It is Veterans Day, and as I said to you, August 18 is also the commemoration of the Battle of long tan, August 18 in 1966. Now to honor the sacrifices of all of our men and women who served Australia and pay our respects to them, as I say, you don’t obliterate history. You’re on a slippery slope if you do that. So this cohort of Vietnam National Servicemen have been denied the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, and this has been going on for some time because their service fell short of the 181 days, which is a spurious reason to deny them the medal. Anyway, despite bipartisan support before the election, the Albanese Government, for reasons best known to them, have refused to act, leaving 1000s of aging veterans, and they are now. They’re all in their 70s or older without recognition they waited for for 50 years. And at the same time, Australians are grappling with record cost of living pressures, with many households saying Labor’s relief isn’t reaching the kitchen table, despite the RBA rate cut. So at the moment when respect for our veterans and relief for struggling families should be front of mind, strong leadership is needed, you wonder why a lot of this is not happening. Well, let’s have a look in our Canberra Conversation segment, we do with Senator Paul Scarr, Shadow Minister for Home Affairs and Immigration, joins us on the line.
Senator Scarr
G’day. Tim, great to be with you.
Tim Webster
Yeah. Monday, August 18, Veterans Day, Battle of Long Tan remembered today. I mean, what does this say about us, and what should it mean to us on this day?
Senator Scarr
This is a very, very important day, Tim, and it’s right that we commemorate this day, and we remember over 60,000 Australians who served in Vietnam between 1962 and 1972 and as you said, this is the day to commemorate the Battle of Long Tan, where 18 Australians lost their lives. 25 were wounded, and they displayed the heroism which Australian servicemen and women are renowned for in conflict. So this is a really, really important day. And the matter which you mentioned in terms of the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, it’s something I’ve been advocating for since coming into the Senate, and it was first raised with me, Tim, by our wonderful Australian Vietnamese Community. The Vietnamese Community actually raised it with me, and they said there’s this cohort of two and a half thousand ex national servicemen who’ve been denied this medal, and the reasons just don’t make sense to me.
Tim Webster
Well, what are the reasons? Labor promised before the election to fix this lack of recognition for these servicemen and have refused. Why?
Senator Scarr
So the argument is that the when the terms and conditions of the medal were published by the Republic of Vietnam, which no longer exists, of course, it provided for 181 days of continuous service in the country, unless you were killed in action or you were wounded in action. Now, those conditions, though, were left essentially to the Australian Government as to how it applied those conditions. The issue arose when we started conscripting Australians. So we introduced national servicemen and a lot of those who served as national servicemen because of the conditions of their service, because of their time in training, served just under that 181 day threshold. I’ve seen cases, Tim, where servicemen fell just four or five days short, and it was through no fault of their own. It was just their terms of service and the Australian Government, and this is my main point, the Australian Government never raised this with the Government of the Republic of Vietnam. If they’d raised this with the Republic of Vietnam Government, I am positive, I’m absolutely sure, that the Republic of Vietnam Government would have said, of course, these men deserve the medal. Of course, you should issue the medal to them. And one of the reasons we know that is because towards the end of the war, the US Government raised this issue, this exact same issue, with the Republic of Vietnam, and they decreased the days required to be served in Vietnam to 60 days.
Tim Webster
That’s right, yeah.
Senator Scarr
So, that’s clear evidence.
Tim Webster
I know you’ve shared some very powerful testimonies in the Parliament from veterans and their families, and we all know these stories, and you speak to Veterans, and you know, I did a motorcycle ride, and I was just so honored, they asked me in a parade in Sydney around Epping way, many years ago, and had a had a couple of beers with some of the veterans that ride hogs after the parade, and they’ll tell you about, you know, the shame and depression and being labeled short timers. It shouldn’t come it shouldn’t come down to this. I mean, it’s, it’s such a disrespectful thing we’re doing.
Senator Scarr
Yeah, it is Tim, and it could be fixed. The Minister could fix this. And the Minister, he’s listened to the arguments,but the Minister is taking a real black letter law interpretation of these conditions, rather than my view what should be done in terms of an expansive approach, and say, for goodness sake, recognize the service. And I come back to that point, the Vietnamese Community in Australia have been advocating on this point. They’re the ones who raised it with me, because they honor the service of those Australians who served in Vietnam. Every single Vietnamese community event I go to, every single one, they honor the service of those Australians who fought in Vietnam.
Tim Webster
Goodness, the Americans made it two months, we made it five. I mean, it’s it makes no sense.
Senator Scarr
There really inequity there. When US servicemen who served only 60 days towards the end of the war received this exact same medal, but Australians who maybe served 170 days, 140 days, don’t receive the Medal, and that’s just not fair.
Tim Webster
Before we leave that subject and look, it’s not an excuse, but the government’s distracted by a lot of other things at the moment. Where do we sit with that? Is there any further representation to be made to government about awarding this medal to these fellows and women?
Tim Webster
Do that with Jessie, and I’ll make sure that I publicize that as well. Look just back to Cost of Living, and as I know here, it’s still front of mind with just about all Australians. So RBA cuts rates and families say it’s they’re just not making a dent. It’s, you know, 100 bucks a month. I mean, what would you do differently, the Coalition to provide some relief now, like as we’re sitting here now.
Senator Scarr
I think one of the points I would like to make, Tim, and if there are listeners who are part of this cohort of ex national servicemen or family members and I so deeply respect their service of these national servicemen, the Government has decided in recent times, and it may well be, as a response to this issue being raised, if someone can demonstrate they’ve suffered from their service in Vietnam in terms of post traumatic stress disorder, etc, there is an avenue for advocacy on their behalf. And there’s a wonderful Australian called RichardBarry, who himself was a National Serviceman and was part of the 10th intake and served in Vietnam, and he’s been undertaking some terrific advocacy. So I’ll give your producer his details. And if people would like to go down that path. I’m sure Richard be pleased to help. But there has been at least a breakthrough in terms of those who can demonstrate they’ve suffered mental hardship after the war as a result of their service, but I don’t think it should come down to that. Tim, I really don’t. We know how difficult that conflict was. We know it took until 1987 to the Welcome Home Parade, so many years later. It shouldn’t come to come down to that. And I just want to see these ex national servicemen, get the recognition they deserve.
Senator Scarr
Well, Tim, we took quite a few policies for the last election. One of them that comes immediately to mind was ccutting the fuel excise, and that would have been a very effective way to give cost of living relief to every single Australian who fills their car up, because we recognize there were things that needed to be done immediately, to deliver that cost of living relief to Australians. So that was a short term measure which we sought to implement at the last election, which I think would have made a difference to people’s week to week living expenses, because as you say, Australians are paying an extra $1,800 a month on an average home loan, since Labor came to power. And Rents have gone up, as we all know as well. Rents have gone up by about 20%, so it doesn’t matter if you’ve got a mortgage or you’ve got a rent. Electricity price has gone up. Gas prices have gone up. So we really are in a cost of living crisis.
Tim Webster
Well, you know, just just quickly, it’s very easy to talk up, and Jim Chalmers is very good at talking it up, saying inflation is under control and cost of living relief is working, but you’ve only got to look at the petrol pump. You’ve only got to hear people talking about their power bill. You’ve only got to talk about just about anything and everything has gone up in price. So a mortgage holder, there’s only a third of Australians have got one. Get some relief. But you know, it’s 100 bucks, fair dinkum. It’s almost a couple of cups of coffee in a milkshake rreally and locked out of the housing market altogether. So the figures they’re trying to sprout just don’t add up.
Senator Scarr
Correct. And, at the same time, we’ve got a housing supply shortage. And we’ve spoken about this before, there’s a real deficit in the number of homes, new dwellings that are being built in this country. So rents are staying up, and we’ve got housing prices where they are. So a lot of people are really, really doing ir tough, Tim.
Tim Webster
Yeah, they are, and that’s it’s still the case, and no matter how you talk, things up. And of course, we’ve got the Productivity Round Table happening as of tomorrow. So let’s try and be positive and see if something positive comes out of it, thanks for your time. Paul, always good to talk to you.
Senator Scarr
Excellent. Thanks. Tim.
