David Feeney (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to take this opportunity as the only member of the defence frontbench team in the Senate to say a few words about the changes to the leadership of the Australian Defence Force which the Minister for Defence announced on 1 June and also about some matters particular to my portfolio responsibilities.

I want to begin by adding my tribute to Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, Lieutenant General Ken Gillespie and Vice Admiral Russ Crane, who have retired after long and distinguished careers in the Australian defence forces. Australia has been extraordinarily lucky, at a time when our defence forces have been facing enormous challenges, to have had men of such calibre at the helm. In the 10 months since I assumed my current responsibilities, I have found them all to be unfailingly helpful, professional and dedicated officers and I take this opportunity to thank them for their service to Australia and to wish them well in their future careers.

I also want to add my congratulations to the new leadership team: General David Hurley as CDF, Air Marshal Mark Binskin as Vice Chief of the Defence Forces, Lieutenant General David Morrison as Chief of the Army, Vice Admiral Ray Griggs as Chief of Navy and Air Marshal Geoff Brown as Chief of Air Force. They take office at a time of continuing challenges for our defences forces, most particularly a severe test of our national resolve in maintaining our commitment to the task at hand in Afghanistan.

From what I know of the new ADF leadership team I am confident that they have the skills, courage and character to face these challenges. I particularly want to thank Geoff Brown for his assistance in helping me to come to grips with the complex issues of aircraft noise around RAAF bases and I look forward to continuing to work with him on these issues.

This is also a time of transition in one of my own portfolio areas, Defence honours and awards. The founding Chair of the Defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal, Emeritus Professor Dennis Pearce AO, finishes his three-year term this month. Professor Pearce and his staff, particularly executive officer Mary Birmingham, have been extremely helpful to me and my office as we have mastered this extremely complex and often emotionally charged area of policy. This is an area in which veterans, ex-service organisations, next of kin and historians, quite rightly, have strong views and strong feelings. Professor Pearce has presided over a number of inquiries into unresolved issues relating to honours and awards, always with fairness, firmness and patience. I thank him for his service. We are currently well advanced in the process of choosing a successor, and I look forward to making this announcement soon.

One of the most contentious inquiries which the tribunal has carried out under Professor Pearce's chairmanship has been into the level of recognition given to the victims of the Battle of Long Tan, fought in South Vietnam in August 1966, a battle in which 18 Australians died. Whatever we may think of the wisdom of Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War there is no disputing the courage and skill of the men of Delta Company 6RAR, who were heavily outnumbered but achieved a decisive victory on the battlefield. They did so under the leadership of Major Harry Smith, a very brave officer, who was awarded the Military Cross for his actions.

Since the Vietnam War Harry Smith has carried out a long campaign for greater recognition for the veterans of Long Tan, and he was absolutely right to do so. Largely as a result of his efforts, there have been two inquiries into this issue, the most recent conducted by Professor Pearce. As a result of these inquiries, Harry Smith's award was up­graded to the Star of Gallantry and two other Delta Company veterans, Geoff Kendall and David Sabben, were awarded the Medal of Gallantry. A RAAF helicopter pilot, Cliff Dohle, was awarded a post­humous Disting­uished Service Medal, the contemporary equivalent award to the Distinguished Flying Cross. A ceremony for the presentation of these decorations by Her Excellency the Governor-General was held at Government House on Long Tan Day in 2010.

The tribunal also recommended that a unit citation for gallantry, a UCG, be awarded to Delta Company 6RAR. That award was not presented last year because at that time 6RAR, as it is presently constituted, was on deployment in Afghanistan. It will be presented by Her Excellency the Governor-General at Gallipoli Barracks in Brisbane on Long Tan Day—that is, 18 August—this year. I intend being at that ceremony and I look forward to meeting Harry Smith and the other veterans of Delta Company as well as the current members of 6RAR, who have served with the same gallantry as their forebears.

There has been some controversy about the presentation of these awards and, while I do not wish to add to it, it is necessary to set the record straight. I want to make it clear that the decision about the time and place at which the UCG is to be presented to Delta Company 6RAR was not taken by either politicians or public servants, as some have alleged. It was a decision taken by the Chief of Army, and rightly so. Let me make it clear, the government fully supports his decision. That decision was not motivated by financial considerations. It was made for operational reasons, quite simply, because 6RAR was serving in Afghanistan last year and because the correct place to present a UCG is at the unit's home base which, in this case, is Gallipoli Barracks.

I fully understand that some veterans are unhappy that the tribunal did not accept submissions that more Long Tan veterans should be honoured. I know that some feel the UCG should have been presented at Government House last year or should be presented there this year. I know some feel that the Army should have paid for all Delta Company veterans to attend last year's ceremony. On the first point, we have had two independent inquiries and we should accept the decisions they have made. On the second point, I do not accept that presenting the unit citation at Gallipoli Barracks is any less prestigious than presenting it in Canberra. I might indeed reflect that the fact it will be presented with 6RAR as it presently exists will significantly add to the honour of the occasion. The UCG takes the form of a streamer, which will be attached to the colours of 6RAR and the correct place to do that is at Gallipoli Barracks.

On the third point, the Department of Veterans Affairs will be meeting the costs for veterans to attend this year's ceremonies because this is an honour for Delta Company as a unit.

Whatever strong feelings individuals may have about these issues, I hope they will accept that, these decisions having been made, it is now time to join in honouring all of those who took part in the Battle of Long Tan and particularly those 18 young Australians who gave their lives in the service of their country. I look forward to the opportunity of joining both current and former members of 6RAR in honouring all Long Tan veterans on 18 August.