G'day one and all

My question is this. If an ex-RAAF serviceman serves in the RAF, holds citizenship for both countries, and is killed whilst in Iraq (serving in the RAF and thereby the UK;s interests not Australia's).......

Is he Australian?

Should Australian media report him as Australia's first fatality in Iraq?

My opinion is that - No he is not an Australian if he is serving in a foreign army.

I throw it open to the forum

The BBC website reports him as Australian but who really cares about his nationality, when there are a family grieving Aus or Pom, who cares?

THE mother of Paul Pardoel, the Australian airman killed in Iraq while serving with British forces, said today she always feared for his safety.

Mrs Margaret Pardoel, of Boronia, Victoria, said she expected the worst when she heard news reports of the crash of the Royal Air Force C-130 Hercules transport aircraft yesterday morning.

"I had a terrible sinking feeling because I knew he was going away. He was home for Christmas on leave and I knew he was going back," she told ABC radio.

"With the elections, they were transporting more troops. Ten minutes later, the phone went and it was Kellie's father in Canberra and she said they have bad news. His Herc has gone down and there are no survivors as they know of."

Mrs Pardoel said Paul planned to finish up his contract with the RAF in July and he, his wife Kelly and their three children planned to settle back in Canberra.

Pardoel's mother feared for his safety

Sounds like the family has strong ties to Aus.

You are entitled to your opinion but it is not the law of Australia. Service in a foreign army does not cause loss of Australian citizenship. The closest the law comes to this is section 19 of the Australian Citizenship Act:

"An Australian citizen who, under the law of a foreign country, is a national or citizen of that country and serves in the armed forces of a country at war with Australia shall, upon commencing so to serve, cease to be an Australian citizen."

No-one has ever lost Australian citizenship under this section because since 26 January 1949, to the best of my knowledge Australia has never been formally at war with a recognised foreign regime. Conflicts like Korea, Vietnam and Iraq did not include formal declarations of war.

What's wrong with serving in the armed forces of a friendly or allied nation anyway?

Jeremy

Dont you think this is a bit insensitive and a bit disrespectful?

I think I can see what you are getting at, the aussie media, how we have to claim everything remotely australian as WHOO hoo Australias first .......
biggest ....... highest ...........

I mean for heaven sake somebody died, the medias carrying on like we won a new medal, totally disrespectful. Saw a intreview with the guys dutch parents, they asked the father if he was proud of him I mean really what did they expect the parents to say.

Why are we so desperate to get fame, like Iraq, we supposidly led the troops into iraq

I must go and check probably the first man on the moon had a cousin three times removed which makes the first man on the moon an aussie

Is he Australian? His Australian citizenship is not predicated upon his service (or lack of it) in a foreign armed service. Only in very specific, delimited circumstances would Australian citizenship be lost by serving in a non-Australian army (or navy, or air force), and being with the RAF in Iraq would not be one of those circumstances.

Whether that *ought* to be the case is a different question (although I can see no reason why it ought not to be), as is whether (or how) the news media ought to report on his death. But as far as I know if he was an Australian citizen before he joined the RAF or served in Iraq, he remains one now.

He's Australian, carrying on the fine & courageous tradition of Aussies serving in the RAF. The links between the UK & Australian military are still strong & long may may they be so.

I am ex uk military and have served with both US, German and Aussie forces on certain exchange programs. This did not mean that I lost my British Citizenship during this period - and that my friends would be exactly the same for this chap!!!!!

Regards Johnnet

Spot on with my views.

Everyone - relax. No I am not being disrespectful. 100's of thousands have died so far but because they aren't Aussie, British or American it doesn't count?

When Pakistan play cricket do you get a bit toey at all the Pakistani flags flown by people who speak with a Geordie (or whatever) accent?

Anyone dying is a tragedy in my books so no need to get antsy with me.

Geeze/ Ive gotta stop posting when I have been

It sounds like he is both Australian AND British.

Should the media have NOT mentioned his ties to Australia ?
Should they have ignored his death ?

It looks to me like it's just a news report that has relevance to Australia, and if he is the first Australian killled in Iraq, then what is wrong with stating that fact ?

Aside from this guy who has been killed which is obviously a tragedy, I find the same thing for other topics; on the news this morning was how the "Australian Forces have been saving everyone in Aceh", now I'm pretty sure there are other troops out there doing a lot of good too. Or back to the Olympics even, when Loretta Harrop came second to an Australian who hadn't been selected for the Aussie team, so was representing Austria (married and lived there) for which she also had citizenship... all of a sudden she was wanted by the Aussie's again, and her medal was counting as this "X+1" in the tally scores. Its great to be proud of your country, but sometimes it appears it could be a little bit myopic with its self-praise.

This kind of reporting is takien to the extreme in the US. In the olympics you would only get the report of where the US contestant finished and no mention of who won! Drove me crazy.

I could easily see the US media reporting the outcome of a two person race where the US lost as "the US came in a close second and AN-Othercountry came in last-but-one"!

Thats cos the US is the only Country in the world!!!! or so they'd have you believe

Now come on, the one that matters I think you mean. They're doing their very best to make every other country a clone.

The oft quoted Bill Bryson summed it up in his chapter about there being a K-Mart by Uluru!