James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the second reading of the Defence, Veterans' and Families' Acute Support Package Bill 2022. I want to start by paying tribute to all members of this House who have served our nation. The member for Menzies, just to my right here, I thank very much for his contribution and congratulate on his maiden speech yesterday. I thank him for his service to the country and the service he will be continuing to provide our country in this parliament. We are very lucky to have many veterans elected to this House and into the Senate, and I think it is excellent to have that perspective when we're deliberating on all matters but in particular when we're deliberating on matters regarding support to those who have served our nation, our veterans.

I support the bill, and many speakers have gone through some of the elements that the bill covers. I'm very lucky and proud to have the Jamie Larcombe Centre located in my electorate of Sturt. Jamie Larcombe tragically died in Afghanistan. The centre there is part of a tribute to his service to our nation and is doing vital work supporting veterans throughout metropolitan Adelaide and greater South Australia. I know there are many similar centres around the country. I'm also a proud member of my local RSLs. A lot of them have excellent support programs and wellbeing programs. Whilst they do fantastic work, we can always do better as a parliament to provide more support to the work that they do and to the service and support our veterans need, and that's what this bill does. It emanates from the previous government, from the last budget, and now we have the opportunity to pass it through this House.

The previous speaker and other speakers talked about some of the elements. Removing the requirement to warlike service I think in particular is an excellent outcome. That definition has waxed and waned over the years. My grandmother was a nurse in the Second World War. She served here in Australia at the Heidelberg hospital in Melbourne, so she didn't leave the country. But she cared for many prisoners of war that returned to this country, and that, as everyone can imagine, was an extremely traumatic experience. She spent the rest of her life talking about the Aussies that came home whom she cared for. Many didn't come home, but service to this nation absolutely goes in many forms. Previous speakers talked about the sorts of people that will now be eligible for that support, and I think that's vitally important.

It is fair to say we have improved greatly our understanding of the need to provide support to families of our veterans because of what they do to support our veterans, like we seek to do as a parliament. But I do know from working with veterans in my own constituency, and all members would be similar to this, that certainly we could do better to support families of our veterans and particularly those providing care and support to veterans dealing with a whole range of issues because of the great service they gave to our nation. The children of veterans is actually an emerging category of circumstance that's raised by veterans coming to me and talking about their anguish. They know the burden that is on their young children at times, because of the way in which they are seeking to be supported, and the awareness that their children might have. Bizarrely and disgustingly, which surprised me in fact, some children of our veterans can receive bullying in the community, which is abhorrent and to be condemned but equally goes to remind us how important it is that we've got a structure in place for the entirety of the family unit around our veterans, whom we quite rightly need to provide absolutely top-tier care and support to. This is a bipartisan effort, and I know the House is obviously supporting this unanimously.

I wanted to take the opportunity again to make a contribution on another measure that's going through this chamber this sitting week to further support our veterans. We all know that there's still a lot more to be done, and I know there'll be other things that come through this chamber to provide enhanced support to our veterans. I'm very confident that that will continue to be very much a bipartisan process and one that we look forward to working with those opposite on, to support them in any way that they identify. Hopefully, they take constructive suggestion from us at times into the future to make sure we're providing the highest standard of support for those that have served our nation. With that, I commend the bill to the House.

See this speech in context