The Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia (VVAA) had its beginning in the late 1970s as the Vietnam Veterans Action Association. It was established as a crisis counselling service, and as a vehicle through which to prosecute a case for veterans claiming to suffer from the effects of herbicides and defoliants used in Vietnam. Physical illness was often exacerbated by psychological disorders, la
ter diagnosed as post-traumatic stress disorder. The Vietnam Veterans Counselling Service was established as a direct result of the VVAA, and is now an integral part of treatment for veterans.
The Association challenged the federal government’s indifference to veterans’ health concerns. Simultaneously, there was widespread sentiment that the Returned & Services League (RSL) had not accepted Vietnam veterans, and would not pursue the concerns of this group with the vigour they believed those concerns warranted. This experience was not universal but happened often enough for some veterans to harbour distrust of an organisation from which they expected much more. It was clear Vietnam veterans and their families needed community and representation of their specific issues, so the Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia and its state branches were established as a permanent form of the Action Association.
The persistent media representation of veterans as victims, suffering as a result of their service, is unhelpful and largely inaccurate. Many have reached the highest levels of Australia’s business, professional and political fields, and every veteran who has overcome or controlled their psychological and/or health problems to live a relatively normal life has realised a significant achievement.
VVAAWA is operated by a volunteer committee with the purpose of improved welfare for Vietnam veterans and their families’ resident in Western Australia; its mission statement is ‘Honour the dead, but fight like hell for the living’. It is a not-for-profit organisation incorporated under the Associations Incorporation Act 2015 with approximately 200 members across WA.
