Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Because there has been quite a lot of ongoing argy-bargy for two weeks and we are all quite tired of it, I am withdrawing my amendments on sheet 8081 and 8082. That has now been taken care of and removed by the government and negotiations have gone on with one, so I am good with that. But, I would like to say a few words.

The government amendments to the Veterans' Affairs Legislation (Digital Readiness and Other Measures) Bill 2017 to omit the public interest disclosure, otherwise known as PID, from Schedule 2 is a win for veterans as their privacy will continue to be protected. Labor's amendment to Schedule 1 of the bill that excludes decisions that are adverse to a client from computer decision making is also a win for veterans by protecting them from computer programs that say no to a claim which would then be assessed by a human delegate. While I would have preferred different language in the amendment such as the word 'liability' as opposed to the word 'service', the outcome, should this amendment be passed, provides a mechanism of protection in deciding veterans' claims by a computer program.

The bill, along with these two amendments, if passed, would permit the Department of Veteran's Affairs to undertake business reforms and implement new information and communications technology, otherwise known as ICT, so as to reduce times on claims processing and improve services to veterans and the community. The bill provides DVA's secretary with the authority to use computer programs to make decisions and determinations in any claims over three separate acts which include the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986, the VEA; the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004, known as the MRCA; the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988, known as the SRCA; and the defence related claims act, the DRCA. But Labor's amendment puts safeguards in place. The bill's intent and amendments are good, particularly in making the necessary reforms and introducing ICT. In doing so, it will likely benefit veterans in that their claims may be processed quickly and efficiently and it may improve overall veterans' services by the Department of Veterans' Affairs.

The Change.org petition by the South Lake Macquarie sub-branch of the Returned and Services League of Australia, New South Wales had urged this Senate to stop the bill based upon serious privacy concerns by the veterans' community. In less than two weeks, the petition received over 10,000 supporters who electronically signed the petition. Luckily the government heeded the veterans' community concerns and introduced an amendment to address those serious privacy concerns.

In the future the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee should have oversight on the use of the computer programs in deciding veterans' claims. The need for such oversight is underscored by the recent debacle of Centrelink's flawed data-matching program, where the computer program was wrong an estimated 20 per cent of time.

Automated decision making will be useful to speed up claims processes. Noting the DVA computer system and software has yet to be designed and built, there is much concern in relation to initial decisions related to a service injury or disease or reassessment of such. The Labor amendment, if passed, should go a long way to address these concerns, but oversight by the legislative branch is warranted to protect veterans from any future flawed computer program systems. This parliament owes our veterans a duty of care in ensuring there are little to no errors, in permitting DVA to make computer program decisions and determinations, especially with respect to first getting a veteran's foot into the door of Department of Veterans' Affairs.

It was due to the hard work of the crossbench of this Senate last week and this week that caused both the government and Labor to act in introducing their amendments which would better protect veterans' privacy and prevent computer programs from making wrong decisions in rejecting claims for liability. This was achieved by the lawmakers of the crossbench to include me and others introducing amendments to address flaws in the original bill. What this bill and its amendments have demonstrated is that parliament, particularly the Senate, is able to work effectively if lawmakers work together to address flawed legislation.

Before I finish off, I want to say a very, very special thank you. I want to thank Senator Kakoschke-Moore of the Nick Xenophon Team, and especially Pat in her office. I want to make a very special thanks to Norbert, who is a new staff member of mine. I tell you, between the two of them they are a force to be reckoned with. I suggest you remember that for the future. I can see the Department of Veterans' Affairs sitting over there. We now have two very switched on people that are right on your tail. Even though the shadow minister, Amanda Rishworth, was a little slow off the starting block, she certainly made up for it in the end. So: thank you, Amanda. Thank you for your patience, thank you for hearing us out and thank you for making this happen.

I also want to thank, once again—he is always helping out the veterans—Senator Ludlam. Thank you and to your office as well. Thank you very much. This will make a veteran's life much easier instead of having to worry about their privacy being leaked all over the place, which I will not have going on. For thank sincerely those people who really stood up and fought over the last two weeks for Australian veterans.