General News
10 December, 2025
Nasho calls for veteran recognition
THE dedicated south west Victorians leading the push for national servicemen to earn recognition have celebrated a win, but warn more is needed to support the aging veterans who served their country.
Members behind the group Nasho Fair Go, which lobbies for recognition and medical support for those conscripted to national service after 1965, are calling on veterans to apply for an Australian Defence Medal (ADM) after a landmark ruling.
Earlier in the year the Defence Honours and Awards Appeal Tribunal overturned previous decisions veteran Jeff Rickerby not be recommended for the ADM, which is awarded to Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel who completed an initial enlistment period or served for four years.
The victory has prompted the members to call for any veterans who did not receive an ADM to apply.
The Nasho Fair Go initiative is led by south west exports including president Geoff Parkes from Naroghid, vice president Ross Murrihy from Camperdown and Queensland organiser Graham Parlour from Cobden.
Mr Parkes said the ruling should be viewed as a catalyst for other veterans who did not receive an ADM to make an application.
“Jeff Rickerby is not a man to be pushed around and appealed the fact he couldn’t get his ADM on the grounds that Prime Minister Gough Whitlam did not have the authority to discharge men,” he said.
“Rickerby won it. It was designated in the decision that he was on-leave without pay, from the time he shot through to his designated date of when he would have been discharged.
“Therefore, he was entitled to the ADM, which he has now got.”
Mr Parkes said the Whitlam government had vowed to withdraw troops from the Vietnam War if elected, and immediately after victory began offering troops the opportunity to continue their enlistment, transfer or take an early discharge.
“The communication between the Army and national servicemen at the time was not all that great,” he said.
“Things were in chaos so a lot of guys took him at his word and shot through, but in doing so they cut themselves off from three major benefits – one was, if you finished a full 18-month engagement, you qualified for a defence housing loan and subsequently qualified for an ADM.”
Mr Parkes said those who accepted the discharge were given the option to apply for two years leave without pay on grounds of exceptional hardship, as the legislative framework was not in place for fairer forms of discharge – which, for many, saw them formally discharged before the two-year period concluded and shorted their length of service below the criteria for the ADM.
“The blokes who got out and just left do not qualify for those things and they did not qualify for an honourable discharge,” he said.
“Whitlam had actually acted without authority – what they used was part of the national service act which allowed them to discharge men on the ground of exceptional hardship.”
Mr Parkes said the discharge had further reaching impacts on veterans, such as complicating their future employment due to a negative perception surrounding discharge on the grounds of exceptional hardship.
“It was put there because some people might have been called up and their family circumstances changed dramatically for the worse such as through the death of a breadwinner,” he said.
“The national servicemen could be discharged under those circumstances.
“But it was important for blokes to be discharged honourably, to show to their employers, but there was a stamp which said they were being discharged on the grounds of exceptional hardship.
“In those days, it gave the impression their family was impoverished and clawed into these men.”
Mr Parkes said he encouraged all Nasho Fair Go members to apply for the ADM if they had not received theirs, and vowed to continue to fight for fairer outcomes for the tens of thousands of national servicemen.
“We’ve also been in negotiations to issue new discharge certificates,” he said.
“If they were not discharged on the grounds of exceptional hardship, but defence tells us they do not issue discharge certificates.
“We haven’t got too far but we’re waiting for more advice.
“We’re told they may issue a certificate of appreciation – which sounds like something a footy club gives the local butcher when he gives them a few kilos of snags.
“It’s not the same thing, not the same issue.
“We’ve said we would compromise for a certificate of service.”