David Fawcett (Wakefield, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to address this motion on veterans pensions. I agree with the Leader of the Opposition that we have an obligation to honour and remember those people who served our country and put their lives on the line. As somebody who spent over 22 years in the Defence Force as an army officer, I recognise the huge sacrifice that not only servicemen and servicewomen make but also families make who pay quite a price to release them to that service and often to look after them when they have returned. However, I do have a problem with the words of the opposition leader. He talks about the fact that there is no greater duty than to honour and remember. He says that he is personally deeply committed to supporting our veterans, yet his track record does not show that. I believe this is one of the first speeches he has made about veterans issues since 1998. He has talked about the Kokoda Track and some of the publicity things—although he has not mentioned the false dawn at Long Tan. One has to ask why only now, of all times, he has decided to start talking about this when he says that it is an issue of such deep personal conviction.

I think it is appropriate that they have on their front bench the member for Kingsford Smith, who wrote a song about a short memory. I think they are hoping that the veterans community will have a short memory when they look at the track record of what the ALP have actually done. If you look back to 1996, you will find they made a commitment of only $6.2 billion. Compare that to the government’s commitment now of over $11 billion. At the last election, in terms of new money, the ALP only promised some $17.8 million over four years versus the government’s commitment of over $82.4 million in the area of supporting veterans.

It is instructive to look more broadly into the ALP to see what their thinking is about issues, even specific issues like the TPI pension. In September 2004, at a TPI conference, Senator Mark Bishop said that he thought the special rate should cease at 65 so that veterans were brought into line with community norms. In June this year, he made comments in the Senate that indicated this was still his line of thought. At the Labor national conference this year there was no policy forthcoming. So when the Leader of the Opposition talks about the 11 years that this government has been in charge of that portfolio, it should be noted that, in that time, the Labor Party have not managed to actually develop any policy. The speech at the Labor national conference was just a poor, watered-down version of the ‘I’m listening’ speech.

It is constructive also to look at who did or, more pointedly, who did not, amongst the ALP members currently in the House, actually make a submission to the Clarke review. When it comes to this issue of TPI and indexation—and the Prime Minister talked earlier this month about ‘echonomics’—we are seeing ‘echo policy’ and we are also seeing the shallowness of what the ALP are actually planning. Earlier this year, three days before the budget, they announced their plan for indexing this pension. But what they did not say was that, because the rate of indexation actually cut in later, people on a TPI would only be some $1,700 better off by 2012. But the government’s plan—which is a real increase and one which came into effect in July this year—means that TPI pensioners will be better off by some $7,500 by 2012. Members opposite have complaints in what they are saying today, but you need to look at their track record. If they have been so deeply concerned, why did they not seek to address their concerns and address the catch-up rather than waiting until the government took the initiative to provide that support?

Certainly as you go through the government’s track record you can see that, whilst words come cheap from the other side, the government has actually put in place many meaningful policies—things like upgrading the value of the gold card to make sure that that health service, which is not just for specific war related injuries but for any injuries or illnesses suffered by veterans, is a world-class service. The government has actually brought that back into line, along with many local initiatives. In my own electorate of Wakefield, many of the local Vietnam veterans sub-branches and RSLs have received capital works funding, as well as other funding, to in practice support our veterans and their families. The government places a high value on that. I welcome the commitment of the government to our veterans. (Time expired)

See this speech in context