Rifle Company Butterworth veterans say Australian government is refusing to recognise their service

Graeme Mickelberg was a platoon commander in 1975 when he was deployed to protect Australia’s Butterworth air base in Malaysia.

The veteran, who lives on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, vividly remembers the tension at the time.

“There were attacks going on all around that part of Malaysia,” Mr Mickelberg said.

“There were police being killed by the terrorists. There was a curfew in place for the Malaysian citizens.

“The base had been assessed by the Australian intelligence community as a potential target; that was the reason why Rifle Company Butterworth (RCB) was deployed in the first place.”

About 9,000 Australian troops were deployed, typically on a three-month rotation, between 1970 and 1989 during a communist insurgency which became known as the Second Malayan Emergency.

Between 1948 and 1960, during the initial crisis, 15 Australians died fighting, and 24 more were killed on active service.

But the Australian Defence Force (ADF) had steadfastly maintained RCB’s service during the second insurgency was “peacetime” in nature.

“Everyone was trained in counter-insurgency warfare, the same sort of warfare that was conducted in Vietnam,” Mr Mickelberg said.

“We deployed with our weapons, we were issued live ammunition, we had orders that permitted us to use lethal force if the base was attacked.

Fight for recognition

Stan Hannaford served as a machine gunner in Butterworth during the Second Malayan Emergency.

He said then-prime minister Gough Whitlam framed the deployment of Australian infantry as routine training.

“They [Malaysian forces] were fighting a war; they never had time to train with us,” Mr Hannaford said.

“Whitlam won the election by bringing the troops back from South Vietnam, pulling them out of South-East Asia and abolishing national service.

Just as Mr Whitlam urged supporters to “maintain your rage” during his famous dismissal speech in 1975, so too have RCB veterans.

Mr Hannaford has been part of the group pushing to have their deployment and its risks recognised as warlike service since the early 90s.

In 2023, an inquiry by the Defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal concluded deployments between 1970 and 1989 were neither “peacetime” nor “warlike”, but were “non-warlike”.

The findings meant the veterans did not meet the requirements for the Australian Active Service Medal but were entitled, under the Veterans’ Entitlements Act, to receive more beneficial claims.

Battle won, but war continues

Despite the tribunal’s findings, the veterans are still waiting for action.

Mark Butler was a section commander of the Quick Reaction Force in Butterworth between 1977 and 1978.

“When we returned, there was no acknowledgement. It was specifically stated there was to be no publicity,” Mr Butler said.

“Then as later deployments occurred, towards the 1990s and 2000s, you began to understand a lot of it was no different to what we’d gone through and we had absolutely nothing to recognise our service.”

He said the process had been extremely frustrating.

“People have had that [tribunal] recommendation for around three years, and they are still sitting on their hands about it, which is not helping anyone,” Mr Butler said.

Mr Hannaford added that many of the RCB veterans had already died waiting.

“Our statement on our protest banners is, ‘Delay, deny until we all die.’ In the end, there’ll be no-one left,” he said.

A ‘moral responsibility’

LNP senator James McGrath helped push for the tribunal and said it was “shameful” that the federal government had not yet acted.

“These men put their lives on the line so the rest of us can have a pretty good life, thank you very much, and yet the government then treats them so poorly,” he said.

In a National Press Club address last December, Veterans’ Affairs Minister Matt Keogh promised he would consign the “delay, deny, die” phrase to the “dustbin of history” when it came to support services.

Late last month, he announced equal access to health benefits for “Nashos”, a group of Australian soldiers conscripted during the Vietnam War.

The ABC requested an interview with Mr Keogh, who declined, but his office provided a written statement.

“The government recognises the significant contributions and sacrifices made by Rifle Company Butterworth veterans and their families,” a spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said the minister received two further submissions from RCB veterans’ groups after the inquiry and the government was “carefully considering the matter”.

“The primary recommendations of the tribunal’s report and further issues raised by veteran advocates impact on a considerable number of veterans and different government departments,” the spokesperson said.

“As such, the recommendations are being considered through whole-of-government processes.”

Mr Mickelberg said Mr Keogh had a “moral responsibility to act”.

“If he thinks we’re going to give up, then he’s wrong,” Mr Mickelberg said.