Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) | Hansard source

As a fourth-generation veteran—my great-grandfather served on the Somme in World War I, my grandfather served in the Second World War, my father served in Vietnam, and my two brothers and I all served in Timor-Leste with the ADF—I hold a veterans card. I've had treatment that's been covered by that card, so I know personally and in my family what it means to come home from service and need that system to work.

I recommend—even though he's left—that the mover of the motion, the member for Cowper, speak to the veterans minister, the member for Burt, and ask him those questions so that he can allay the fears that Bruce in Port Macquarie has. And I go further in saying that it's his personal responsibility not to increase the level of anxiety in his electorate, as some—namely, the member for Herbert—have been doing for their own grandstanding. Indeed, it is the member for Cowper's responsibility to Bruce and the other veterans in his electorate to reduce the level of anxiety, because Bruce will get all the treatment that he requires. I think it's important to put that on the record and to speak to this—I think the member for Cowper comes from a good place; others, I'm not too sure about. But I think this motion is dressed up as concerns to take political advantage and is pretty disingenuous.

Let's look at the mess that the coalition made of veterans affairs. When we, the Albanese federal Labor government, came to government in 2022, the Department of Veterans' Affairs was not just underfunded; worse, it was completely broken. There was a backlog of almost 42,000 new veteran claims that had not been looked at. The then secretary of DVA, Major General Liz Cosson, said plainly that, under the coalition's resourcing, that backlog would never be cleared. So there are tens of thousands of veterans that would never have even received someone to look through their case so that their case could be resolved. The ambivalence and indifference of those opposite, their negligence when they were last in government, including members who are speaking on this bill—they decided that the extra resources for DVA weren't worth it. They fought against a royal commission into defence and veteran suicide. Just let that sink in for a sec. Over a prolonged period of time, the coalition argued against the royal commission that has led to drastically increased resources going into this sector, including to meet recommendations that give more support to allied health providers so that they can give our veterans what they need. That's what we inherited—a shamefully broken system.

And, just weeks before the election, the coalition's then shadow finance minister, Senator Jane Hume—now deputy leader of the coalition—was questioned on national radio as to whether DVA even needed the extra staff that our government had funded to clear the backlog. She was questioning that—whether it should actually occur or not. I don't know where she was getting her advice. Maybe from the member for Herbert, who's busily trying to write down some things at the moment in order to reject what I'm saying.

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