Mike Kelly (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Defence Industry and Support) Share this | Hansard source

I congratulate the previous member on his comments, and indeed the many members who've contributed to this discussion. It does flag the high degree of bipartisanship across the chamber on these issues. I think that's greatly facilitated by the experience that a lot of our members have in the parliamentary exchange program. I want to congratulate the member for Herbert for bringing forward this motion. She has obviously, with her constituency, acquired a high degree of familiarity with the issues that we're addressing here, and her background in mental health issues has given her a unique insight into a lot of that. She works well with a couple of particularly good friends of mine, retired Brigadier Ray Martin and retired Lieutenant General John Caligari, who are very actively engaged in veterans' issues now.

I think one discordant note was the comments from the member of Murray. I won't go into a rebuttal of that, but I think he should go back and read some of my previous speeches on those issues and he will be enlightened. I know he has genuine concern for veterans' matters, but, on the other issues he talked about, I would firmly state they were simply incorrect. I am proud of what we did in government in personnel issues, the $1.4 billion in emergency funding for force protection measures to reduce the casualties we were experiencing in Afghanistan and the record levels of spending. We took veterans' investment to $12.5 billion, which has not been matched since. But there are always improvements that have to be made in this area as new generations of veterans come through. Obviously, the experience that they have endured over years in separating from Defence has been one that's been highlighted in this discussion.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I was involved in unveiling a statue which was raised through public subscription to Private Jack Ryan VC, who was a proud son of Tumut. I believe I'm related to Jack Ryan actually, because the Yass Ryans and the Kellys—good old Irish Catholic breeders back in those days—intermarried. He was a particularly fine example of the people that we admire most in that unique military history of ours. Private Jack Ryan took personal responsibility in those salient and important days in the battle for breaching the Hindenburg Line, which brought the war to an earlier end. This was understood very well by John Monash, in particular, the finest commander that this nation's produced. He had to push harder in those last few days despite the strain that caused because it would have saved thousands of lives in the long run if the war had dragged on in 1919.

Jack Ryan was a private and took personal initiative in rallying troops around him to engage in feats of amazing bravery and achievement. But, after the war, Private Ryan's experience has been replicated many times in that he was unable to find employment and suffered through the Depression years. He met an early death through the ravages of those experiences in 1941. That's not now a unique experience in the history of our veterans who have separated and struggled to make a life for themselves in the civilian world.

I applaud the initiatives that have been put forward, and we've talked about a military covenant, the Veterans' Employment Program and the family engagement strategy. I call on the government to take on board what veterans are urging about including the Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation issues into the banking royal commission. This is a serious issue they have raised with all of us and that we support. I'm also very grateful that we are now proceeding with the Senate inquiry into the malarial drugs issue. That is a matter that really does need to be brought to a resolution.

We have the Invictus Games coming up as well, and that does point to another area where we have to develop strategies around dealing with mental health issues. With the A-type personalities that you get in the Defence Force, sport is a very good measure of dealing with those issues. It's certainly the main mechanism that I use for managing stress. I was privileged to meet two of my constituents who'll be participating in those games: Ben Farinazzo and Ruth Hunt. Both managed a very difficult journey through medical issues and post-service issues that they navigated. We're very proud of them. Their achievements are enormous. I wish them all the best in the Invictus Games coming up. I urge all Australians to embrace these games and to get out and support these men and women. They are achieving tremendous things and are an absolute inspiration to all of us who have lesser impediments to our lives. I really look forward to them achieving great things on the field of sport, as they have done in the field of service.

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