Bennett served in Japan until September 1950 and then embarked with the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment for Korea where he served for a year during which he was wounded in action on 14 October 1950, remaining on duty, and Mentioned in Despatches in 1951. He served again for 12 months in Korea from 1 September 1952 as Senior Instructor, then Chief Instructor, with the 25th Canadian Infantry Brigade Junior NCO School while posted as Tactics Instructor at the School of Infantry in Seymour, Victoria. On return to Australia in 1953, Bennett became the Adjutant of the 1st Battalion, Pacific Islands Regiment in PNG. In 1954 he was Adjutant with the 16th Infantry Battalion and in 1956 Staff Captain A in HQ Western Command. In 1957–58 he served in the United Kingdom with the Royal Marine Commandos and saw duty in Malta, and operational service in Cyprus. He then served as OC 2nd Commando Company from July 1958 to June 1961, and after attending the Australian Staff College, became the Senior Instructor, then Chief Instructor, at Officer Cadet School, Portsea from 1962 to 1965. He was then posted until 10 July 1967 to Army HQ which had moved to Canberra in the early 1960s from Melbourne. Bennett then commanded the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, where he was a key commander in the Battle of Coral–Balmoral. This battle was the largest unit-level action of the Vietnam War for the Australians and today the battle is considered one of the most famous actions fought by the Australian Army during the war. For his service in Vietnam in 1968–69, Bennett was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. On return from UK Joint service training in 1971 he became Colonel Coordination in the office of Chief of the General Staff and in April 1974 was promoted to brigadier, Chief of Staff at HQ Field Force Command in Sydney until December 1975. Bennett attended senior officer training at the Australian Staff College first long course in 1960–61, Joint Services Staff College in UK as a student then exchange instructor 1969–71, and then the Royal College of Defence Studies in UK in 1976. He commanded the 1st Division 1977–79, became Assistant Chief of Defence Staff 1979–82, Chief of the General Staff 1982–84 and Chief of the Defence Force in 1984. He retired from the Army in April 1987.
Governor of Tasmania
During his period as governor, Bennett was called on to be the adjudicator of a sensitive constitutional problem following the inconclusive Tasmanian state election in 1989. The Liberal Government of Premier Robin Gray had suffered a two-seat swing, leaving it one seat short of a majority. The opposition Labor Party led by Michael Field then garnered the support of the five Green members of the House of Assembly for a minority government in what was known as the Labor-Green Accord. Gray refused to resign, initially intending to stay in office until defeated in the House. When he learned of the Labor-Green agreement, he asked Bennett to dissolve the legislature and call new elections. Under normal circumstances, Bennett would have been bound by convention to honour this request. However, Bennett refused to do so. He believed that Gray was no longer in a position to govern, and therefore had lost the right to ask for a dissolution. He'd also been privately assured before the formal accord was signed that the Greens would back a Labor government. Gray was thus forced to resign, and Bennett commissioned Field as premier. Bennett on several occasions also became Administrator of the Commonwealth during overseas visits by the then Governor-General, Bill Hayden.
Retirement
After retiring from the governorship, Bennett has also served as inaugural Chairman of the Australian War Memorial Foundation. He has been the Patron of the 2 Commando Association since 1985, Patron of The St John Ambulance in the ACT since 1996 and a past President of the Order of Australia Association. Bennett is also the inaugural National Patron of the Royal Australian Regiment Association. A biography of Bennett's life, was published in 2011 by Robert Lowry.
