Move to strip Afghanistan war veterans of military decorations possible due to changes signed off by Federal Government

A push to strip Afghanistan war veterans of their meritorious service awards has been made possible partly due to changes to the Defence Force's honours system agreed to by the Queen and the Federal Government earlier this year. Key points: In July, the Queen and Federal Government agreed to changes to the Defence Force's honours system Labor MP Luke Gosling says stripping meritorious service awards is "not fair on thousands of our soldiers" Online petition campaigns to "maintain the memory of our meritorious many" by reversing Defence Chief's decision The amendments to the Unit Citation Regulations were gazetted in July, well before the Defence Department had seen the damning findings of the long-awaited Brereton inquiry into alleged war crimes. Anger is growing within the veterans' community over the Chief of Defence's decision to revoke the "meritorious group citation" for those who served with the Special Operation Task Group in Afghanistan between 2007 and 2013. A Federal Government spokesperson told the ABC the Defence Department "undertook a full review of the Defence Honours and Awards Medal Instruments and changes were subsequently agreed by the Government and Her Majesty the Queen".