A Vietnam war veteran warns Australia’s unsung military heroes will be forgotten, and veterans will be “silenced”, under controversial changes proposed by the Albanese government.

Retired Lieutenant Colonel George Hulse has led seven successful appeals at the Defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal (DHAAT), a body to which decisions to award or withhold military medals can be challenged.

He is demanding the government abandon a planned overhaul of the Tribunal, describing the reforms as a “regressive, repressive, oppressive piece of legislation from a government that calls itself progressive”.

Labor is seeking to restrict the number of cases that can be brought before the DHAAT for review by imposing a time limit of 20 years following the end of an operation.

In practical terms, it

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