Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Defence Personnel) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link] Unfortunately, this government's approach can be summed up as too little, too late with almost every issue it deals with, large or small, crisis or otherwise. There have been contemporary elusions to cartoons and comedies during our recent political discourse. All too often, the Morrison-Joyce government reminds me of the legendary British comedy Yes, Prime Minister. At first I couldn't work out whether our Prime Minister is more like the fictional prime minister Jim Hacker or his permanent secretary Sir Humphrey Appleby. I wasn't too sure at first. Certainly the Prime Minister has all the vices of Jim Hacker, but none of his virtues. But I've concluded that our Prime Minister is more like Sir Humphrey Appleby, coming up with ways to do nothing, invariably ignorance and then inaction, inertia and idleness—denying that problems exist, or pivoting from them, and then, when it becomes unavoidable, rewriting history. It's all spin, spin, spin.

But there are dire consequences to this approach. In the area that I represent, as the shadow minister for veterans affairs, the government's belated response to holding a royal commission into veteran suicide is one such occasion. Veterans, their families and Labor have been calling for a royal commission. It took until April this year for the government to announce a royal commission. Tragically, during the war in Afghanistan we lost 41 lives. We've lost more to veteran suicide during that time. And reports are that more than 35 defence personnel and veterans have taken their lives up until June this year alone.

Let's not forget that, despite this epidemic of veteran suicide in recent times and the loud calls from the royal commission and from veterans and their families, the Prime Minister consistently and stubbornly refused to act. Then, in a marketing exercise, all spin—obviously to placate veterans and their grieving families—he announced, guess what? A national commissioner—better than a royal commission, he said. Now he's sacked the national commissioner, the legislation is stuck in the Senate and he has no plans to appoint a new national commissioner. It was only when faced with a backbench revolt through a bipartisan motion in support of a royal commission that he was dragged kicking and screaming into a royal commission.

Look at what we're seeing unfolding before our eyes in Afghanistan. We thank the ADF personnel and the public servants who are doing their very best to get people out. But, guess what? The Prime Minister—warned for months by veterans, senior defence personnel, Labor and others to take action, get the interpreters, get the Afghans who aligned their interests with our interests out of Afghanistan, when other countries were airlifting their nationals and airlifting the Afghan interpreters who were helping their people—refused to act. Now our dedicated diplomats and dedicated ADF are hastily organising evacuation. We thank them for it. It's been left to veterans and advocates like Glenn Kolomeitz and others to work with people on the ground, desperately trying to get people out.

And look what's happened today in my home state of Queensland. This morning the Queensland premier took action on quarantine—a federal government responsibility—because this government won't act. Premier Palaszczuk announced she would build a 1,000-bed, purpose-built dedicated quarantine facility at Wellcamp Airport, near Toowoomba, to be operational by the end of the year. Why? Because the project was rejected by the Prime Minister, because he reckons he couldn't get enough planes large enough to fly there—not good enough. He claimed it isn't suitable or accessible to the Toowoomba hospital. I bet he's never been there. Then he claimed it is a desert. Little did he know that Canberra is more arid than Toowoomba, and Wellcamp is less than 150 kilometres from Brisbane by road and less than a 40-minute flight from the Brisbane hospital.

This government just can't seem to get it right, whether it's on vaccination or quarantine. The Morrison government needs to act and get this right. But constantly we get marketing, spin and 'Look over there!'—again and again and again. It's not good enough. It's always too little, too late, whether it's veterans issues, vaccination or quarantine. It's time for the Prime Minister to be the Prime Minister, not the prime procrastinator. Do your job, Prime Minister.

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