COMMENTARY
VETERANS’ AFFAIRS
LOOKING AFTER OUR DIGGERS, OLD AND YOUNG By the Hon Andrew Gee MP, Minister for Defence Personnel & Veterans’ Affairs, Australian Government
From Esperance to Albany, Carnarvon to Kununurra, along the Wheatbelt, and across the outback, the Australian Government supports 33,000 veterans and their families who call Western Australia home. The peace and freedom that we wake up to every day was fought for and secured by generations of diggers from the Wildflower State. Whenever tyranny threatened to take hold, no matter how many oceans away, service men and women from WA heeded the call for help and marched into history.
Chief of Staff 1st Division Colonel James Hunter (right) briefs the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Defence Personnel the Honourable Andrew Gee MP, (centre) at Headquarters 1st Division at Lavarack Barracks in Townsville, Queensland, during Exercise Talisman Sabre 2021. © Department of Defence. Photographer: Lauren Larking.
WEST AUSTRALIAN HEROES Some of their names are well known to us. Others less so, like BRIG Arnold Potts, a farmer from Kojonup, who was the architect of the fighting withdrawal that was to save our forces and ultimately defeat the Japanese at Kokoda. The land is still dotted with the reminders of war, from old pillboxes, to refuelling stations and landing strips. Stories of loss and valour, like that of the 10th Light Horse Regiment in the World War I, are still proudly told around dinner tables, campfires, and local watering holes. Legends like that of LT Hugo Throssell, a West Australian farmer, whose valorous deeds on Hill 60 in the Gallipoli Peninsula earned him WA’s first Victoria Cross – the only one awarded to an Australian light horseman. Despite being one of the state’s greatest
heroes, Throssell struggled to step back into civilian life after returning to his farm in the Wheatbelt region and committed suicide in 1933. More than a century on, we are still learning that our heroes, who willingly sacrifice so much for our nation in times of both war and peace, are only human. For some, the burden is, tragically, too great.
VETERANS MUST BE A PRIORITY This is the unseen tragedy of war and service, and one we must find solutions to. To this end, the Australian Government has established a Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. This will be a chance for veterans and their families to tell their stories and share their views on how we can improve the treatment and care of veterans and their families both now, and for future generations. In my first few weeks as Minister, I met with as EDITION 4 • 2021-22
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