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Up From Down Under: News From Australia

By VVAW

Vietnam vets have won a worldwide breakthrough with a ruling that a veteran is entitled to compensation because of exposure to defoliants during his war service.

In a landmark ruling, the Australian repatriation service granted a war widow's pension to Mrs Lorraine Simpson whose husband died of malignant lymphoma last year, The decision was important because it:

• Conceded a claim on grounds of exposure to toxic chemicals.
• Is based, in part on evidence which the federal government has refused to release because "it would represent a biased view to the community."
• Concluded that veterans would be affected even without direct exposure to chemicals because of water and food contamination from spraying.
• Implicated other chemicals as well as Agent Orange.

The National President of the Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia, "The decision marked the first time a government has taken liability for a direct link between chemicals and the death of a serviceman."

Mr Peter Morgan, New South Wales Branch President of VVAA says, "The ruling cleared the way for claims by 1,200 other Vietnam veterans who died also put in claims as a result of illness allegedly caused by use of chemicals in Vietnam."

Vets Centers

After nearly two years of stalling on the part of the Australian Veterans' Affairs Department, the first Vietnam veterans counseling service center opened in late January in Adelaide, Australia, with a number of others following thereafter.

The major stumbling block was the VA's unwillingness to work with or accept the assistance of the VVAA, the organization representing Aussie Vietnam vets and their problems concerning defoliant poisoning and delayed stress.

After the Government refused to fund the VVAA, a compromise was reached modeling the Aussie centers after the U.S. "Operation Outreach" centers in the U.S., creating a less "bureaucratic and stuffy" air about the centers.