Where will our Government "get off"?

"Digger told to leave Australia"
By Simon Kearney
23-06-2005
From: The Australian

A VIETNAM veteran who has lived in Australia for more than 30 years is facing deportation after he was bluntly told by a junior immigration official he had no reason to stay.
Roger Harris, 60, was one of Australia's original tunnel rats and volunteered for two tours of duty with the Australian Army in Vietnam between 1965 and 1968, and attained the rank of sergeant.
He said yesterday the Department of Immigration had made him jump through hoops and then told him his application for the renewal of his residency had been cancelled because he no longer had a compelling reason to stay.
Raised in a British orphanage after World War II, and sent to Australia at the age of 16 in 1961, Mr Harris said he did not realise he wasn't an Australian citizen until 1981 when he went to apply for a passport to go to Britain.
Since then he had lived in Australia for 12 years, and then in the US where he kept, and regularly renewed, his resident return visa because he intended to settle back in Australia.
However, after he came back to Australia in April to live with his son's family and watch his grandchildren grow up, he faced a wall of resistance from an officer at the Department of Immigration.
"She said I don't see that you've got a compelling reason to be here. She said you've got no compelling reason because you've been away so long," Mr Harris said. "A week later she rang to say she was going to cancel the application. She said military service in the 60s doesn't count, it's too long ago. I just boiled."
Mr Harris was then faced with having to return to the US on July 4, when his tourist visa expired, in the midst of a reunion with his old battalion 1RAR in Sydney - or face deportation.
"I spent two years in the Outback working on farms for four quid a week, I paid my dues in the military and spent 20 years in corporate Australia. I played cricket for St George and soccer for Canterbury and Oyster Bay in the shire," he said. "I was just numb."
But while Mr Harris battles to avoid deportation, the federal Government this week granted a bridging visa to Australia's longest-serving asylum-seeker, Peter Qasim. Mr Qasim fled India in 1997 after being beaten by the government for his association with a muslim separatist group.
Brian McKenzie, national president of the Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia, called on John Howard to intervene and grant Mr Harris the visa he needs to stay.
The Department of Immigration yesterday attempted to contact Mr Harris to tell him what he needed to do to advance his application, a month after he initially applied. Federal Labor MP and Vietnam veteran Graham Edwards has asked Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone to intervene.
Just numb' ... Roger Harris says.

One day

Me infront of the Australian War Memorial, Canberra Australia

One day my life will mean more than being the "sounding board" for my vetman or family of one lost; one day my life will be more than daughter of KIA; one day I shall be seen as the woman I am today. One day.

VVCS for vetkids

For those of you not aware of the proposed legislative change (which is a Ministerial Decision and has come from a National Level) the cut-off age on kids of veterans for access to the Vietnam Veterans Counselling Service has changed. At this stage it is due to come into effect from July 2006, that kids of veterans 36 years and over will no longer be entitled to free counselling through VVCS.

This is absolutely appalling as it implies if you haven’t needed any help by then, it’s then too bad! We want you to be aware of this proposed change and encourage you to spread the word and do all you can to make the government aware that this is unacceptable. As an individual you could contact your local member of parliament or write a letter to the Minister of Veterans Affairs objecting to this proposed changed.

Please be aware that this is not a decision made by the VVCS and if you are currently 36 years and over and require counselling please contact them to make arrangements, as this change is only proposed and all counselling services are still available to children of Vietnam Veterans.

LONG TAN DAY

With Long Tan Day (Australia's Vietnam Veteran's Day) fast approaching, I wish all veteran's, their families and friends, peace of mind and ease of heart.
It's been a long road for everyone.
The following is a poem a niece of australian KIA Peter Peddingston wrote a few years back.

LONG TAN DAY

VIETNAM VETERAN'S DAY

AUGUST 18

by Wendy Stewart

We are all gathered here today,

To honour the ones who went away,

We remember those who never returned.

Their faces remain etched, forever burned

into our hearts and through our souls,

Their absence aching black holes.

We hold on tight to their pride.

Still question the reasons they died.

The pain of waiting never goes away,

Yet we shrug our shoulders and say,

"Yeah, I got over it all long ago.

I'm fine, I'm OK, didn'tchya know?"

If we can use our imnagination,

They will become our inspiration.

Their love is all around us.

Believe it and you will feel it surround us

Like the glow of a warm candle light,

In the dark of the darkest night.

Then I catch a glimpse of your mate.

You know, he still believes he came too late,

Nothing he could do but hold you.

He didn't wanna lie as he told you,

"Just hang on mate and you'll be OK."

He stayed 'til "Dust Off" took you away.

I can see a tear in his eye,

But he still denies the need to cry.

So for him I say a silent prayer,

For someone always to be there.

To help calm those old fears,

To encourage neglected tears.

When harrowing memories of yesterday,

Visions of mates, "gooks" the the "J",

come to haunt in the silence of night,

God, give him the strength to fight.

For the worst battle is within him.

Please grant him the courage to win.

Because if he doesn't ... I fear

He won't be here with us next year.

So many of his mates have died,

some poisoned, far too many by suicide.

Yeah ... He always dreams of Vietnam.

Still reckons no-one gives a damn.

He's wrong. Family and mates do,

We love and respect him, it's true,

He's our hero, our mate, our lover.

But he can never forget his lost brother.

Because their spirit still burns bright,

In the hearts of those they loved tonight.

They will become our inspiration,

If we just use our imagination.

Believe their love is all around us,

Geel it as it surrounds us,

Like the glow of a warm candlelight,

In the dark of the darkest night.

Many memories, yet little to say

To each other on our Memorial Day