Payments to families of killed soldiers increased

Last month Breeanna Till, widow of Sergeant Brett Till, triggered national outrage when she explained the plight of many families who had lost partners and breadwinners in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Sergeant Till was killed while trying to defuse a bomb in Afghanistan in March.

Yesterday, Minister for Defence Personnel Greg Combet announced that death and injury benefits for members of the Military Superannuation and Benefits Scheme would increase significantly. The changes would be backdated to July 1, 2007, he said.

That would mean an average increase in benefits of around 20 per cent, Mr Combet said.

Injured personnel and the dependants of personnel killed on duty can choose a lump sum, a pension or a mix of each.

Until the change, the lump sum to be paid to a widow of an army private was just over $507,147 and that increases by $72,072. The $30,889 pension paid to a private's widow will increase by $6598.

The lump sum to be paid to a widow of an army sergeant was $672,234 and that increases by $92,901. Her $40,945 pension would increase by $8599.

The lump sum to be paid to a widow of an army captain was $714,660 and that increases by $99,769. Her $43,529 pension would increase by $9198.

After Mrs Till revealed the situation, the Government promised to speed up an inquiry into military compensation that was already under way and ADF chief Angus Houston told Mrs Till she and her family could stay in their Defence house for another year.

The ADF stopped Sergeant Till's pay a fortnight after he was killed.

The Australia Defence Association has suggested that the families of military personnel killed in wars should be given a home and they should continue to be paid the equivalent of the dead soldier's salary until he would have retired.

Association executive officer Neil James said then it was strange that a war widow's pension was indexed at a lower rate than a welfare pension. "That is morally wrong as well as inequitable," he said.

Meanwhile, the special forces soldier killed this week while training for Afghanistan has left his family a poignant message in a letter.

During two previous tours of duty in Afghanistan, Lance-Corporal Mason Edwards, 30, escaped unscathed when he came under fire, but on Tuesday night was fatally wounded during an exercise in South Australia using live ammunition. A second soldier was wounded in the incident.

He and his commando unit were involved in intense final training preparing for deployment to Afghanistan with the Special Operations Task Group.

Like many soldiers heading off to war, Lance-Corporal Edwards wrote a letter to be given to his family in the event of his death. It was kept by the ADF in his personal file.

"I want everyone to know that I love this line of work, the unit and the guys I work alongside. We do what we do for many reasons. I need little more reason than this  any one of us could have been born in this country [Afghanistan], but we are the lucky few who enjoy a lifestyle unsurpassed by anyone in the greatest country on Earth. As a final note, I tell my family, friends and my one and only Cassie that I loved them all until the day I died. I will stay young forever, and I will love them forever.

LANCE-CORPORAL MASON EDWARDS