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Anniversary is opportunity for us to reflect on the mental health effects of war, Keogh says
The veteran affairs minister, Matt Keogh, says the 50th anniversary of the end of Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War is “an opportunity for Australians to reflect”.
The 3,000 Australians injured and the 523 that lost their lives serving our nation … were part of the 60,000 Australians that were involved in the Vietnam war effort from Australia.
It’s really our Vietnam veteran cohort that led us to really understand the impact of war from a mental health point of view and to understand things like PTSD … what we’ve learned from that cohort has allowed us to be in a much better position to support our contemporary veterans as well.
I don’t think it’s useful to reflect on if Australia should have been involved or not involved in those conflicts. What’s important is to think about the sacrifice of the individuals and their families from their involvement.
When it came to Vietnam, we had national service involved in that time, we had conscription. That led to some massive protests across Australia and a lot of negative views from Australians about that conflict. What is important … is to think about how that reflected on those individuals and there’s an opportunity in this 50th anniversary year … to be very clear in communicating to our veterans that their service is respected, and honoured, and that we thank them for that service and the sacrifice that they made and the sacrifice their families made by putting on the Australian uniform with the Australian flag and serving their nation and we thank them for that service.
Continue reading…Climate change and energy minister asked how government justified subsidising big business to make net zero transition. Follow the day’s news liveGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastAnniversary is opportunity for us to reflect on the mental health effects of war, Keogh saysThe veteran affairs minister, Matt Keogh, says the 50th anniversary of the end of Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War is “an opportunity for Australians to reflect”.The 3,000 Australians injured and the 523 that lost their lives serving our nation … were part of the 60,000 Australians that were involved in the Vietnam war effort from Australia.It’s really our Vietnam veteran cohort that led us to really understand the impact of war from a mental health point of view and to understand things like PTSD … what we’ve learned from that cohort has allowed us to be in a much better position to support our contemporary veterans as well.I don’t think it’s useful to reflect on if Australia should have been involved or not involved in those conflicts. What’s important is to think about the sacrifice of the individuals and their families from their involvement.When it came to Vietnam, we had national service involved in that time, we had conscription. That led to some massive protests across Australia and a lot of negative views from Australians about that conflict. What is important … is to think about how that reflected on those individuals and there’s an opportunity in this 50th anniversary year … to be very clear in communicating to our veterans that their service is respected, and honoured, and that we thank them for that service and the sacrifice that they made and the sacrifice their families made by putting on the Australian uniform with the Australian flag and serving their nation and we thank them for that service. Continue reading…