Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to support this bill, the Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment (Omnibus) Bill 2018, because of the additional support it provides to veterans and their families. It was George Washington who said, 'The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars and how they were treated and appreciated by their nation.' I see this bill as a key part of continuing the respect we have for our veterans and those in the defence forces.

Since its inception, and following all the wars and conflicts we've fought in, Australia has developed a world-leading system of looking after those who serve this nation. This veterans' affairs legislation bill further demonstrates the commitment this government has provided over the last five years. It continues with measures that we introduced earlier this year in several previous bills, all designed to improve outcomes for serving and returned Australian Defence Force members, veterans and their families and to ensure that essential services and supports are available to veterans when they need them. It's really important that veterans are able to access the services and entitlements that they need when they need them, and that's what the measures in this bill are streamlining and assisting with.

I have a very personal interest in returned service people and veterans. My mother was a war widow, and my family, particularly my sisters and my mother, lived their lives with the result of having lost a father and a husband. Having seen so many people in my electorate return from serving Australia overseas in its many conflicts, and having grown up without a father, I well understand what we, as a nation, ask and expect of those who serve in our Australian Defence Force services. I also understand very directly, from the wonderful RSLs and those who work in the veterans community in the south-west of Western Australia, what they need from us, as a parliament, as a government and as a community, in understanding what they and their families have often sacrificed in the work they do for us, serving wherever we ask them to.

Sometimes, as we know, veterans have difficulties when making an initial claim. A lot of the streamlining that we've done will assist them. This bill amends the relevant act to allow the Chief of Defence Force to make a claim for liability on behalf of a current serving Defence Force member. While it may seem to some a small administrative change, it actually provides an alternative way for the claim to be made. To some, this is a very important move. The process will also have a significant impact in reducing the time it takes to have claims for liability accepted by DVA. This is something that I've heard about repeatedly in my time as a member of parliament. It makes a huge difference to veterans and their families, to their mental, physical and emotional health and wellbeing, that their claim is processed effectively and efficiently and that their claim is respected. That is one of the things this government is determined about: that the claims made certainly will be respected. It eases that mental, physical and emotional burden on veterans and their families. Here is a simple example: if DVA accepts a knee injury at the time of the injury via a claim from the CDF, then it could accept the osteoarthritis of the knee in the future. That will be easier under what we see in this bill. DVA will be able to use the additional claim data at the point of injury to better inform its decisions—in other words, streamlining it and understanding the actual nature and the progression of the claim. It's streamlining and simplifying the claims process.

Another change will enable the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission, the MRCC, to obtain information to determine the claim for compensation under the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Defence-related Claims) Act. It sounds technical, but this is yet another change that demonstrates our government's commitment to veterans' welfare and that their welfare is firmly at the centre of all the decisions we're making. We've seen some wonderful decisions around mental health service provisions. I'm very proud of those.

Sometimes, though, through no fault of their own, veterans can be adversely affected when the information that's really needed and critical to their claims is not provided by third parties. These provisions will provide veterans and their families with easier access to information that is relevant to those claims. It will require Commonwealth, state or territory departments, authorities, current and former treatment providers or any other parties to provide information on the request of the commission. Again, this is to make it much more streamlined.

Members in this place have, in my view, a duty to inform themselves about what circumstances our Defence Force members are working in, be it in Australia or overseas, and what we expect from them. One of the major ways they can do that is to take part in the Australian Defence Force Parliamentary Program. It has two components: not only does it encourage, allow and facilitate members of parliament to take part in a number of Defence Force programs; it is actually a reciprocal program where members of the Defence Force are encouraged to come into this place and work with members on all sides of the parliament to understand how the parliament works and the work of the members of parliament themselves. And we can get a real insight into what they're doing and what their job requires. It gives us direct information. I've been on a number of these deployments, and I get the best information from the people on the ground doing the job. Some of that I've been able to pass back to successive ministers and shadow ministers. It's really important because—nobody will be surprised by this—our Defence Force members are very direct in their comments and very honest and open. This program, which was developed in around 2000 to 2001, gives them the opportunity to have direct access to members of parliament in their area of work on the ground. Whether it's Afghanistan, whether it was Timor or whether it was Operation Resolute or Operation Astute, with so many of these deployments and operations members of parliament have actually been on the ground with our Defence Force members.

So, when we look at matters to do with veterans and their families, it makes it far more real for members of parliament to understand not only what the Defence Force members have been through during their term of deployment or what they've done in their time in Defence; equally, when we meet our Defence Force members we talk about what effect their deployment and work is having on their families. I can remember when I was in Afghanistan in 2011, some of the members I met at the time were on their fifth deployment. I know that there are those who are spending extended time away. And I know they understand very well exactly what it is that they're taking on when they join Defence. Some of the extended programs and operations that members are involved in now can involve nine months away from their families and Australia at any given time. This in itself is something that we are very well aware of and need to be, as members of parliament, in understanding why the measures involved in this bill are so important.

One of the last changes in this bill goes to administrative issues with the Department of Veterans' Affairs. We've invested significant funding into DVA as a government. We need DVA to work better for veterans and their families. We've amended relevant legislation to ensure that payments to veterans are streamlined, as much as possible, while ensuring that there are the appropriate levels of compliance that are expected of us in this place. This will affect income support clients and exempt certain lump sum payments from the income tests. That will allow certain exempt lump sum determinations made by DSS to apply to income support clients where this is consistent with DVA's legislation and policy. The practical effect of these changes for veterans is a simple lessening of red tape and bureaucratic delays in the processing of their payments. I can't think of anything better than the mental health support and services that our government has and will continue to provide, in a lifetime sense, for veterans.

I quoted George Washington when I started this speech and how a country, and a great country like Australia, looks after its veterans. I talked about the fact that we have a world-leading system for this. In this centenary year of the end of the Great War in 1918, we should take great pride in the system of support for veterans we have in this country—from government support through DVA to organisations like the RSL, Legacy, Soldier On and so many other community based organisations.

The years have marched on since our first conflicts, and we've had often to look further at our government's response to the needs of veterans and their families. I'm very proud of how our government has done that, particularly since 2013. We've come a long way from the days of the Vietnam vets and how they were received when they came back to Australia, and how some of their resources were dealt with in not getting to them when they needed to. We are now dealing, though, with a much younger cohort of veterans, from far more recent deployments, who have very different needs. We need to continue to work in this space so that we're meeting the needs of not only our more mature aged veterans but also those who need a different form of assistance.

I'm immensely proud. I've met so many Defence Force members, both as part of the Defence Force program, those who have come into our parliament, and those I've met through RSLs and the community. I am incredibly proud of what they do for our nation. But I also understand the great price and sacrifice that is made by many of them, and their families, and the over-100,000 men and women of the Defence Force who have lost their lives in the various conflicts. I understand very directly, through my own family, the lifetime of loss and what that means. I also really want to acknowledge Legacy and the work they've done over the years, especially for the families of Defence Force members. And my sisters—this was really important to my family. Equally, I want to acknowledge the Red Cross and the Salvation Army, who also provided much assistance in the earlier years.

In reflecting on what George Washington had to say, I think, if George were alive now, we in this country could look him in the eye with great pride. I see the measures in this bill adding to the services and supports that we provide as a nation to the veterans that we respect so much. In finishing, I want to thank every member, past, present, and future, of our Australian Defence Force for what they do for this nation and reassure them that they have the utmost respect of the members of this parliament.

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