Push for Aussie war dead to be brought back from Malaysia

Australia's Opposition Labor Party supports a move by veterans to have Australia's war dead from Vietnam, interred at Terendak in Malacca, Malaysia to be brought home.

"We have a lasting obligation to those men who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. It is time this wrong is made right," Labor defence spokesman David Feeney said in a statement.

He said the Labor Party was supporting a campaign by Vietnam veterans organisations for the Australian Government to take action to repatriate the 24 Australians interred in Terendak.

The soldiers were buried in Malaysia under the policy of burying war dead in the nearest Commonwealth cemetery, unless their families were prepared to pay for their repatriation.

Following an outcry in 1966, the government agreed to pay for repatriation if the families requested.

Feeney said Terendak was not a Commonwealth War Grave and veterans were concerned that it was not well maintained and also difficult for families to visit.