: 'We have not taken this decision lightly. I have taken advice from Australia's military chiefs'—that's plural, past and present. But all we've seen today is a letter that was already tabled in the other place a couple of days ago.

So where is all this advice that he sought? Was it actually official advice or was it just a few matey chats with the old boys? It's not good enough, Prime Minister—not good enough at all. Now, in a desperate attempt to save face, we have yet another review and not one provided for by any kind of prescribed process. It's a process that the Prime Minister just made up that is now going to determine whether or not that independent tribunal's position will be upheld.

We are baffled and we are angry that the Prime Minister would reject the recommendations of the independent tribunal. That's why the awards tribunal is set up; it's why it's independent—for the express purpose of providing him with expert, independent advice. But he didn't like that advice, so he goes off and develops another review committee. It's outrageous. It is incredibly unfair that an open and proper process could be ditched by the Prime Minister in favour of private advice—advice that we, the Australian people, have not been privy to because he has not provided that to this chamber today. In the end, this is about trust—the trust of the Australian people—that proper process is followed. Right now, people are seeing nothing but an arrogant Prime Minister who has made the worst kind of captain's call—the worst—and still we wait for justice for Ordinary Seaman Edward 'Teddy' Sheean.