Claire Clutterham (Sturt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak in support of the Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures No. 1) Bill 2025, which continues the government's response into the recommendations arising from the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. The final report from that royal commission contained 122 recommendations. These evidence based recommendations were designed to set out a blueprint for the transformational reform required to address the national tragedy of defence and veteran suicide—and it is a national tragedy.

The entire defence and veteran ecosystem was considered by the recommendations, meaning they touched Commonwealth, state and territory government agencies and other institutions responsible for the health and wellbeing of serving and ex-serving Australian Defence Force members and their families. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, at least 1,677 serving and ex-serving ADF members died by suicide between 1997 and 2021. That's more than 20 times the number of defence personnel killed in active duty over the same period. But the royal commission estimates the true number of preventable deaths to be upwards of 3,000. This is a crisis, and the gravity of the crisis cannot be underestimated.

Further recommendations from the royal commission included: the development of a doctrine on people, capability and service for the ADF to make clear that Australia's military capability and operational readiness depend on a physically and mentally healthy workforce; public reporting on ADF culture, health and wellbeing, and incorporating member's health and wellbeing in senior-level performance appraisals, as well as ensuring promotion selection processes reward leaders who have a positive impact on wellbeing and culture; to strengthen defence and Department of Veterans' Affairs research, data collection and analysis, and data sharing, to enhance their ability to identify, understand and monitor the impact of risk and protective factors for suicide and suicidality among serving and ex-serving ADF members; and to provide ongoing funding to veterans and families hubs to develop a national funding agreement on veteran wellbeing. Through its recommendations, the royal commission also sought to address the stresses that service and postservice life place on Defence families, to prevent physical and mental injuries within the ADF, to encourage members to seek help early, to prioritise recovery when an injury does happen, to reduce the risk of burnout, to make veterans' entitlements fair and equitable regardless of how a member's military service is classified and to make compensation-claim processing efficient and transparent.

One such organisation that is working hard towards improving the mental health and wellbeing of current and former Australian military members, as well as the emergency services personnel and their families, is Military and Emergency Services Health Australia, or MESHA, which is a not-for-profit research training and program centre. In South Australia, MESHA is based in my electorate of Sturt. MESHA conducts co-designed and impact driven research in priority areas of unmet need and seeks to embed lived experience in the design and delivery of its training and programs to ensure that authentic and sustainable outcomes for service communities are achieved.

MESHA's programs are facilitated by trainers with lived experience and a service background so that the training programs can be delivered with authenticity, credibility and genuine connection with participants. All of MESHA's trainers are current or former military and/or emergency services personnel, trained in group facilitation, trained in trauma informed care, and trained in establishing and maintaining boundaries and have also undergone program-specific modularised training and have been a participant in the program that they are delivering. MESHA, thank you for the work that you are doing not only to support veterans but to raise awareness of the challenges and complexities of postservice life. This you did beautifully at the MESHA Remembrance Day breakfast in Adelaide on 11 November this year.

These stories are important. On 11 November 2025, Remembrance Day, I also had the honour of joining MESHA at the breakfast in Adelaide to hear more stories. I also heard the stories and reflected on the courage and sacrifice of our Australian Defence Force personnel past and present at my local Payneham RSL and also at the Kensington Park RSL. At Payneham, the service was hosted by Mr Jordan Box and his beautiful OPK9 dog Sally, who is about to retire. Thank you, Sally.

I also attended the dawn service on Anzac Day this year at the Kensington RSL where, under the leadership of sub-branch president Mr Peter Lloyd, a moving and reflecting ceremony was held. At the ceremony and in his remembrance address, retired brigadier Ellis Wayland AM made striking remarks about the need for more investment, more encouragement and more support for young people to join the Australian Defence Force. In recognition of the fact that our Australian values and way of life are worth fighting for, he asked, 'In the event of an armed conflict affecting Australia, would young Australians rush to sign up to serve?' He spoke of the urgent need to create an environment where the answer to his question would always be yes.

On Vietnam Veterans' Remembrance Day in August this year, I also attended an equally moving ceremony at the Payneham RSL lead ably by the president, Mark Lawson-Kent; the vice president, Bert Pac; and the secretary, Liam Ibbetson, to mark the courage and sacrifice Australians made in that conflict. The ceremony was remarkable for two reasons: its beautiful simplicity and its telling of the stories of those who served and explanation of history. Many of those stories live on in postservice lives, and veterans deserve meaningful postservice lives in which they are cared for and supported.

I take a moment in discussing postservice life to reflect on and echo the remarks made by the member for Gippsland, who spoke before me and who rightly noted that many people who serve in our defence forces give their service to our country and then go on to make incredible contributions to our community. I have a former Air Force intelligence officer working in my electorate office. She is my right-hand woman and one of the most competent and capable people I have ever worked with. She has an exceptional blend of military and civilian skills. Thank you, Emerald. You are such an asset to me and my team, and I'm so glad you're in my corner. I encourage all employers out there to do what I did and consider employing a veteran. Exceptional leadership and de-escalation and judgement skills are on offer. Please consider it.

For those who need it, though, this bill continues the Albanese Labor government's commitment to implementing a better and simpler veterans entitlement system so that veterans and families can access the support that they need and deserve faster. The complexity and frustration of the veterans entitlement system was found, in the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide interim report, to be a contributing factor to suicidality amongst our veteran community, so, from the middle of 2026, all veteran claims will be assessed for compensation and rehabilitation under one single piece of legislation that will be simpler to use and faster to process—the new and improved Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act. This reframes and resets how we support veterans and means the government will be able to better provide the services and supports the veteran community needs more quickly and when the services are needed.

The bill proposes a number of minor technical amendments to the Veterans' Entitlements, Treatment and Support (Simplification and Harmonisation) Act to ensure the smooth implementation of these reforms and transition from the previous complicated arrangements, which were comprised of three acts, into just a single act. The bill operates to clarify the powers of the existing Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission and Repatriation Commission as they transition to a single repatriation commission.

We'll also remove ambiguity in the legislation for veterans and families seeking review of a DVA decision and clarify the interpretation of eligibility for important funeral benefits to ensure claims for funeral compensation are determined according to the act under which they are lodged and the correct entitlements are available as quickly as possible.

The bill also strengthens the review rights for decisions made under the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Defence-related Claims) Act 1988. This bill will clarify and make minor adjustments to the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission (Defence-related Claims) Act and the simplification act to complement the government's original policy intention for veterans rehabilitation and compensation legislative reform. Under the current arrangements, veteran entitlements are provided for under three separate compensation acts and eligibility under one of those acts depends on when the veteran served and which period of service caused or contributed to the condition being claimed.

The simplification act modifies these arrangements by providing that, from 1 July 2026, all claims for compensation and rehabilitation will be determined under the improved Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission. It does this through four mechanisms. The first is to provide the MRCC with appropriate powers to make instruments in the pre-commencement period, before 1 July 2026. The second amendment preserves certain treatment related instruments made under the VEA as though they have effect under the MRCA. The third amendment is to confirm that all claims for funeral compensation should be determined according to the act under which they are lodged, which will ensure consistency with the date of claim approach, as intended under the improved MRCA. The fourth amendment is to clarify the review pathway for claimants who have DRCA original determinations made before 21 April 2025. The single review pathway commenced on that date, and, currently, there is some ambiguity about the rights of appeal for these claimants.

These amendments together will clarify and make minor adjustments to the veterans legislation to align with the government's original policy intention to simplify and harmonise the veteran compensation system. This will mark the most significant reform to how we support veterans in a century. It will enable veterans and families to get the support that they need and that they deserve when they need it. It is also a sign of this government's deep respect for the service, commitment and sacrifice that the veterans give to Australia. I share that deep respect, and I say to my friends at the Payneham RSL and the Kensington Park RSL: thank you for your service and for continuing to share your stories.

I stand with the Minister for Veterans' Affairs and the Minister for Defence Personnel as he undertakes this important reform work. I commend the bill to the House.

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