Deancm_MKII

The probability is high.

moneypenny20

I do question why they were buried in Sydney though, regardless of rellies, that makes no sense to me. They were illegal, they sadly died but either burial on Christmas or sent back to be buried by their friends and families in their own country would make more sense to me.

Vash the Stampede

Why would they need to fly the relatives of soldiers killed in Afghanistan to their funerals? The bodies of dead diggers are flown back to Australian and buried by the families themselves. It's difficult to understand why a soldier's family would require air transport to the local cemetery. Most people just hop in the car.

Amazulu

Scenario:
Soldier born in Adelaide
Joins the army, gets posted to Sydney, meets local girl and gets married
Deploys to Afghanistan and gets killed
Body is flown back to Sydney where his family lives and where his wife wants him buried
Parents still live in Adelaide
?

Bernieboy

He would have made a will before deployment perhaps stating where he wanted to be buried if KIA,besides surely his wife would have first dibs where he was to be settled ???

Dorothy

Or soldier born in UK. Moves to Aus, marries a nice Aussie girl, gets citizenship and joins army. Gets posted to Sydney then deployed to Afganistan and is killed.
Body is flown back to Sydney where his wife lives and wants him buried.
Parents live in UK.
Do they get flown over for his funeral?

paulry

Possibly (well probably). So 21 relatives were flown from Christmas Island to attend the funeral. And there are several relatives already here and settled in Sydney. Looks like a big family relocation scheme.

paulry

I would think that if the parents couldn't afford the trip to Sydney then the relatives would club together to make it happen.

sonlymewalter

Its right that taxpayers money is questioned but there are some things that should be done on humanitarian grounds.

if people lose their lives and relatives want to see them buried surely we should reach out the hand of human kindness....

Amazulu

Fair enough but going back to my original question: does the government pay for family members to attend the funerals of soldiers killed in action? It would be interesting to know because if they don't, yet paid for these people to attend funerals in Sydney, then something is fundamentally wrong.

Amazulu

It would be good to find out.

paulry

Agreed but in this case I'm unsure if it's the state's place to provide such funding. It seems to me that this particular case is more appropriately the domain of charitable/community/voluntary organisations.

Where it was rightly the governments place to reach out the hand of human kindness was to the orphaned child from the tragedy. It's good to read that today the government granted this poor child asylum.

Dorothy

It's not very often that I agree with you, but in this instance I do.

sonlymewalter

i understand where you're coming from mate but charitable organisations tread a very fine line. If they upset too many people they lose sponsorship so generally they keep away from anything too contoversial. Technically assylum seekers are the governments responsibility so it is the states place to provide the funding.

As for the orpaned child as you say the government has done the right thing

sonlymewalter

don't know the answer to whether the government pay for family members to attend a soldiers funeral but regardless, two wrongs don't make a right mate.