Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for External Territories) Share this | Hansard source

I don't know what I do here. I'm highly embarrassed by those wonderful words, and I thank the member for Monash for that wonderful contribution. I had prepared a speech about veterans affairs, which I probably won't use, but I just want to say to the member for Monash and other members in this place that I'm not on my own here. Right across this parliament, on both sides, from all quarters, we have people of commitment and people of character, some of whom we agree with some of the time and some of whom we disagree with all of the time, but what we can be assured of is that, by and large, their motivation is for public service and to represent their communities in the best possible way. I'm not sure whether I'll give a valedictory. I may, but I'm not quite sure how I would address the words of the member for Monash in a way that could do him justice. There was no need for you to make that contribution in the way you did, and I'm very, very grateful. Thank you.

I will reflect for a moment on what it was to be Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Minister for Defence Science and Personnel. I was given what was, I think, a great responsibility but a wonderful opportunity, an opportunity to meet and be part of a broad defence and veterans family. My father had been a serviceman and was TPI. His father and his father's brothers, five of them, went to the First World War. My father's brother went to the Second World War. My uncles went to the war. So we had a tradition of service. I was in the Citizen Military Forces, a cut-lunch soldier, for a few years. So to be given the awesome responsibility of being Minister for Veterans' Affairs was a huge privilege and a dreadfully great honour. What I found was that, by and large, when we worked across the chamber on issues which related to veterans there was very little difference in approach. Michael Ronaldson, as you'll recall, was the shadow minister for a period. It was a privilege to be part of that family and to understand the needs and wants of veterans, understand their service, understand the difficulties they and their families confronted as a result of their service, and understand our nation's obligation to accept responsibility for those people as veterans from the day that walked into Kapooka. The day that they sign on is the date that we sign up to look after their interests for the rest of their life. That doesn't mean we have to be sitting on their shoulders, but clearly, as we've seen, particularly after a very intense period of war in the Middle East and Afghanistan, we've hurt people. We as a nation have a responsibility to make sure that those people are given every opportunity to heal. I commend the government for the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. I think it's very important.

I talked briefly about the privilege of being a minister. I mentioned Villers-Bretonneux; the privilege of giving the Anzac morning address at Gallipoli or V-B; and being involved in the identification of a mass grave at Fromelles. Working with the French and British governments for the exhumation and then the identification of those First World War heroes and then having them buried in a dedicated war service gravesite at Fromelles was really very important. It could not have been done without the tireless work of the Department of Defence's Army History Unit and the Department of Veterans' Affairs. Similarly, I accompanied some old special forces soldiers, who had served in Vietnam, to Hanoi. The purpose of this trip was to receive the remains of the last Australian soldier missing in action, Private Fisher, and we were able to accompany him home. That was an enormous privilege and a great honour, and I think it helps me, at least, come to terms with the reality of war: sacrifice, comradeship, struggle, hardship, and the need for us to forever recognise that the hardship, the struggle and the sacrifice are borne not only by those soldiers themselves but by their families.

So, when we look at this legislation, we use just one marker: how does it make life better for someone? To me, it appears that this type of legislation that we are talking about today will make life easier. We will have our differences about the issues of the TPI Federation and their requests for more resources, and we can have those discussions, but what we have to do is agree that across the parliament we have but one responsibility: to look after them and to make sure they get the best opportunity and the best service.

I think my comrade next to me may know the figure, but I think we've had in excess of 40,000 soldiers, sailors and air men and women serve in our longest war. When I finished as a minister in 2013, we were only halfway through. We have the issues which have emerged now and which are the subject of the royal commission, and we have an enormous responsibility to address those issues. But I have to say that the motivation of those people who are servants of the community in the Department of Veterans' Affairs should really be understood. They do their utmost, given the restrictions we place upon them, to do the best they possibly can for veterans.

I know I have spent very little time talking about the legislation, but, having felt quite embarrassed, I thought I should respond in some way. I again thank the member for Monash. Member for Monash, as I said in a contribution earlier today about you, I hope you will reconsider your thoughts about walking away from the chair of the Privileges Committee. It's very important that you stay there, and I know that's a feeling which is shared across the parliament.

Mr Deputy Speaker, I won't take up any more of your time. Thank you very much.

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