Page 2961 - Week 08 - Thursday, 17 August 2017
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Many of us who were here for the speech were aware of the issue, but there were some untruths that were spoken—that men are expected to urinate on Aboriginals. Having said what was not true, Ms Cody then said:
The Sussex Inlet RSL are a disgrace. They are a disgrace to themselves, a disgrace to the veterans they claim to represent and a disgrace to Australia.
She also said that they are “people who either are or stand by racists”.
Ms Cody then went on to say that the RSL more broadly had a disgraceful history. Against the backdrop of what I just talked about with HMAS Canberra and Vietnam veterans, you can see how Ms Cody’s speech and those words, which have been very well publicised—I was unaware of them until they got blasted out on the front page of the Canberra Times and she spoke to the media about it—have resonated very negatively with a lot of people.
There will be Vietnam veterans out there tomorrow who have suffered greatly, who expect their government to support them, to stand by them, and then they read comments like this and note the failure of the minister or the Chief Minister to say, “That was wrong, and unequivocally I apologise and condemn those comments.” We could deal with it; we could resolve this issue, because it lingers. We have apologies, such as to the stolen generations, because they are an important part of healing wounds. There has been a grievous wound caused by Ms Cody to many hundreds of veterans across this town that remains unresolved.
One issue in particular that came out of estimates was when we looked at what programs were being run by the government that are specifically aimed at supporting veterans. I do not know whether the minister will give a tacit acknowledgement, but I think that when that line of questioning came up in estimates the response was inadequate. I asked questions about programs for veterans and we were told about the model railway club and other initiatives. It seemed that there were no specific initiatives aimed at supporting veterans.
I note that in the last sitting there was a question without notice, a Dorothy Dixer, so I imagine that the minister was equally disappointed with the response from some of the officials. I note that he has provided further information. I think it is important that we have specific initiatives aimed at veterans. I encourage the government to pursue that. These initiatives need to be mindful of the unique nature of military service. Just saying, holus-bolus, “You can go along to the model railway club,” is not an adequate response.
I am encouraged by some of the minister’s words—what he said in his speech. I hope that is the way this is progressing; if that is the case, that is good. This is an area that has always been—I would not seek for it to be otherwise—bipartisan. That has always been the case in this place, except for Ms Cody’s intervention. If it were not for that then I would spend more time congratulating the government on taking up some of these initiatives. I wish that we could put that issue behind us, but it will not be put behind us until the minister or the Chief Minister acts on that. I know that there
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