Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Minister, like every other member in this place, I make sure that I attend every commemoration that I possibly can around my electorate commemorating those who have served our country. I think the way those days are revered is growing within the community and rightly so. We should put aside that time and spend it with our veterans, remembering what has gone before us.

But the way we support veterans on a daily basis is a far more meaningful measurement of our commitment to them. By and large, I find that my veteran community and my veterans organisations are pleased with the support they receive from the federal government—and I don't mean just in recent days but across a broad number of years. They're particularly pleased with the operations at DVA at the moment. These organisations are very important to the wellbeing of our veterans. They supply a safe haven, a place where our veterans can go and find people with similar issues, similar backgrounds and similar problems—a problem shared is a problem halved. Most veterans I've spoken to appreciate the government's efforts across the board, including fair indexation of military pensions, establishing a female veterans policy forum and providing more targeted assistance for homeless veterans.

There's been a concentrated effort to assist those struggling with mental health, and the recent budget measures ensure all veterans, including reservists, receive free mental health services. I've had a check, and there are around 1,000 veterans living in the Grey electorate at the moment. Some have their life completely in order and are living success stories—some of them are my friends—others, unfortunately, are not. They face the burden of dealing with the horrors of the past—a mental health burden. Some cases—and one I can remember not so long ago—result in the very worst outcome of all: suicide.

When we make decisions around the budget and allocate resources, we need to recognise what it is that we can possibly do to alleviate the stresses and strains in these peoples' lives. I often come into contact with DVA counsellors who tell me of their face-to-face contact with veterans and the challenges they face with mental health. I applaud anything that the government can do in this space. I implore my community to be understanding of these people, because sometimes, particularly when you are a politician where a lot of people bring their problems to you, it is easy to put people in a box and say, 'They're off with the fairies,' or whatever it might be. We have to be on our guard against that every single day. When we see someone down on their luck, and particularly if we're aware that their background is one of having served this nation, we need to pull out all stops, get our staff to work and contact all the organisations involved to make sure that we find help when they need it.

Minister, my questions are pretty simple. How is the government implementing new initiatives to respond to the mental health needs of our veteran community? Can you please tell us what the interest in the non-liability health care has been amongst the veteran community. I think the three criteria that have been issued is a very important move. For these people who have served us so well, it's not what you did and where you did it; it's that you were prepared to do it. Why you've become sick is irrelevant to the cause. Minister, could you inform the House on those issues.

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