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

Over the last several weeks we heard a great deal in the media and in this place about an incredibly brave young Tasmanian, Edward (Teddy) Sheean. Teddy Sheean, at the age of 18, was among 149 passengers and crew ordered to abandon their ship, HMAS Armidale, on 1 December 1942 during operations in the Timor Sea. Sheean was the loader of the Armidale's aft Oerlikon gun. Armidale had come under aerial bombardment and torpedo attack from a number of Japanese bombers and fighters. Armidale was struck by two torpedoes and possibly one bomb. The ship sank in a short period of time.

Teddy Sheean, after assisting crewmates to free a lifeboat, instead of obeying the order to abandon ship, turned back, returned to his weapon and single-handedly engaged the enemy. He would have known that, by doing so, he would go down with the ship. He was wounded by the attacking Japanese aircraft but proceeded to strap himself to the Oerlikon gun and use this weapon to shoot down at least one Japanese aircraft. He remained at his weapon until he was killed.

Teddy Sheean is undoubtedly a hero. His family and community are intensely proud of his achievements. Crewmates who witnessed his valour spoke of it even as they struggled in the water after the vessel sank and in the years that followed. While Sheean was awarded a posthumous mention in dispatches, an MID, it has been constantly asserted by his many supporters that the MID does not adequately reflect his gallantry. Those supporters straddle almost all political divides.

Unlike Air Force commanders, Australian Navy commanders in 1942 could not specify the nature of the award they were submitting. Australian Imperial Force and Royal Australian Air Force awards were decided by Australians in Australia. But our Navy, at that time, had to submit its recommendations to the Admiralty in London. Those recommendations were then considered by an honours and awards committee.

In my view and the view of many people, Sheean's heroism was not adequately acknowledged in London. His deeds were also suppressed from public knowledge by a decision of the Department of Defence, eight days after the Armidale's sinking, to impose a complete publicity ban upon HMAS Armidale's story. For decades Sheean's family and others, including the Hon. Guy Barnett MP, the Tasmanian Minister for Veterans' Affairs and one-time senator in this place, have agitated for an Imperial Victoria Cross or a Victoria Cross for Australia to be awarded to Sheean for his actions during the sinking of the Armidale. I'm sure, then, you can imagine the intense sadness and frustration after a valour inquiry conducted in 2013 by the Defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal found Sheean's actions did not meet the criteria for a Victoria Cross award.

In July 2018 the Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Michael Noonan, informed Mr Barnett that Sheean's recognition had already been considered during the valour inquiry and that the findings of that inquiry had been accepted by government back in March 2013. Admiral Noonan also informed Mr Barnett that he had also considered the matter and formed the view that there was no new evidence that supported reconsideration or review of Sheean's actions. In October that year Mr Barnett applied to the tribunal, seeking a review of the Chief of Navy's decision of July 2018. He submitted that Sheean's actions were deserving of a full merits based review by the tribunal. That review went ahead. In its decision, the tribunal said:

On 23 July 2019 the Tribunal decided to recommend to the Minister for Defence Personnel that:

a) The decision by the Chief of Navy to refuse to recommend the award of the Victoria Cross for Australia to Ordinary Seaman Edward Sheean in respect of his actions in HMAS Armidale during a Japanese aerial attack in the Timor Sea on 1 December 1942 be set aside.

b) The Minister recommend to the Sovereign that Ordinary Seaman Edward Sheean be posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for Australia for the most conspicuous gallantry and a pre-eminent act of valour in the presence of the enemy in HMAS Armidale during a Japanese aerial attack in the Timor Sea on 1 December 1942.

In May this year the chair of the tribunal, Mark Sullivan, wrote to the Minister for Defence, Senator Reynolds, to correct the record after she misled this chamber over the Sheean situation. Because of this letter we know that the recommendations were presented to the Minister for Defence Personnel, Darren Chester, in July 2019. Shortly afterwards, Mr Chester advised Mr Sullivan that he was comfortable with the recommendations and that he would be communicating with senior ministers, including the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister then 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 posthumously to Teddy Sheean. In doing so, the Prime Minister later said, he took advice from Australia's military chiefs past and present in making his decision. It is this advice the Senate has demanded to see and expects to be tabled in this place by noon tomorrow.

To most people who are aware of this case, it was distressing and baffling that the Prime Minister would reject the recommendation of the independent tribunal set up for the express purpose of providing this advice. It seemed incredibly unfair that an open and proper process could be ditched by the Prime Minister in favour of private advice. It provoked criticism, grief and a good deal of uproar. Then, under pressure, the Prime Minister announced yet another review, not one provided for by any prescribed process but one that he just made up—an extra review, an extraordinary review, by three independent experts.

In the meantime, passionate people who care about due process, who care about transparency, who care about acknowledging the sacrifice of the 18-year-old who knowingly turned his back on the lifeboat and strapped himself to a gun to fight back against the air attack that was strafing, maiming and killing his shipmates have been vocal. Many have made statements in support of Teddy Sheean being posthumously awarded the VC. We do it because we care. We do it because we revere the Victoria Cross and those who have been awarded it. And we believe proper processes should be followed. Yesterday, in the other place, these passionate, well-informed pleas and statements were likened by one MP, Mr Gavin Pearce, the member for Braddon, to conducting a chook raffle. A chook raffle it is not! And to use such language is an attempt to demean all of us who fairly and rightly call for Teddy to be awarded the medal that he so deserves. Mr Pearce can try to silence us, but we believe in free speech. We have a right to speak up and we would be irresponsible not to.

There is a view, and a view that I hold, that the recently announced additional review by three independent experts is simply an attempt by the Prime Minister to save face over a poor decision and to kick the can down the road. But in kicking the can down the road, the Prime Minister has only made its rattling louder. He has made thousands more Australians hear its sound, so he can expect more people to speak up—as is their right. Mr Pearce may blunder about what we may or may not speak about in this place, but in the end he has to face the facts: the person who politicised this, who made it controversial, was his mate the Prime Minister. Mr Morrison made this a subject of debate in this place and across the country by rejecting the advice of the independent tribunal that is commissioned to provide frank and fearless advice, based upon evidence, to him.

Since then, many have weighed in on this conversation. One high-ranking military official even said that requesting the Queen to award the VC posthumously to Teddy Sheean would put her in an awkward position, or even damage Australia's standing with her. My goodness! How unfortunate would that be? But I don't believe it. My mother was a staunch royalist; she loved the Queen, and the Queen that my mother loved would be quite prepared to calmly and reasonably consider such a request and see justice at last for Edward 'Teddy' Sheean.