Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

The point of order from the member opposite shows a misunderstanding of how this committee would work to provide oversight and prevent the Defence overreach which has occurred with this legislation. This legislation before the chamber and expected to go to the Senate is all about the Department of Defence overreaching into an area without consideration of how that bill would be accepted or denied across the chamber. Almost inevitably in this place, issues around defence and veterans receive bipartisan support. This bill is not receiving bipartisan support, because it was given no consideration by the coalition before it got to the chamber. If this defence committee had been in place, we could have saved the minister from this debacle.

The minister has to admit that there is now no pathway under his legislation for Teddy Sheean to receive the Victoria Cross, for Richard Norton to receive the Victoria Cross or for Harry Smith's troops at Long Tan to receive individual Medals for Gallantry. The reason there's no pathway is that they would be timed out by the 20-year rule that the minister is imposing on the Defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal for reviewable actions. They would also fall foul of the legislation because family members are not allowed to initiate a review. The only ones who can initiate a review under the minister's legislation are people who are eyewitnesses or in the chain of command of the individual who committed the gallant act. The minister has stretched the truth to a point where I think his colleagues on the backbench realise now that he is selling them something that is completely unsellable to the general public. That is why, without any consultation, the veterans community is furious. The independent tribunal is scathing of the minister and his claimed consultation because they simply were not asked.

I want to end with four words: we will remember them. They're simple words: we will remember them. It's from the ode of remembrance. It's not 'we will remember them when it's in a convenient timeframe', it's not 'we will remember them when it suits us'. This minister has placed a use-by date on 'we will remember them'. On this side of the House, we will always remember them. The formation of this joint committee would allow this disgraceful bill to be eliminated from the parliament in first place. I urge the minister to come to his senses and act in a bipartisan way.

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