Alan Griffin (Bruce, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

In a similar vein to the previous speaker, the member for Fisher, I would like to take up issues relating to veterans, particularly the families of veterans and, most particularly, the children of veterans, and the recent feasibility study into the health of children of veterans. There have been a number of studies on the sorts of problems faced by our veterans and their families. There is a lot of evidence on the sorts of problems faced by the families of veterans, particularly the children, with respect to dealing with a veteran coming back from a conflict, the difficulties that they often bring back with them and the range of conditions that can be passed on to their children—for example, increased levels of leukaemia, cancer, spina bifida or cleft pallet. The number of conditions is endless. There is a lot to be worried about if you are part of a veteran’s family. There have also been studies done which have shown that the suicide rate for the children of veterans is three times the expected rate, and death from other causes, including accidents, is double. Those figures came from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare study of 1998.

There is no doubt that there is a problem and there is no doubt that it needs to be looked at. At the last election, Labor committed to funding a study. The government committed to funding a feasibility study only. That feasibility study has now been completed. The study is with the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, and the minister is currently considering where it will go from here. I note the minister’s press release with respect to the budget said:

The health of Vietnam veterans’ children will also be addressed now that a feasibility study has been completed and a scientific advisory committee’s recommendations are being considered by the Government.

Although the report proposes a pilot study that will take some years to complete, I am keen to pursue a staged approach to see work commence this year over a much shorter research period. My goal is to gain meaningful results sooner to help improve and better target health support and services available for the children of our Vietnam veterans.

I welcome the commitment from the minister to move down that track, but I want to put it on the public record that we need more detail as to what in fact is being committed to. This is a complex area. It is an area where Labor stands with the government, committed to ensuring that real action is taken. I do not underestimate the size of the task involved. What we need is more information from the minister about what in fact is planned to be done, over what period of time and at what cost.

I want to assure all members that the opposition will support the government’s actions in this area, but we need to know what those actions will be. We will be watching very closely to see what comes out from the minister about the future. In estimates, we had difficulty getting evidence of much of the detail of where we are going to from here. The minister has to come clean with that detail as soon as it is available so that we can move forward in this area. It is an area that requires urgent attention. The opposition will support the government with respect to what can be done.

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