Media Release 5 March 2012 The veterans and ex -service people of Stand Fast are demanding that PM Gillard get Australian troops out of Afghanistan and fast.
They say widespread anger and unrest amongst Afghans caused by the burning of copies of the Quran by reckless US soldiers, has all but collapsed security for Westerners in Afghanistan.
Stand Fast Press Release 25th May 2011 "Crocodile tears and deceit" is what Stand Fast spokesperson, Hamish Chitts has called the responses of PM Gillard, Defence Minister Smith and Air Chief Marshal Houston to the death and injury of more Australian soldiers in Afghanistan. Stand Fast is a group of veterans and ex-service people opposed to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The death brings the total of deaths in 10 years of war by Australians in Afghanistan to 26, half of them in the last 12 months.
Stand Fast Press release 22 April 2011 Australian based veterans group Stand Fast is calling on people to reject blind flag waving this ANZAC Day and to seriously question Australian support for the war in Afghanistan. The group stands against this war due to the impact on people living in Afghanistan, the price being paid by other foreign forces (especially the US) and the physical and psychological harm being done to Australian military personnel who people claim to be honouring on 25 April.
Stand Fast Press release: 4th February 2011
"The death of 22 year old Corporal Richard Atkinson in Afghanistan saddens and angers me", said Hamish Chitts, veteran of East Timor and spokesperson for Stand Fast, an Australian-based group of veterans and former military personnel."He and the 21 Australian soldiers killed in Afghanistan have died defending a regime as a corrupt and fraudulent as that of Hosni Mubarak in Eygpt."
Stand Fast had another successful barracks speakout against the war in Afghanistan on Thursday, September 9, outside of Brisbane's Gallipoli Barracks – home of the Australian Army's 7th Brigade. Graeme Dunstan from Stand Fast provided great visual impact with huge and striking banners and flags and he also provided the sound through the PA of his Peacebus. Over the 5 hour protest about 20 people attended and helped hand out flyers to the soldiers entering and leaving the barracks with many staying for the entire time.
press release
12 July 2010
Stand Fast, a group of veterans and former military personnel who oppose the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, has asked Prime Minister Julia Gillard to stop misleading the people of Australia and to come clean about the war in Afghanistan. The group's comments are in response to Gillard's use of the death of another Australian soldier in Afghanistan to peddle false justifications for Australian involvement in this unpopular war.
