House debates

Tuesday, 6 September 2022

Bills

Defence, Veterans' and Families' Acute Support Package Bill 2022; Second Reading

5:13 pm

Photo of Keith WolahanKeith Wolahan (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | | Hansard source

N () (): I rise to continue my remarks on the Defence, Veterans' and Families' Acute Support Package Bill 2022. When I last spoke, I thanked the minister for the goodwill and spirit that this bill encompasses. The part that I wanted to focus on was that the support is no longer contingent on warlike service. Yesterday I was proud to stand in this chamber and say that we honour the 102,000 names on our War Memorial, but there are many names on other memorials of those that died in training and in service, and we honour them too. I looked up at the brother of Greg Sher and said: whenever I can, I'll say his name. That was Barry Sher's plea to me.

I'd like to pick out two peacetime incidents that happened that we should never forget. The first happened in Melbourne, at the Rip. Melbourne has a large bay, and at the end of the bay is this peaceful but potentially dangerous stretch of waterway. On 17 February 1960, 74 commandos engaged in an exercise to move from one side, in Queenscliff, to do a raid at the other, near Portsea. They never made it. Although they took off in good weather, the weather turned, and 74 commandos fought in vain to save the lives of three who were lost. Their names are Warrant Officer Class II George Drakopoulos, Private Roger Wood and Private Eddie Meyer. At the annual memorial, I see all of their friends, and I see from the friends who were there on that day that, even though we're a long time away from 1960, you never get over that.

This bill properly looks after every veteran who put on a uniform and took a risk. On other times and other occasions, I think we should honour peacetime names. At some other time, I would like to read out the 18 soldiers and crew that died in the 1996 Black Hawk training exercise, but I will save that for another time. I thank the House.

5:15 pm

Photo of James StevensJames Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | | Hansard source

I rise to support the second reading of the Defence, Veterans' and Families' Acute Support Package Bill 2022. I want to start by paying tribute to all members of this House who have served our nation. The member for Menzies, just to my right here, I thank very much for his contribution and congratulate on his maiden speech yesterday. I thank him for his service to the country and the service he will be continuing to provide our country in this parliament. We are very lucky to have many veterans elected to this House and into the Senate, and I think it is excellent to have that perspective when we're deliberating on all matters but in particular when we're deliberating on matters regarding support to those who have served our nation, our veterans.

I support the bill, and many speakers have gone through some of the elements that the bill covers. I'm very lucky and proud to have the Jamie Larcombe Centre located in my electorate of Sturt. Jamie Larcombe tragically died in Afghanistan. The centre there is part of a tribute to his service to our nation and is doing vital work supporting veterans throughout metropolitan Adelaide and greater South Australia. I know there are many similar centres around the country. I'm also a proud member of my local RSLs. A lot of them have excellent support programs and wellbeing programs. Whilst they do fantastic work, we can always do better as a parliament to provide more support to the work that they do and to the service and support our veterans need, and that's what this bill does. It emanates from the previous government, from the last budget, and now we have the opportunity to pass it through this House.

The previous speaker and other speakers talked about some of the elements. Removing the requirement to warlike service I think in particular is an excellent outcome. That definition has waxed and waned over the years. My grandmother was a nurse in the Second World War. She served here in Australia at the Heidelberg hospital in Melbourne, so she didn't leave the country. But she cared for many prisoners of war that returned to this country, and that, as everyone can imagine, was an extremely traumatic experience. She spent the rest of her life talking about the Aussies that came home whom she cared for. Many didn't come home, but service to this nation absolutely goes in many forms. Previous speakers talked about the sorts of people that will now be eligible for that support, and I think that's vitally important.

It is fair to say we have improved greatly our understanding of the need to provide support to families of our veterans because of what they do to support our veterans, like we seek to do as a parliament. But I do know from working with veterans in my own constituency, and all members would be similar to this, that certainly we could do better to support families of our veterans and particularly those providing care and support to veterans dealing with a whole range of issues because of the great service they gave to our nation. The children of veterans is actually an emerging category of circumstance that's raised by veterans coming to me and talking about their anguish. They know the burden that is on their young children at times, because of the way in which they are seeking to be supported, and the awareness that their children might have. Bizarrely and disgustingly, which surprised me in fact, some children of our veterans can receive bullying in the community, which is abhorrent and to be condemned but equally goes to remind us how important it is that we've got a structure in place for the entirety of the family unit around our veterans, whom we quite rightly need to provide absolutely top-tier care and support to. This is a bipartisan effort, and I know the House is obviously supporting this unanimously.

I wanted to take the opportunity again to make a contribution on another measure that's going through this chamber this sitting week to further support our veterans. We all know that there's still a lot more to be done, and I know there'll be other things that come through this chamber to provide enhanced support to our veterans. I'm very confident that that will continue to be very much a bipartisan process and one that we look forward to working with those opposite on, to support them in any way that they identify. Hopefully, they take constructive suggestion from us at times into the future to make sure we're providing the highest standard of support for those that have served our nation. With that, I commend the bill to the House.

5:20 pm

Photo of Matt KeoghMatt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | | Hansard source

In summing up debate on this bill, I'd like to thank the opposition and all others in this House for their support of it. In particular, I'd like to thank the shadow minister for veterans' affairs, the member for New England, for his engagement on this bill and other legislative measures we've been bringing forward to support our veterans.

I also wish to thank the other members of this House for their contributions to the debate today. In fact, all members went through and highlighted the great benefits for veterans' families that this bill will provide. I'd like to thank, in particular, my assistant minister, the member for Kingsford Smith, and the member for Makin for their contributions in that regard. Members across the parliament also made the observation that, quite rightly, ensuring that government and parliament support our veterans should be a non-partisan matter. I would like to commend the member for Wright for his very brief support for this measure, and the entire House thanks him for the brevity of his comments; and appropriate they were.

I think one of the other key themes that was reflected by speakers on this bill was the importance of getting on with the job of providing these important benefits to our veterans and their families. A number of members referred to this government's commitment to Veterans' and Families' Hubs, which we took to the election, and we are very happy to be moving forward with that commitment as we described it in the election. That is an important thing that we are doing, and I think the reflections that they made about some alternative locations for those hubs in the future also reflects the lack of detailed commitment from the previous government to delivering on that. That is something that I understand they're unhappy about, but I commend them for their advocacy for their communities of course.

The member for Fisher also referred to the great Australian Defence Force Parliamentary Program and how that affords those of us in this House who have not served in our Defence Force an opportunity to engage with our defence forces across ranks and in various theatres and modes of operation. I was fortunate enough to bunk with the member for Fisher on our trip to Afghanistan. Among the many trips that I've participated in with the ADFPP—as I know he and many other members in this House have as well—it certainly was a hugely eye-opening opportunity for me and a great opportunity to engage one-on-one and with groups of our defence forces across different ranks, in different theatres and in different operations. I really do encourage members to take up such an opportunity, should that present itself to them through that program. It's very important.

A number of members also referred to the great defence personnel and veteran population that they have in their electorates—owing to the bases, sometimes numerous that they have there—and the great relationship that they have with their veteran population as a consequence. I think that is a very good thing, and I encourage members to engage with their bases as well. I do share with the member for Mackellar her concern about withdrawal of support from her local RSL club for one of the local veteran support services in her electorate. That is a concerning development because we do want to see our veteran support services supported and funded where possible.

I commend the member for Bass for her observations about the need to ensure that these local Veterans' and Families' Hubs are based on local knowledge and meet the local needs. That's why these hubs, as they roll out and have rolled out across the country, do vary in their operating models, because they are about meeting the needs of local veterans and families where they are—the supports that they require—and working with local community organisations to deliver those supports as well. I understand the issues that she has raised about the lack of availability of psychiatrists, particularly for diagnosis, and I understand this is an issue we need to look into further to ensure that veterans are getting the services that they need.

I very much commend the member for Menzies for his contribution, not just as a serving member but also as the co-chair of the parliamentary friends of veterans, an organisation within this parliament that I look forward to having frequent and ongoing engagement with. I commend him as a former director of the Law Council of Australia for referring to the Law Council of Australia's principles of the rule of law. It is important that our laws are readily known and available. I think that was a pretty erudite observation by him, but I don't think that could be said of our current suite of veterans' entitlements legislation. At the moment, just one of them comprises 170 pages of definitions before we actually get to the content of those entitlement provisions. I pay tribute to him for honouring his comrades in his speech earlier.

With that, I want to make the observation that making sure that our defence personnel, veterans and their families are well supported and looked after during service and after as they transition from the Australian Defence Force is an important task and responsibility of government. That's something that has been observed by all of the speakers today. Families play a pivotal role in supporting our current serving Australian Defence Force personnel and veterans. The nature of military life is unique, and families are also deeply affected by military service. As one individual said while giving evidence of her own personal experience to the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide:

A soldier may receive the pay cheque, only in the Australian Defence Force the whole family is employed by the Government. It’s our family lifestyle, our legacy.

For most veterans' families, military service is largely a positive experience. However, some may need support to manage challenging life circumstances, such as mental or physical health episodes or sudden significant events such as the loss of employment.

That is why it's disappointing that we didn't see the legislation pass in its previous incarnation during the last parliament. This legislation now, though, goes further than what was previously proposed. It will enhance the existing program by expanding services available to the families of veterans receiving compensation through DVA or who have died in service when that family is experiencing crisis and allows families greater choice in how they use those services. It will better equip working-age families to adjust to new or challenging life circumstances when they occur and also in the future.

This legislation will better improve support for families who are bereaved and those who are in crisis, no matter the nature of that crisis. We want to ensure supports are wrapped around families when they are needed and quickly. While it is not a crisis service, it will allow families who have experienced crisis to access intensive support to adjust to new or challenging life circumstances, complementing the other Department of Veterans' Affairs or government services. This initiative will provide at-risk veteran families with access to a range of services that will meet their health and wellbeing needs up to a cap of $12,500 over two years. Families will be able to access services to the value of $7,500 in the first year and $5,000 in the second. In addition, families with children can access additional support services to the value of $10,000 a year for each child under school age and $5,000 a year for each primary-school-age child until the child reaches high school.

Also under this initiative widowed partners can access support service to the value of $27,835 each year for two years for services such as cleaning, gardening and other help around the home and to provide counselling for them and their children and skills based support, such as mental health first aid and other practical support for the family's wellbeing. I acknowledge the member for Menzies's example about the importance of home support in times of crisis. He gave a good example of that. I think that demonstrates the benefit that this program will provide. Families will also have access to additional support for children under high school age.

The bill also includes new review rights for decisions made under this program, something that was not in the previously proposed legislation.

The Albanese Labor government is committed to delivering practical support measures that will improve the welfare and wellbeing of veterans and families now and into the future, building on services currently available in our community. This is one of those practical measures. The federal Labor government is committed to delivering a better future for defence personnel, veterans and families. I thank all honourable members for their commitment to supporting our service personnel, veterans and families.

If you are a serving member, veteran or family that requires support, you can contact Open Arms on 1800011046 or via openarms.gov.au. I encourage all members of the House, and indeed members of that other place, that when they see the volunteers from Legacy, who will be out and about around this building tomorrow morning, to please donate generously and support the work of Legacy and support our defence and veterans' family during this Legacy Week. I commend the bill to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

Message from the Administrator recommending appropriation announced.