STATEMENTS BY SENATORS

Senator DAVID POCOCK (Australian Capital Territory—Independent ACT Whip) (13:51): Yesterday, I joined Vietnam veterans and their families and the Governor-General at the Vietnam Forces National Memorial on Anzac Parade and stood alongside Senator Paterson, Minister Keogh and many others to mark Vietnam Veterans' Day. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan.

On 18 August 1966, 108 men of D Company, 6RAR with the New Zealand Artillery party walked into a force estimated at more than 2,000. They were outnumbered roughly 10 to one. Eighteen Australians were killed, and 24 were wounded—more than a third of the company.

Many of them were conscripts. Most were barely out of their teens. Nearly 60,000 Australians served in Vietnam.

More than 3,000 were wounded, and 523 Australians never came home. When they did return home, they were treated badly. There was a legitimate argument over the war, but it was deeply unfair for Aussie soldiers to suffer as a result of disagreements in the community.

This should be made clear to those still with us, their families and their loved ones. Here in the ACT, our Vietnam veterans have spent the 60 years since building this community in the RSL sub-branches and the Vietnam Veterans Association. They fought for recognition of Agent Orange and of post-traumatic stress.

Every veteran who has served since then has benefited from their fight. We owe today's veterans and serving members what we were too slow in providing to Vietnam vets—care that arrives without a fight and a country that says, 'Thank you for your service, and we will look after you and your families.'