Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to put remarks on the record with regard to the Defence Legislation Amendment (2017 Measures No. 1) Bill 2017.

Our ADF members put their lives on hold to serve and protect our country and we owe them our unwavering support during and after their service. This bill comprises four schedules which seek to smooth processes, to increase protections for reservists, to realise a recommendation from the first principles review of Defence to add contemporary definitions of children in relation to members and to enable reclassification of those who leave Defence and later find they could have been medically discharged.

With regard to schedule 1: the first schedule amends the Defence Act 1903 to enable a policy framework to broaden and expand conditions under which a positive test result for prohibited substances must be disregarded, including in circumstances relating to appropriate usage of over-the-counter medication or substances administered by authorised persons. Labor says this is a very practical amendment which will smooth processes in circumstances where individuals test positive for over-the-counter prescribed medicines.

The second schedule amends the Defence Reserve Service (Protection) Act 2001. It does so in order to ensure that all reservists would be eligible for the full range of protections under the act in respect of their employment and education. Reservists are a remarkable group of Australians; they certainly play an integral role in the defence of Australia, serving in an entirely voluntary capacity to provide support to the ADF to help rebuild lives and communities after floods, tsunamis and bushfires, as well as delivering very significant humanitarian support overseas. Labor acknowledges that our reservists are part of our broader defence capability. These changes in schedule 2 will improve the protections to our reservists and encourage greater retention and capability of that very valuable reserve force.

Schedule 3 serves the purpose of transferring the hydrographic, meteorological and oceanographic functions from the Royal Australian Navy to the Australian Geospatial-Intelligence Organisation. This is a significant move, in that it is in accordance with the recommendation from the first principles review of Defence. Schedule 4 undertakes the task of aligning a small number of provisions in the Australian Defence Force Cover Act 2015 with other military superannuation schemes. It will provide clarity on the definition of an eligible child or an invalid.

Labor is supportive of changes which improve processes and protections for members of the Defence Force, employees of the defence industry and also their families. By smoothing the processes around medications, increasing protections for reservists, adding contemporary definitions of children and enabling reclassifications of those who leave Defence, this bill seeks to improve conditions of each of those groups and, therefore, the Defence Force overall. Labor has always said that if there is more we can do to support our ADF personnel then we should be doing it. Labor believes that in supporting this bill we are providing a smoother process and increased protection for those men and women who serve our country. There is much more to do but these are certainly reasons that Labor finds it satisfactory to support this bill.