First published in the Sydney Morning Herald on August 23, 1985
"The Royal Commissioner, Justice Evatt, laid the blame
for the veterans' problems on the normal response to war - acute stress."
CANBERRA: The Agent Orange Royal Commission has made a clear
finding there is no link between chemical defoliants sprayed over Vietnam and
the health problems suffered by veterans of the war.
In a nine-volume 3,000-page report tabled in Federal
Parliament yesterday, the Royal Commissioner, Justice Evatt, laid the blame for
the veterans' problems on the normal response to war - acute stress. The
Commission on the Use and Effects of Chemical Agents on Australian Personnel in
Vietnam, to give it its full title, was set up soon after the Hawke Government
was elected.
The Veterans Affairs Minister, Senator Gietzelt, told
Parliament yesterday the Government accepted the report's central finding, but
criticised its "extravagant and unnecessary " language.
"The Royal Commissioner, Justice Evatt, laid the blame
for the veterans' problems on the normal response to war - acute stress."
The report said its not guilty finding "is not a matter
for regret but for rejoicing ... This is good news, and it is the Commission's
fervent hope it will be shouted from the rooftops. "
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