Those people who point out that this was what we were hired for are correct. Yet there is a whiff of angst over whether the efforts of these people deserve any form of recognition of service simply because they may never have been issued with a uniform.

As I have pointed out before to the blockers, this issue is irrelevant. If detractors deny the opportunity to recognise those who lost their lives, in many cases in dangerous situations, surely that’s a personal view and should be left to the individual.

Look at the example of Greg Harris’s sister not even knowing where her brother’s grave was or who was looking after it.

If there is to be some form of physical memorial to those who lost their lives due to their service, and there are plenty of other examples in Canberra, then surely there should be some form of explanation about what that service was about.

Clearly, no one in contemporary Australia has been educated about PNG’s history and our association with our Melanesian friends on the other side of the Torres Strait.

All the ventilating about who should get what is merely clouding an important issue. Australia and Australians were working with the Papua New Guinean people to constructively improve their circumstances and lives.

That aspect should surely not be erased from our shared history.

Whether anyone wants to have their service recognised with something tangible after all these years is a personal matter both separate and divisible from any planned memorial.