Here we are working to give you the overview, the big picture, so that we Australians can help our veteran care system be more effective, help it to meet both existing and evolving needs on this major issue – veteran sanctuary.

We Australians are of myriad ancestry – Aboriginal, English, Irish, Scots, African, Chinese, Greek, Italian, Indian, Yugoslavian and so on. Regardless of our birthplace, culture, creed or colour, we are united by our Australian citizenship. Every one of our Australian service personnel is a soldier in the ongoing battle for freedom and peace in our world. Any Australian service man or woman who has trained for, or seen active service in a theatre of war, hazardous duty, peacekeeping or civil support role, may be a casualty of that service.

There are many veteran sites that will give you the harsh reality of what our vets have endured for us.  Sites that also graphically illustrate the fact that for over half a century these loyal Australians have been used as pawns in the political power game - vilified, ignored, ostracised, occasionally lionised - whenever it is politically expedient.  In recent times, help for the veterans has been given seemingly only when there is political gain.  It is patently clear that our veteran care system must evolve in order to more fully meet the needs of today’s veterans.

The politics behind all conflicts must always be kept aside from the reality that all our servicemen and women simply do the job that our Australian Government orders them to do. This is where we as a nation have come un-stuck in looking after our veterans.

Way back in the 1940’s was where the political rot set in for our veteran care system.  The world had changed enormously over the previous 50 years. Australia had reached the puberty of its self-government and we were more aware of the multitudinous layers of this onion called democracy. Intending to do right, the political pendulum swung to exactitude. But there were unforseen flow-on effects from this. Suddenly Aussie soldiers were no longer judged on their proven ability to do an outstanding job on the battlefield, never letting their mates down, never letting Australia down. Suddenly, it was all about politics. 

Our BCOF veterans were the first to receive the brunt of the political power-game.  The bureaucrats decided that we weren't at war when BCOF were there, so they weren’t war veterans. Official dates for cessation of hostilities had no correlation to the reality of their service. BCOF suffered the side-effects of chemicals, like so many other Aussie soldiers - and of radiation. Some had both experience and threat of hostile situations. BCOF were out in the wilderness for so long that when, in 1997, our government eventually decided that they had actually earnt a medal, countless numbers were dead. Many others still haven’t collected their medals - they are too angry at our Government’s rejection of them and their dead mates.  It wasn't until December 1998 that there was even a memorial erected for them - that’s over half a century since they were doing their job for Australia.

Then we have the Australian servicemen who were used as nuclear exposure guinea pigs, who are still fighting for recognition of the damage done to them due to their service to Australia during the British atomic/nuclear tests at Maralinga and Emu in South Australia, and in the Monte Bello Islands off the Western Australian coast.

Indonesia, Korea, Malaya and Borneo veterans, the first of our on-going UN & Multinational missions, have been largely overlooked. Initially rejected by the RSL, their service negated by civilians who believed that as a United Nations ‘police action’ they did not experience ‘war-like service’, they were more invisibile to Australia than our BCOF and Vietnam veterans as their conflicts were less politically inflammatory, their numbers smaller and easier to ignore. This did not make their service less real, does not take away their myriad on-going health problems, does not give them that elusive acknowlegement from their country.

By the 1960’s the pendulum had swung again. Australians were openly embracing their democratic freedoms - unafraid to tell our government what they wanted – unafraid to disagree, regardless of penalties. Our Vietnam veterans suffered enormously from the political decisions of the day. They were doing their job – sure, a very different job to their fellow public servants – but none-the-less, their job as Australian Government employees. They had to do it and so they did, to the utmost of their ability and then some. In return, they were blamed for the political decisions of the day. They were rejected by the RSL, subjected to vilification by both their families and the moratorium movement, spat upon by those who couldn’t spit at the government - the true perpetrator of the problem. Same War Different Battlefield

Just as with our BCOF veterans, when our Vietnam veterans’ health started failing as a result of their service they were subjected to rejection and negative innuendo. The government of the day (again intending to do right) wasted millions of our taxpayer dollars on the Evatt Royal Commission - which has since been repeatedly debunked by the many revelations of the titanic extent of the damage caused by chemical companies such as Dow and Monsanto. Revelations confirming the fact that yet again our service personnel had been inadvertently poisoned in the line of duty.

Some of our service personnel in both the Gulf War and the Balkans were also exposed to depleted uranium munitions and ‘protective’ injections. Official debate continues as to the cause of “Gulf War sickness”. These people were incredibly fit and healthy before their active service, and now some are very definitely not their former selves. Their battle for acknowledgement and health care continues today.

Now, in 2004, our world has changed even more. Our troops in the UN & Multinational missions have now served in 56 different countries. In each of these crises we have seen again the irrelevance of paper dates to the reality of the on-going battle for freedom and peace. Our peacekeeping forces are often trapped by politics and at times subjected to war-like duty, as with our forces in Somalia.

Again we have seen the hazards involved with chemical warfare, and have seen how, when we try to prevent a wartime death by giving a new vaccination, we can inadvertently condemn our service personnel to horrendous lifetime health issues. Crew members from HMAS Kanimbla, HMAS Anzac and HMAS Darwin dared to exercise their democratic right to speak out, dared to reject the anthrax vaccination. Already there are medical reports that support their stance – but what did they get for it? Vilification, denigration, rejection, slurs. Because they dared to think for themselves, dared to be free Australians.

Today we know that “war veteran” is not a neat little category. Today we as a nation have the wisdom to recognise that some of our war veterans may never even have left our shores.

Some are veterans who have seen active service right here at home, as with our Torres Strait Islands diggers, who waited 58 years for government recognition of their loyal protection of Australia’s frontline in WW2.

Some of our war veterans today are casualties of their training to protect humanity’s right to freedom and self-determination. As with the crews from HMAS Voyager and HMAS Melbourne, still battling for health care 40 years after the accident l ,the victims of the HMAS Westralia engine room fire in 1998, and our recent Blackhawk crew, injured while training in February 2004, to name just three examples.

Some of our war veterans are those who prevent bomb and terrorist threats from becoming tragic reality here at home. They act in a fully operational role, in Specialist Operation Groups, in aid of the civil powers. All of these people help us sleep easy at night. Because of them, there are fewer calls in the middle of the night to tell us we have had a loved one ripped away from us.

So many veterans have said 'Australia doesn't care.  The politicians wish we were dead.  Then a memorial could be built and it would all go away.'  By now mankind should be wiser, able to live in peace and harmony.  But this world is still struggling towards that. 

That's why we need our service-people.  That's why we need to honour them.  They - far more than any politician - know the true price of peace.  We, Australia, must remember that, must stay aware of that stark reality.

In many ways Australia is a world leader in caring for her war veterans. Here, now, we have the opportunity to lead the world again – to show them that our veterans, our warriors for peace, have earnt the right to a little peace of their own, before they go to their graves. Here, now, we have the opportunity to thank them in a truly meaningful way for their service.

Since 1999 a group of Aussie war veterans have been battling the Queensland Government for their right to sanctuary in Pandanus Park, Cape York. Pandanus Park has the most amazing effect. One sees people transform from dejected, wary recluses to relaxed, communicative participants, smiling and standing tall as they interact with their peers, sharing truths from the heart, tales of wounds that are still raw decades after they were inflicted.  These war veterans have found somewhere safe, away from a world that still rejects them even while building memorials to their dead comrades. The living know just how valuable remote retreat is for many veterans. That is why they continue fighting for the establishment of permanent government granted retreats in all our states and territories. 
 
But our veterans are getting absolutely nowhere, as the relevant politicians fob them off with paperwork and legalese, rather than being resolution-oriented. Most don’t even bother to reply to the veterans’ emails and letters. Some politicians have been very supportive, but they don't have the final say and it doesn't matter how 'sympathetic to their cause' the others are, they still aren't producing results.

We were reminded of the Queensland Government’s agenda for this particular block of land in September 2003, when the Minister for Natural Resources Stephen Robertson wrote to Anita Phillips MP "...it is the intent of the Government to allocate the land to conservation and indigenous interests....". This has since been reinforced by the handover of a significant portion of the surrounding Lakefield National Park (specifically the Bizant sector) to private Aboriginal ownership in late 2003.

The bigger picture here is that in 1996 a heads of agreement was signed between the Cape York Land council and other peak Aboriginal groups, the Cattlemen’s Union of Australia, and conservationists. In the 21 clause deal, pastoralists recognised the continuing rights of traditional owners to access land for hunting, camping and traditional ceremonies. For their part, Aborigines affirmed that pastoralists were significant landholders who had existing legal rights. All parties acknowledged there were areas of significant conservation value. The Cape York Peninsula Land Use Strategy espouses the vision that by 2010 “… all residents will have a deeply held respect for each others’ values …” and that Cape York Peninsula will have retained the qualities that “…make it a special part of Australia.” (The Weekend Australian, 10 June 2000)

The indigenous and non-indigenous people who created Pandanus Park respected that our Australian war veterans have their own cultural link to the Green Ant Block through the WW1 soldier settlement; acknowledged that they are long-time environmentalists, utilising it for camping and traditional remembrance ceremonies; recognised that for our veterans it is a “special part of Australia”. They understood that our veterans respect the values of their Aboriginal neighbours and reciprocated with respect for Australian war veterans’ rights to Pandanus Park.
 
The Pandanus Park war veterans have the backing of the TRUE elders of this area, who know that Pandanus Park is a special healing place for our veterans.  The spiritual leader of the Aboriginals in that area remarked, " It is good you old fellas sit down here now. No more fight.  You sit and have peace."  If regular Aussies can see that, why can’t our government?
 
The alternative retreat sites offered by the Queensland Government have been so unsuitable as to be an insult to today’s diggers. Neither site even had water. And the government has still missed the crucial point – the Green Ant Block on Kalpowar Station - Pandanus Park - does something more for these veterans than all the other camps they’ve explored over the decades. Pandanus does the job. Why change something that works so well?

With all the political prevarication, it’s just as well that those regular Aussies decided to do something while the vets are still alive to benefit from it. Together, the Kalpowar Aboriginal residents and these war veteran campers established Pandanus Park. Thanks to their combined wisdom, Pandanus Park has positively impacted many lives - vets from World War 2 through to those from East Timor, flowing right on through their families and the wider community.
 
So when we returned home from the 2003 Pandanus Pilgrimage I researched extensively, seeking arguments for and against the concept of war veteran retreats. What I found was extensive medical and DVA policy support for the things that one gains in these places - positive coping actions like spending time in nature, accessing support groups, speaking with other trauma survivors, exercising, volunteering in the community - just to name a few. All these things are embodied in Pandanus Park and our less remote private retreats.

The research on the benefits of retreat and where it fits into DVA and Repatriation Commission policy have already gone to many Queensland and Federal politicians via the Pandanus Pilgrimage cd. Many other politicians have received them by email. The number of real replies received (ONE – from our Governor General) proves once again: it is up to us ‘grass roots’ Australians to help our government stay on track.

Ask our politicians - What are they doing to help our vets? Why not give our veterans their sanctuary? Why do they find it so hard to respect our veterans’ right to peace in a place that helps so many of them?

Our veterans also need for this issue to be given public display and airing in the print and electronic media: articles mentioning war veteran retreats (and this website), interviews on radio and TV - especially by anyone who has been up to Pandanus Park or anyone who has seen the end-result of a veteran’s retreat to Pandanus Park.

To quote Australia's Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Mrs Danna Vale ( 3 February 2004) 
"Australia owes a debt of gratitude to its veterans and service personnel for their service and sacrifice in times of war and conflict and their continuing contribution to our community....By providing increased services and facilities for the veteran community, the benefits also flow on to the wider community."

A beautiful sentiment, but it has yet to be fully realized. Much has been done. As with many things, there is still more to do.

Memorials are a fitting tribute to the dead. 

Australian National War Veteran Retreats are a fitting tribute to the living.