Introduction
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This submission seeks to determine our claim that RCB service was warlike and
therefore its company members are eligible for the AASM and for qualifying
service for VEA entitlements.
It is an addendum to Reference 2. It specifically addresses:
1. Reference 5. The three conditions required of the The Repatriation
(Special Overseas) Act 1962 within the strategic environment existing in
South East Asia (SEA) at the time and Australia’s involvement in it and
2. References 4 and 5 matters relating to its comments and rejection
reasons.
We assert that the RCB was a strategic deployment by the Australian
government under its Five Power Defence Arrangement (FPDA) to
protect/defend the Australian assets at the RAAF Base Butterworth (which
included the FPDA’s HQ of the Integrated Air Defence System (IADS)) and was a
strategic ready-reaction force on call for deployment by the Australian
Government as required.
We contend that the RCB’s deployment was covered by The Repatriation
(Special Overseas) Act 1962 because it was a deployment for a specific strategic
role related to the FPDA. This involved a specific allotment for duty requiring it to
defend the Air Base within a country that was at ‘declared war’ with internal
insurgents supported by external communist countries, and where the Base was
being used by the Malaysian Armed Forces (air and ground forces) for offensive
operations against its enemy.
We believe that the RCB’s deployment must be considered within the context
and perspective of: strategic events within the South East Asian (SEA) regional
area, the existing security threats and consequent political and policy decisions
made by the Australian Government at that time.
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