Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Minister for Defence Science and Personnel and Minister for Indigenous Health—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Calwell will resume her seat. I simply say to the Leader of the Opposition—and I am not trying to deflect the blame from myself—that the member for Canning was on his feet and did interject while he was on his feet. I chose to ignore that and then saw that the member for Calwell had risen and gave her the call. Without trying to predict what is going to happen, I know that my crime is that I have been a bad director of the theatre here and of timing. But I gave the call to the member for Calwell in the flow of what I saw and I will hold by that call on this occasion.

Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Minister for Defence Science and Personnel and Minister for Indigenous Health. What measures in the budget recognise our Second World War and Korean War prisoners of war?

Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence Science and Personnel) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Calwell for her question and remind the House that on 5 May this year I was fortunate enough to accompany 21 former POWs to Kirribilli House, where the Prime Minister announced a new payment for them: the prisoner of war recognition payment. This payment, reflected in the budget papers, will provide $500 a fortnight tax-free, indexed and without any income test to veterans who are former POWs of the Second World War and the Korean War. Mr Speaker, you will recall that over 30,000 Australians were prisoners of war during the Second World War and the Korean War. This announcement is important. It provides $27 million over four years. It will come into effect as of 20 September this year.

Interestingly, of the people who were at Kirribilli House, at least one of them accompanied the Governor-General to Hellfire Pass in Thailand for Anzac Day. Lex Arthurson, from the 13th Australian General Hospital; the Hon. Tom Uren, a former member of this place and minister in the government, from Sparrow Force; Bill Schmitt from the 2nd/3rd Machine Gun Battalion; and Cyril Gilbert from the 8th Division, 27th Brigade accompanied the Governor-General to Hellfire Pass on Anzac Day. Over this last weekend, I accompanied six veterans to Crete to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Crete. Three of these veterans were former POWs: Arthur Leggett from the 2nd/11th Battalion, Bill Taylor from the 2nd/11th Battalion and Norm Maddock from the 2nd/7th Battalion.

We need to just reflect for a moment on the experiences of these brave men during the Second World War and the Korean War. We need to understand the trauma that they experienced. We need to continue to appreciate the courage and resilience they showed and the hardships that they endured. We need to acknowledge that through this payment. I commend the Prime Minister for her leadership and the government for making this payment available during the budget. It is worth reflecting for a moment on how Tom Uren described the payment. He said:

It's justice and compassion, that's what this recognises. It recognises the suffering of our people.