Letter to members 1 February 2002 - Vietnam Veterans Association ...

National Patron
RADM Neil Ralph AO DSC RAN
VIETNAM VETERANS ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA ®
ABN 19 068 073 450 NATIONAL COUNCIL INCORPORATED IN NSW
Web Site: http://www.vvaa.org.au
President
Secretary
Brian McKenzie OAM
Geoff Trevor-Hunt OAM
16 Elinga Street PO Box 8108
HOWRAH TAS 7018 WARNBRO WA 6169
Phone (03) 6247 7778 Phone (08) 9594 0429
Fax (03) 6247 7778 Fax (08) 9594 0429
eMail vvaanatpres@bigpond.com
eMail vvaasec@bigpond.com
1 February 2002
Dear VVAA members, partners and children
I hope that most of you would have seen recent correspondence generated from the National
Executive keeping you in touch with important issues. This has included Editorial comment and
reports from me and other members of the National Executive in Debrief. Further to that, many
emails have been distributed advising you of progress and actions taken on your behalf.
Recent misrepresentation from within the ex-service community of the roles and responsibilities of
the National Executive and National Council of the VVAA have prompted me to remind all
members, partners and children of the structure of our organisation. We all form a part of a
democratic structure, which ensures that every member may have a voice. The attached document,
which is available on our web site at http://www.vvaa.org.au/structure.htm shows the structure and
roles of the various elements of the VVAA.
I might add that because we are a democratic organisation, we represent the wishes of the majority,
not just the few. This can mean that individuals holding a specific but contrary view will have a
forum to air those views, but those views won't be acted upon unless they are able to persuade the
majority of members, in the majority of states, to that same view. That's what democracy is all
about.
The Constitution of the VVAA ensures that the membership is based upon our status as veterans, or
the next-of-kin of veterans. A veteran is one who has served in a declared war zone under military
command and come under threat from enemy action. Right now your National Executive and
Council members are concerned about threats to the autonomy and continued existence of the
Veterans' Entitlement Act, driven by those who are not veterans but who want to receive the same
benefits as veterans.
Your National Executive and National Council members will continue to fight for the retention of
benefits for veterans, and will continue to resist the watering down of the Veterans' Entitlement Act
by those who have not faced the enemy. We agree that training for war is a dangerous occupation,
but the VVAA position is that there are other means of compensating those who are injured in
training - the Military Compensation and Rehabilitation Scheme is an example. Where the MCRS is
considered to be inadequate to compensate those who are injured or killed in training, the VVAA will
fight to increase those benefits but to keep them separate from those of veterans. People who aren't
veterans shouldn't be able to piggyback off the hard work that organisations like ours have put in over
many, many years in obtaining specific benefits for veterans.
This position will probably continue to attract loud and public criticism from some non-veterans who
want to receive the same benefits as veterans by rolling the Service Pension into the Special Rate
(TPI) Pension. This action, taken to its logical conclusion, could result in the dissolution of the
Department of Veterans' Affairs and the transition of all veteran benefits to Centrelink as the delivery
agency.
HONOUR THE DEAD BUT FIGHT LIKE HELL FOR THE LIVING

• Page 2
If there were no longer to be any differentiation between veterans and the public, then there would no
longer be any justification for the differentiation between agencies. This is just another reason why
we should fight to retain unique veterans' benefits.
As your elected representatives, the members of the National Executive and National Council will
continue to represent the membership in the ways I have described until such time as you, the
members of the VVAA, express through the National Council and National Congress, a desire to
follow some other course.
You would remember the VVAA sent a letter dated 2 January 2002 to Mr John Ryan the National
President of the Australian Federation of Totally and Permanently Incapacitated Ex-servicemen and
Women Limited expressing our concerns and seeking his assistance to rectify the actions of a number
of lobby groups who appear to have clear and intrinsic links to that Federation.
You would also remember that the National President of the RSL had to take simular steps last year.
Unfortunately some individuals continue to attack other ESO's and their leadership while hiding
behind disclaimers. Despite the best efforts by these individuals to cause dissention and division
within the VVAA we remain resolute in our determination to seek justice for our entire membership
including those in receipt of Special rate payments.
Recently several documents were circulated, including one titled 'Thieves, Apologists and Radicals'.
Is that what Australians are” (copy attached ) This document advertises a forum at the Bribie Island
and attacks the RSL and VVAA for their approaches to the Special rate issue. I emailed the writer to
seek clarification on the origins of documentation and the forum. I must say I am extremely
concerned and disappointed with part of the writer's response and I quote:
'No, the Open Forum is NOT supported by the Queensland TPI Federation, but has been organised
with the full knowledge of the National Federation, and materials have been distributed with the full
knowledge & approval of the National TPI Federation in that (name withheld) (name withheld) and
many others involved in the National Federation's submission to the government are aware of it's
[sic] content and the fact that it has been distributed by myself throughout the veteran community.
(Please feel free to confirm this with (name withheld) or (name withheld). I have notified John Ryan
of this response and I am awaiting a reply.
This document contains misinformation to the effect that the VVAA and the RSL are asking for only
a $62 increase in Special Rate payments and denigrates Vietnam veterans, the VVAA and its
membership. It is becoming the norm for information to be presented out of context either to criticise
the VVAA or to boost the image of the other organisation.
Our approach has always been to identify the level of erosion, then to determine a suitable start point,
with regular indexing based on a repeatable model that will not only see payments restored but also
kept up to date. With this in mind, a Special Rate questionnaire was included in the last Debrief and
also circulated to you as a way of confirming a level of erosion of Special rate payments.
We have had an enormous response and processing of the returns is continuing. Once confirmed we
intend to use this information to further push our case to the government. There has been some
criticism of this questionnaire, and I freely admit that none of us are statisticians or pollsters – just
honest toilers trying to do the best for other veterans.

• Page 3
The National Secretary recently circulated a chart that detailed the relative differences between all
Special Rate submissions, including our own proposal, that are currently before the government.
Unfortunately the registered owner of the TPIvets Campaign website has seen fit to alter this VVAA
National Council correspondence and redistribute it. The amended chart has provided us with further
insight into the background and motives behind the current push.
What is amazing is the fact that these groups are still attempting to gain support for a submission after
it has been submitted to the government. It gives a clear insight into the history and origins and
reasons for the current lack of unity for this cause. The VVAA supports the right of any individual or
group to have their say, but it must be through the democratic process, with discussion, which
provides a good basis for reflecting the view of the majority.
As you would be aware the website owner and his cohorts have been badgering the VVAA and
attacking me personally in an attempt to undermine the authority of the National Council. It appears
we have reached an all time low within the veteran and ex-service community. I find it almost
unbelievable that any individual or organisation could initiate personal abuse, harassment,
misrepresentation and attacks on other ex-service organisations simply because those organisations
offer an alternative view based upon a democratic process. You, the members, can draw your own
conclusions.
It is very interesting that these groups choose to denigrate the only two ex-Service organisations
(RSL and VVAA) that have achieved great advances for their members. The achievements by both
organisations are notable. For the VVAA: the establishment of the VVCS; numerous Younger
Veterans Programs; Vietnam Veterans Heath and Mortality Studies; $32.3m to support the extension
of benefits for veterans, partners and children. For the RSL: Gold card; aged care issues and
rectification of anomalies within the VEA, particularly in relation to South East Asia service. Both
organisations have the runs on the board, have identified the means to deliver but are unable to do so
in this instance because of the dissention in the veteran community that appears to be fuelled by
lobby groups closely linked to the TPI Federation.
It is my view that the TPI Federation as a whole would not, if given the opportunity, endorse any
individual's unsubstantiated material, and would certainly not support incorrect and inappropriate
criticism of other ESO's. The politics generated by a very naive and vocal few are stifling progress
with the government and in effect depriving those veterans in receipt of Special Rate payments their
proper and rightful compensation.
The VVAA has been trying to get ESO's together since the middle of last year. Our representative on
the Kindred Organisation Committee, Clive Mitchell Taylor who is the Chairman, attempted to get
all ESO's together last year. The KOC has 40 ESO's as members and a perfect forum to discuss this
sort of issue. Unfortunately a major stakeholder the TPI Federation declined to participate saying they
already had come to a position. There was little point progressing without them so any further
attempts were abandoned. We can only continue to try.
In reality the three submissions (RSL, VVAA and TPI Federation) are very simular but for the large
unsubstantiated increase ($445) sought by the TPI Federation. The only difference between the RSL
and VVAA Submission is the start point or Benchmark (MTAWE vs. ACBW) in that we both have
kept our powder dry as far as the erosion level is concerned. The VVAA did this quite deliberately to
add some flexibility to 'up the anti' on a number of points when the level of erosion has been
identified.

• Page 4
For those of you who have access to the internet, I am putting a range of correspondence about this
issue on our internet site at www.vvaa.org.au/tpidocs. You can use these documents to draw your
own conclusions about the role the VVAA has taken.
As you are aware, all members of the National Executive and Council are either practicing Welfare
or Pension Officers or Advocates, and this has almost become a mandatory requirement within the
VVAA. It has evolved because of the need to keep our feet on the ground and in touch with what is
happening at the coalface. In affect, all members of our Executive at just about every level are
working as 'grass roots' members providing valuable assistance to veterans and families at sub-branch
level. This is a rare and valuable situation.
The government will be conducting an Independent Review into the Veterans Entitlement Act
shortly. The VVAA will be making a contribution to that Review and I am in the process of
gathering a National team of experts that will eventually form a working party and committee to
make a contribution on your behalf. As a part of this process each state will be requested to provide
submissions to this committee. A submission will then be put together and circulated for your input -
because that's the way the VVAA does business.
Yours Sincerely
Brian McKenzie
National President
Attachments
Appendix 1 - Structure Document
Appendix 2 - Offensive document