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News from Australia: Up from Down Under

By VVAW

A Senate Inquiry into the effects of Agent Orange and particularly how it effects Australian Vietnam vet was held on the 8th and 9th of December. Vets there hope the hearing will be a step toward a Judicial inquiry that they have been asking for for the past three years.

The Australian program to open Vet Outreach Centers in that country (similar to the Operation Outreach Program in the U.S.) has yet to open one center. The government has targeted one center in each of the Australian State capitals. Members of the Victoria chapter of the Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia (VVAA) met with General Morrison who is in charge of opening the vet's centers across Australia.

According to the General, the program is having difficulty finding qualified people to staff the centers. Members of VVAA expressed no surprise at this since the most qualified people—Vietnam vets—are having serious medical problems which hamper their ability to work.

While vets in Australia are upset by the Vet's Centers still not opening and what appears to be governmental stalling on the issue, they also want to be sure that the program is set up correctly; if the vet's centers bomb, vets know that nothing will be set up in the future for Australian vets. In the words of one vet, "If the veterans here smell a fish, if the centers are not set up in an informal manner to serve the vets, if it is to be nothing more than a public relations exercise on the part of the (government's) Veterans Affairs, I believe the guys will burn the bloody things down."

Of the 41,000 Australian veterans who served in Vietnam, 18,000 have applied for pensions (disability benefits). Of these 18,000 6,000 have been accepted. VVAA spokesmen expressed shock that so few have been accepted, knowing that the 2,449 who were wounded in Vietnam automatically get benefits. Confronting VA representatives, VVAA spokesmen stated that the government should recontact those 12,000 they "knocked back," and re-evaluate them immediately. The VA agreed, knowing that, in all probability, they will be unable to locate many of these people. A 100% disability in Australia pays in the vicinity of $45 (Australian) per week!

Australian vets who are active in the battle around Agent Orange have been experiencing harassment in the form of phone taps lately. Vets there think that they are being targeted because of their determination to set the issue of Agent Orange straight. While individuals have been bothered slightly, vets feel that vets organizations such as VVAA are the main target. Some months ago Australian vets stated they had evidence that the major portion of U.S. intelligence activity in Australia has been aimed at Vietnam vets there who are Agent Orange activists.