ADJOURNMENT

Mr RICK WILSON (O'Connor) (16:34): On 1 October, submissions closed for the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee inquiry into the Defence Amendment (Defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal) Bill 2025, with a report due at the end of this month. Today I call out the Albanese government's attempt to curtail the review's timeframes for the Defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal, which will potentially limit awards of honours to ADF personnel to conflicts occurring within the past 20 years.

I stand with my coalition colleagues who say there should not be a time limit for acknowledging the service of our ADF veterans and recognising the valiant services of our diggers from as far back as World War II, which should continue to be the remit of the Defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal. I take this opportunity to refer to what I consider to be the very valued opinion of O'Connor constituent retired Army General Neil McArthur 'Mac' Jensen OAM.

Mac recently stressed to me how important it is that no constraints be put on these processes, citing the recent posthumous granting of a Victoria Cross medal to Richard Norden, awarded retrospectively for his services in the Vietnam War. Norden was previously awarded a Distinguished Conduct Medal on 10 December 1968 for his valiant actions during a 14 May 1968 ambush, which saw the 19-year-old using an enemy weapon to cover his commander and retrieve the body of a fallen comrade.

Norden died in 1972. But, thanks to the dogged determination of his former officers through the Defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal, Norden was finally recommended for a Victoria Cross, which was approved by King Charles III on 1 November 2024. The Prime Minister, together with the Governor-General, Sam Mostyn, announced this posthumous award on Remembrance Day last year at the Australian War Memorial.

So it beggars belief that Mr Albanese supports this bill to curtail the activities of the tribunal in a way that would have prevented Norden's case from being reviewed and his belated award of the Victoria Cross. Mac Jensen maintains that it is important that advocacy for the recognition of bravery in historic conflicts continue and cited another example of World War II Ordinary Seaman Teddy Sheean, who, on 1 December 1942, despite being wounded, strapped himself into a gun of HMAS Armidale and fired at the enemy, distracting them from attacking his defenceless shipmates in the water.

Teddy valiantly continued to fire until his ship sank, taking him to his death. Teddy was posthumously awarded the first ever Royal Navy Victoria Cross in Australia's history in August 2020—78 years after the event. This was thanks to the uncovering of new evidence by the Defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal, together with a public campaign and the overruling of previous rejections of the recommendation to receive this honour.

As Mac says, 'Serving diggers need to know that conspicuous valour in action, and military service in general, will always be recognised.' In closing, I want to acknowledge the service of Mac himself, who received an OAM in 2022 for services to the Indigenous communities of Western Australia. As an Army officer, Mac recruited, trained and led remote Indigenous soldiers for the Australian Army in northern Australia for more than 15 years, including operational border protection tasks, when commanding Kimberley Squadron NORFORCE.

In the early 1990s the Kimberley Squadron established a new patrol at Warmun, and Mac was assigned to the task of raising the new Warmun Gija Patrol with the help of Warmun elders. Korea and Vietnam veteran and Victoria Cross recipient Keith Payne assisted Mac, and together they built a long and trusted camaraderie with the young Aboriginal men of the Warmun Gija Patrol.

Years after the Warmun Gija Patrol was disbanded, Mac and Keith advocated for the recognition of the service of the Gija Patrol members, and in 2019 nine of the Gija men were retrospectively awarded the Australian Defence Force Medal and the Australian Operational Service Medal. In return, Mac and Keith were honoured through a traditional Aboriginal ceremony recognising them as skin brothers.

Mac remains a fierce advocate for the recognition of the service of his Aboriginal soldiers and as recently as this year tracked another five of them down in a remote northern Australian community, where none of them had any idea of their entitlement to medallic recognition. Mac has since applied for their medals for services performed over 25 years ago. So I thank Mac for his ongoing advocacy on behalf of his soldiers, and I thank the men of the Gija Patrol personally for their efforts in protecting our nation.