Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

In my six years in this place, I've had the privilege of holding the responsibility of being Chair of the Defence Subcommittee of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade. Now that the government has changed hands, I find myself in the position of deputy chair. It's a role that I relish. It's probably one of the ones I've enjoyed the most of the numerous committees I've served on in this place.

I've never served in uniform. I remember as a young lad, I say to the school students who are in the chamber at the moment, fronting up to the St Kilda Road recruitment centre for the ADF. I wanted to be a fighter pilot, like many other young people—yes, a top gun. We'd shifted from F-111s to the F/A-18 'Classic' Hornet and I wanted a piece of the action. So I went down to the St Kilda Road recruiting centre and they said, 'Come back when you have high distinctions in maths I, maths II, English, physics and your choice of subject.' Guess what? I never went back!

But, whilst I have never served in uniform, particularly in my role as chair and now deputy chair of the Defence Subcommittee I have developed an enduring respect for those that have. I have had the privilege of working alongside many of our men and women in uniform in that role. Also I've tried to do at least one or two ADF parliamentary program trips throughout my six years in this place. I can honestly say that the men and women of our ADF are absolutely remarkable human beings. If any of the young students in this chamber want to take up a life of service in this country, they could do no better than to serve in the ADF for a period of time.

It's often said that men and women who go into politics are volunteers and their families are conscripts. Exactly the same could be said for men and women who join the ADF. Our men and women in the ADF put themselves at risk. They know that, at any point in time, they could be called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice. But their families don't make those commitments—at least not firsthand. But we know, out of all of the inquiries that have been done over many years, that our men and women in the ADF sometimes, not always, are impacted upon by their service. Sometimes it's physically; sometimes it's mentally. And, of course, that has an impact upon their families. What I have learned in my time in these various roles is that, when men and women join the ADF, they join with great ideals of doing great things and enjoying great comradeship. One moment they're flying, driving or sailing multimillion dollar—or in some cases multibillion dollar—equipment. Their camaraderie is sky high. They have a sense of mission. They have a sense of purpose. But when they leave the ADF, particularly those who leave the ADF involuntarily because of either ill health or disciplinary reasons, those involuntary departures can have very, very significant impacts on our ex-serving ADF members. Of course, many of those ADF members, those veterans, will return to families, and there are impacts that family members watch and see their loved one go through: feelings of helplessness and the loss of mission and purpose. Like any family, they share that pain, and it has impacts on those families.

The care of our veterans and their families is an issue that should be absolutely beyond politics. I don't care whether you're Labor, Liberal, National, Teal or Independent—those men and women who served this country with great distinction deserve the honour to be respected and looked after not only when they are in uniform but also when they leave.

Back in 2017, I think, I had the privilege of travelling overseas to look at the world's best practice for the care of our veterans who are suffering from PTSD. I had the privilege of travelling to England, Sweden, the Netherlands and Canada to look at what those countries do to look after their veterans. And what I saw in those four countries, beyond a shadow of a doubt, was that the provisions that we have in this country are far better than in those other countries. That's not to suggest that the $11½-odd billion that we spend each year in the care of our veterans, through the Department of Veterans' Affairs, is perfect. It is not. The care of our veterans cannot just be gauged by a dollar sign. There have been many stories, and the current royal commission is working through those, about people not receiving the care that they need. I'm not suggesting for a second that it is a perfect system—it is not—but I don't want Australians to have a misperception that their governments of any persuasion do not hold veterans in the highest esteem and do not do everything they can to look after them. Can we do better? Yes, we can. Must we do better? Yes, we must.

The Defence, Veterans' and Families' Acute Support Package Bill 2022 will provide greater care and protections to the family members of our veterans. Families are the conscripts—the people who didn't sign up as their family members did. I want to acknowledge all members in this place who have served as veterans affairs minister, certainly in the 45th and 46th parliaments. The former Deputy Prime Minister, who's in the chamber today, was one of them. Every single one of those men who have held that position—I think they have all been men since I've been in this place—has absolutely undertaken their responsibilities with great diligence, care and, dare I say, love.

I want to acknowledge the current veterans' affairs minister. I want to acknowledge him for taking my call recently about a veteran who I was very concerned about and who's a constituent of mine. As sometimes happens, we were getting a bit of a run-around from the DVA. I rang and I said: 'Mate, we've got problems. I'm quite concerned about this constituent.' And, to his credit, he fixed it in 24 hours. Credit to you.

This is beyond politics. The care of our veterans should never descend into a political game of argy-bargy. I hope that does not happen. I'm not going to stand up here and say, 'We've done this; you guys have done that.' There's no place in this debate for that, not when speaking of the men and women who've served our country with distinction. I can tell you now, from all my dealings with them, they are not interested in that sort of conduct. They just want to know, if they're going to pull on the uniform, if they're going to put themselves in harm's way, that they're going to be looked after and, importantly—probably even more important in their eyes—that their families are going to be looked after. That's what this bill will do. This bill, in effect, mirrors a bill that the previous government put into the parliament prior to the election, but I'm very, very pleased that the current government has picked it up and run with it. I thank the House.

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