Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Like most members of this place, I regularly attend defence commemoration services. It is, in my view, a very dignified way of saying thank you and showing our gratitude for defence personnel who, since Federation, have served Australia. Those services also provide a public recognition of the significance of critical military events and of how they may have changed the course of history and are often examples of extraordinary sacrifice and courage. I believe Australia does that well, and military commemoration services have become a regular feature of Australian life, with some services being very unique to individual communities. However, what we haven't done so well, as a nation, is to support our defence personnel during and after their military service. That has culminated in the shocking statistics on defence suicides and the royal commission that is currently underway.

The Defence, Veterans' and Families' Acute Support Package Bill 2022 seeks to improve services for present and past defence members and their families. The bill establishes the Defence, Veterans' and Families' Acute Support Package. The existing family support package provides support to families of veterans with warlike service who are participating in rehabilitation to adjust to new or challenging life circumstances. The program provides short-term targeted support and complements Department of Veterans' Affairs services and other government services. Under this bill, eligibility for support is extended to family members of working-age veterans who are at risk or are in crisis, irrespective of whether the veteran is participating in a rehabilitation program or has rendered warlike service, and it expands the range of support to family members under the existing program. The extended range of supports available includes child care, household assistance such as garden maintenance and meal preparation, and capacity-building support in relation to financial literacy, relationship skills and mental health first aid. The bill also amends the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 so that family support payments for veterans and their families are exempt from income tax, and it amends the Social Security Act 1991 so that family support payments for veterans and their families are not income for the purposes of the social security income test. I understand that around 430 families and 450 widowed partners are expected to benefit in the first year.

Families do play an essential role in supporting current and ex-serving Australian Defence Force members. The government recognises that more support is needed for partners and families and recognises that support for veterans' families is too important to wait for the outcome of the royal commission, as other speakers have, quite rightly, said. The support package responds to recommendation 19 of the report of the August 2017 senate inquiry into suicide by veterans and ex-service personnel titled The constant battle: suicide by veterans. It also responds to recommendation 19.2 of the June 2019 Productivity Commission report A better way to support veterans, going further than the recommendation to ensure veterans and their families are indeed well supported.

The defence, veterans' and families' acute support package will provide at-risk veteran families with access to a range of services up to the value of $12,500 over two years. Families can access support services to the value of $7,500 in the first year and $5,000 in the second year. In addition, families with children can access additional support to the value of $10,000 a year for children under school age and $5,000 a year for primary-school-age children until the child reaches high school age. Also, under this measure, widowed partners can access support services to the value of $27,835 each year for two years to meet the cost of help around the home such as cleaning, gardening and other maintenance, counselling for them and their children, skills based support such as mental health and first aid, and other practical support for the family's wellbeing.

The existing program is targeted at working-age families in recognition of the unique challenges they face transitioning to civilian life. With respect to that, I want to quote fairly extensively from some of the key points from the Productivity Commission report A better way to support veterans:

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The issue of suicide will be better addressed by the royal commission.

Importantly, the report also says:

An implicit principle underpinning the current veterans' compensation and rehabilitation system is that military service is a unique occupation. There are a number of features that distinguish military service from other occupations, including that members:

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The key message of this report is that despite recent improvements to the system, the current veterans' compensation and rehabilitation system requires fundamental reform.

Those comments from the Productivity Commission report, I believe, accurately sum up the situation with respect to veterans right now. They couldn't be more clear and more direct. It is time that changes are made and additional compensation be provided.

The member for Lyne, the speaker before me, quite rightly pointed out that this legislation mirrors legislation brought in by the last coalition government, I think, in March this year. My response to that is simply this: the legislation responds to two reports, the Senate report of 2017 and the Productivity Commission report of 2019. They're from three and five years ago. It took the coalition government some three years after the Productivity Commission report to even bring legislation before the House when it knew that there was an election pending and the legislation would not be dealt with. Furthermore, we subsequently learned that the coalition government cut $430 million from the Department of Veterans' Affairs. Again, that was money that was urgently required to address many of the issues that have been raised by the Productivity Commission report and which are being addressed by this legislation. Yes, it is well overdue, but it is good to see that this government, as one of its priorities, has come into this place and brought this legislation before the parliament so we can get on with providing the support services that veterans need.

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