Phillip Thompson (Herbert, Liberal National Party, Shadow Minister for Defence Industry) Share this | Hansard source

It does not surprise me at all that members of the Labor Party, of the Labor government, would interject when I'm talking about veterans mental health and how bad it is out there, would try to defend capping veterans mental health support and allied health support and would get so angry about having it called out.

We saw it in here yesterday. We saw the Prime Minister get upset when he was called out on this issue, and we saw the Minister for Veterans' Affairs too. But, in the community, veterans are upset—and rightly so. When those in here go home after being a member of parliament, tonight or when back in their electorate they'll sleep easy; everything's fine. In the veteran community, we're taking phone calls from people that are doing it tough. We're taking phone calls from spouses and loved ones who can't find their loved one, their veteran, who's gone missing because they're having a bad time. We're the ones who are on the phone, not those members of parliament that sit across and want to interject, those who want to defend price capping for our veterans and who won't allow them to get the support they need. I think it's a disgrace. I think it's disgraceful.

Those members who think that the veterans affairs situation now is fine, with these price caps that are going to see people in a worse place, and who want to yell out and interject should be taking these phone calls from veterans who are in a dark place. You're not there. You're not on the ground. You're not doing it for real. The number of people that are continually ringing me and other veterans around the country and complaining about this disgraceful act from this Labor government—it is not just a broken promise. It's not just deceitful. It is a life-changing, life-altering disgrace.

I am so ashamed that we've had a minister for veterans affairs try to defend price capping by saying it was in the royal commission report. It wasn't. It should not be there. They should redo it, because veterans deserve better than this Labor government.

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