Advocacy that made a difference
On 19 June 2025, the Senate Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee tabled its report on the Inquiry into the Defence Honours and Awards System.
You might remember we not only made a submission but appeared at the inquiry in February. We put the issue of a lack of recognition for veterans and their families wounded injured and killed in service back on the agenda. In doing so, we changed a few minds about the need for this recognition during our hearing appearance.
We are very pleased to see that we had an impact with the Committee making the following recommendation, supporting our calls for the 2021 report to just be implemented:
Recommendation 5
The committee recommends that the Australian Government considers how to implement the recommendations from the 2021 Defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal inquiry report ‘Recognising their sacrifice’ to create new forms of medallic and emblematic recognition for current and former Australian Defence Force members and their families who are injured, wounded or killed in, or as a result of, their service.
Committee acknowledges the sacrifice of ADF members and families and need for tangible recognition
In making this recommendation they commented:
It is clear to the committee that currently medallic recognition only depicts an ADF member or veteran’s service and omits the consequences they or their family have sacrificed as a result of their service. On balance, the committee is persuaded by the evidence from DHAAT and other submitters on the need to introduce a form of recognition within the Defence honours and awards system that adequately expresses the gratitude of the nation for the sacrifice that an ADF member or veteran has made through their service, or that their family has endured as a result.
The question of whether tangible recognition should be provided to current and former ADF members and their families who were wounded, injured or killed as a result of service is not new. The committee acknowledges the comprehensive and well-consulted inquiry conducted by DHAAT and lends its support to the recommendations made in DHAAT’s report, Recognising their sacrifice. The committee acknowledges that the type of injuries that should be captured within the term ‘wounded’ is a complex and sensitive issue which will require due consideration but considers that this complexity should not be used as a barrier to delay recognition for these individuals any longer.
A sincere thank you to the Committee
We couldn’t agree more with the above, sincere thank you to the committee for hearing us, hearing families and hearing these veterans.
Our voices were heard and quoted in the Final Report
We were also quoted a few times through out the report on matters of transparency in the system and the need for this recognition:
Ms Renee Wilson, Chief Executive Officer of the Families of Veterans Guild (the Guild) and wife of a veteran critically injured during the Afghanistan conflict, expressed concern with the lack of recognition for the sacrifices of ADF members and veterans:
“I don’t think this system and the way it is operating actually recognises sacrifice in a way that it ought to, in a way that it should and in a way that it does in other countries. When it comes to veterans serving in war, they are doing incredible things, so we don’t even have to worry about it, and in a lot of cases we don’t even know. The lack of that recognition in our system means that there is no conversation starter, there is no purple heart, for instance, on someone’s chest on Anzac Day that causes the conversation, ‘Hey, tell me about your service.’ Australians get to exist and live in this beautiful country and have no idea what is given and what continues to be given for that.”
