Defence support ‘warts and all’

I am writing to you specifically in relation to the articles written by Nick Papps in the Herald Sun (29/07/03 and 30/07/03) supposedly relating to alcohol abuse, amongst other things, onboard HMAS Darwin.

I, along with thousands of Victorians, saw the banner headline on the front cover of Tuesday’s paper, and thought “here we go again”. Another effort by an insignificant story teller trying to make a name for himself, and slagging off at our uniformed Defence personnel, specifically the crew of HMAS Darwin, but also Defence members in general.

I was prompted to remember how proud the Herald Sun were of our boys and girls as they launched into peace keeping operations in East Timor, the blanket coverage of troops in Afghanistan, the support to Op Bali Assist and the slogan on the front page of every paper claiming that they were “Supporting our Troops” when they deployed to the Middle East.

Then I looked at the front page of the paper again, slamming the behaviour of the ships company of Darwin.
What the article failed to address was the continuous, back to back operations that the RAN, together with the
other two arms of our ADF, have been subjected to over a considerable period of time.

Action against the brutalisation of the people of East Timor, continued operation against unauthoised boat arrivals and the continued operations in the war against terrorism have contributed to exceedingly long deployments for a lot of our Defence members.

I would suggest that the longest deployment Nick Papps has had to undergo has been a news-sponsored overnighter at a 5 star hotel in Sydney or Brisbane. When did he serve in the Defence Force? Was he embedded with our troops in the Middle East? Has he ever been on a six month deployment, accommodated in cramped, uncomfortable conditions? And whoever said that ADF members must maintain a higher standard of behaviour than other groups within the community?

If Nick Papps and some of his collegues were prepared to lift their own standards, then maybe they would be in a position to offer criticism. Until then, I will continue to support our troops, warts and all.

Bruce Gilmour
submitted by email

Custody issues

I am writing in the hope that you will be able to feature a letter, or small article, regarding the ‘Inquiry into child custody arrangements in the event of family separation’ to be conducted by the recently announced Standing Committee on Family and Community Affairs.

For anyone who has dealings with an ex-spouse, child access and the child support agency and feels that they are not getting a fair deal, I would urge them to make a submission to the Committee about their circumstances.
The Terms of Reference can be viewed via a link on the Child Support Agency website (www.csa.gov.au), that will take you to a Parliament House page.

There is some urgency to this as submissions are due early August. Defence personnel have real issues that must be considered by this inquiry. For example, access to children and how that will impact on child support paid.

Why should defence personnel pay more because they see their children less as a result of service needs?

If you feel strongly about your situation and wish to have your say - now is the time. But please, keep emotion out of it unless it directly supports a point you are trying to make. The last thing the Committee needs is an avalanche of ‘poor me’ stories.

If you have any difficulties viewing the page via the CSA link, then please feel free to email me at llanwarne80@hotmail.com and I will forward the information to you.

Anna Llanwarne
CAPT, RMC-A

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