Keith Wolahan (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. Can I begin by thanking the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, the member for Burt, for being here and introduce myself as the co-chairman of the Parliamentary Friends of Veterans, along with the member for Spence. The member for Spence and I recently found out that we initially served as army reservists together, and it's wonderful to gather here again. I also served with the member for Solomon—we did commando selection together—and I'd like to commit to you and this place that, when it comes to serving veterans, I'd like us to work together for their interests over ours.

I am a veteran and I was a lawyer, but I will admit that I find the current legislative regime confusing. It's really hard to understand. If I'm struggling after 12 years as a barrister and many years as a solicitor, then veterans and their families are struggling. If you go to the Law Council of Australia website, they have principles of the rule of law. One of them is this:

The law must be both readily known and available, and certain and clear; …

In this area, we can do a lot better, and the Defence, Veterans' and Families' Acute Support Package Bill 2022 seeks to improve that.

In the House last night, I was honoured to give my first speech. Sitting up there in the gallery were the parents of Greg Sher, a Victorian who was killed in Afghanistan. Also watching online were the parents of Marcus Case. They are friends of mine and have links to Menzies. But we should also remember those who suffered and were wounded, not in Afghanistan but in training and in courses and back here at home in Australia. It's right that we remember those who paid the ultimate sacrifice, but there are many names on many memorials of people who paid the same sacrifice but here at home.

There are particular aspects of this bill that I commend. I will single out three. The exemption from income tax is important. Whenever I meet veterans, I see that the dignity that comes from work is important to everyone and it's important to veterans. I have seen some veterans who are maybe pushed down a path where they could be working and they're not, and they suffer for that. Sometimes we kill people with kindness, and we shouldn't. In this place, on many other areas and issues, we talk about the dignity of work, and that applies equally to veterans. We should always encourage that wherever we can, and this exemption is important for that.

I also note that it has other services that have been extended to families, including child care and household assistance. If I could give an example: a good friend of mine Marco De Vincentis, who deployed to Iraq but didn't deploy to Afghanistan, passed away too young, here at home. I met his partner, Natalie, at an event, and I felt a sense of guilt that I didn't get in touch during COVID. I found out that she needed help with simple things, like her roof was leaking—that was something Marco used to do. I didn't know what to do, but luckily I remembered my dad's a roof plumber and I sent him down to fix it. But not everyone has a dad who's a roof plumber or who knows one, so to have that sort of assistance in the bill is really important as well.

Finally, I think not making this link to warlike service is very important. I remember, before deploying to Afghanistan, meeting many former commandos or former members of the ADF who hadn't deployed, and you could tell they had a sense of guilt about not doing that. They didn't need to have that guilt, because they'd made the same contract that all of us had. They'd put on a uniform not knowing where they would be sent—

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