Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Defence, Veterans' and Families' Acute Support Package Bill 2022. This bill is critically important to the parliament and it follows a piece of legislation which came into the House last night about support in this place for defence personnel—for veterans who have served the nation. We passed a resolution last night where we provided financial packages for veterans who have returned to try to deal with their PTSD, so that they could study and be on the same level of remuneration.

I believe that this bill before us has support from both sides of the House. I see that the shadow minister for defence has moved into the House; I will conclude my comments and commend the bill to the House. I'd ask the minister to add to my comments.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Wright and give the call to the member for New England.

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

JOYCE () (): I apologise for my tardiness, Mr Speaker, but you've been exceptionally succinct in getting through some legislation this morning! Well done!

With regard to the Defence, Veterans' and Families' Acute Support Package Bill 2022, there are three acts. There is the Veterans Entitlement Act 1986, the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 and the Military Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2004. Those three acts have been cumbersome and somewhat out of order for the efficient delivery of a service. This bill mirrors one that was brought in by the coalition in March this year and the reason for it is that we need to get a greater capacity for people to have access to the services that they need. That's everything from services in support of them at home to psychological services.

One of the things about this is that in the past we've had caps on certain packages for what you could get. What this actually does is allow an expansion—no doubt, the government will bring forward a cap—of the allocation amongst the services and that will be at the discretion of those who are using them. One of the other things that is important about this is that it expands the remit of who is eligible for it. In the past, it was people who had had war-like service. This is going to allow for people who have been affected but they don't necessarily need to have had war-like service.

It's not a great cost to the budget—I think it's in the vicinity of $36 million or $37 million—and it really is taking forward a bipartisan position. My view is that I don't particularly want to make veterans' issues contentious issues in this place, as best we can. There should be an approach to make sure we get a full flow of these pieces of legislation through the House so that those people who can access it get access to it. I note that in this bill there is the capacity to backdate for those who were eligible but who have not yet received it. Although there was an inconvenience where they haven't had access to the money, they're going to be compensated for the period of time that they were without the service.

As I said about a similar piece of legislation yesterday—another veterans' piece of legislation—we have to acknowledge that the circumstances that surround our nation, unfortunately, have changed and have changed dramatically. I remember conversations with colleagues in the Labor Party, saying that for Australia it's in our region. Unfortunately, our children and our grandchildren—and probably ourselves—are going to live in different circumstances. Of course I talk about the rise of China and its unfortunate process of being more adversarial in the South China Sea and what we're seeing in other areas such as hacking into computers. So we once more have to start making the nation vastly more resilient than it has been. Part of that resilience will be an expansion of the defence forces, which comes hand in glove with our being able to demonstrate to them not only that we respect the service they give but that we give them support post their service and also that support to those families directly affected by those who have served. The bill goes to that process in expanding the remit of those who have access to the services.

What we have to do is make sure that in everything we do in this chamber one of the things at forefront is to make our nation as strong as possible as quickly as possible, because there is no other alternative. That is absolutely what we have to do, and it has to happen in myriad ways. It's not just in materials but also in personnel, care for personnel and how we deal with them. If we do that in a proficient way then we can attract further people into the Defence Force, which is absolutely essential. There are so many sides to that. I believe that in future we're going to have to go right back to square one. We're going to have to have a strong cadet unit at schools, we're going to have to have strong reserve units in regional towns, we're going to have to have the resources so they have the kit on parade and whilst training to be able to quickly slip into the regs and we're going to have to have people who enlist in the regular services.

We have 360,000 people or thereabouts who are ex servicemen and women in this nation, so it is a very large cohort of people that this nation and the government are responsible for the care of. The vast majority, it goes without saying, go back into civilian street as an easy transition. However, there are people for whom that is not the case, and we must put our attention to that. Going hand in glove with this is the royal commission, and we have to make sure we are compliant with the international act, whose name eludes me now. I think it's the international standard on social economic—I can't recollect it. But there are two parts of that, and this also works in concurrence with that to make sure we have not only looked after our veterans and their families but also abided by our international agreements in the same breath.

If we do this and if the attention of this House and the other place is on making our nation as strong as possible as quickly as possible in all the myriad ways that are required to do that then I think that we can go back to the Australian people as a House and say one of our greatest endeavours in this place is to make sure that their children, their way of life, their freedoms and the liberties that they take as a birthright are protected and will endure into the future. So I won't delay the House any more. I commend this bill, and I've already had discussions with the minister. I thank them for those discussions, in which I made clear that we would be supporting this.

Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am grateful to the shadow minister and glad to see that the parliament is coming together on this bill to support veterans, because we owe a debt of gratitude to our Australian Defence Force personnel and veterans, whom we have a solemn duty to look after, including their families, particularly after they retire from the ADF. We know that families play an essential role in supporting current and ex-serving members. Military life is unique, and those families can also be deeply affected by military service. For most veterans' families military service is largely a positive experience, but some of our veterans and their families need support to manage challenging life circumstances, such as mental or physical health episodes, or sudden significant events such as loss of employment.

The Albanese government is listening to families and recognises that more support is needed for partners and their families. We know that support for our veterans' families is too important to wait for the final recommendations from the royal commission into veterans' suicide. They've delivered an interim report. The government is in the process of responding to that and the recommendations, but the final report won't come down until 2024 and veterans need action prior to that.

An existing program for certain veterans' families provides funding for child care, counselling and, for widowed partners, household services. The government has listened to the needs of veterans' families and is establishing a new Defence Veterans' and Families' Acute Support Package. It will provide support for more families by extending the eligibility under all three acts to veterans and their families who are at risk of, or are in, crisis and removing the need for veterans to have warlike service or be participating in rehabilitation. That's an important change to the provisions in these acts, that extends that to more veterans and their families.

It also builds capacity to include access to skills based supports, to help families adjust to new life circumstances independently and in the future. It provides families with choice and flexibility by removing the limits on each service category, so families can choose the support that they need. It also gives families access to at least the same level of financial support available under the current package, in many cases and more, and makes the package more equitable, with all families able to access a range of supports.

It improves support to widowed partners, by starting the two-year period of support from the date of acceptance into the program rather than from the date of the death of a partner. It's another example of this government getting on with the job and listening to veterans, responding to their circumstances and implementing changes that will provide more support for veterans into the future.

This acute support package is delivered in accordance with recommendation 19 of the Senate inquiry into suicide by veterans and ex-service personnel, and that report was entitled The constant battle: suicide by veterans. It also responds to recommendation 19.2 of the Productivity Commission report A better way to support veterans, going further than the recommendation by ensuring that veterans and their families are well supported.

The existing program captures only a small segment of veterans' families, due to the restricted eligibility criteria linked to contemporary veterans, their service and participation in rehabilitation. This initiative recognises that military service can adversely affect a family at any time and extends access to more families by linking eligibility criteria to incapacity and need.

The bill amends the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act and the Veterans' Entitlements Act, and the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Defence-related Claims) Act to establish the Defence, Veterans' and Families' Acute Support Package. This support package will provide at-risk veterans' families with access to a range of services that meet their health and wellbeing needs up to the value of $12½ thousand over two years. Families can access support services to the value of $7½ thousand in the first year and $5,000 in the second year. In addition, families with children can access additional support to the value of $10,000 a year for a child under school age, and $5,000 a year for primary school aged children, until the child reaches that high school age.

Also under this measure, widowed partners can access support services to the value of $27,835 for each of the two years, to meet the cost of help around the home, such as cleaning, gardening and other maintenance, counselling for them and their children, skill based supports such as mental health and first aid, and other practical support for families' wellbeing. They'll also have access to the additional support for children under the high school age, and those financial amounts will be specified in the legislative instruments once this bill is passed.

In conclusion, again, this is more evidence of the Albanese government listening to the concerns of veterans and their families and delivering additional support, as well as ensuring that we're getting on as best possible with implementing the interim recommendations of the royal commission, as we all, as a nation, await the final outcomes of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. We are committed to supporting veterans and their families. This package is another example of how that support can be delivered flexibly and in the interests of veterans and their vulnerable families.

David Gillespie (Lyne, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

LLESPIE () (): I rise in support of the Defence, Veterans' and Families' Acute Support Package Bill 2022, because it's good policy and it's what our veterans deserve. This bill unifies the intent and adds further support to the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004, the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 and the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Defence-related Claims) Act 1988. This unified package extends eligibility to family members of working-age veterans who are at risk or are in a situation of crisis, including, most importantly, removing the requirement for warlike service for veterans. You can have a lot of horrible things happen to you when you're serving your country without being in warlike service, because there are plenty of major incidents and events that have the threat of the end of your life, severe harm, damage, post-traumatic stress disorder et cetera.

There's also expanded flexibility in choosing the services to match each veteran's individual needs. These extended supports and terms of income for the families, the partners, the ex-partners and the children are exempt from income or social security determinations, which is a great improvement. The quantity of support is quite considerable, but there are just a few things about the quality of it. There are many existing veterans who will benefit from this pretty much straight away—there's about 120 of them—but there are also, unfortunately, 430 families who have lost their father or their mother and 450 widows or widowers who will get benefit from this.

We support this because it's good policy and it's good practice to support the veterans' need, but I do note that it's almost identical in scope to the Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment (Enhanced Family Support) Bill, introduced by us in March 2022, which was due to come into effect on 1 July. The best form of flattery, I suppose, is to have your legislation copied and value added. But it is really important that our veterans know that this House is united in support of them and their families and their partners. That's the most important thing.

I might add that my good colleagues the member for Cowper, the member for Page and the member for New England and I have an awful lot of veterans in our electorates. A lot of them are living the dream. They've moved up the North Coast for a better retirement life. I think in my electorate I have about 3,000 veterans. That is a big slice of veterans in the North Coast. A lot of these veterans have been helped by various organisations, including the Mid North Coast Veteran Wellbeing initiative. They had worked up a proposal whereby 11 different organisations were going to be recipients of a $5 million grant that came through in the last budget to support the development of unified housing—a wellbeing unit—covering those areas. With 3,000 veterans in my electorate alone and similar numbers probably in Cowper, Page and New England, there are a lot of people who are very disappointed to hear that that money has been withdrawn by this government and has gone elsewhere. I call on the minister to review this decision quite urgently because a lot of hard work and a lot of expectation has been built up for our worthy veterans across the board and it will be money well spent.

This initiative in itself will support at-risk veterans with a range of services—really important things like child care, household assistance, help with financial planning, mental health support and tutoring support for children. The financial amounts, according to the minister, are up to about $12,500 over two years for a family, but access to extra support is there, too, to the tune of $10,000 year for children under school age and $5,000 a year for primary school age children until they reach high school. This also gives quite a significant support for widowed partners who can access these support services to the tune of $27,835 for all those household duties that have to be carried out. When you are grieving, when you've lost a partner, you need that sort of practical support.

All in all, it's a very good bill. I commend it in whole and in part. I commend the bill to other members of the House.

Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Like most members of this place, I regularly attend defence commemoration services. It is, in my view, a very dignified way of saying thank you and showing our gratitude for defence personnel who, since Federation, have served Australia. Those services also provide a public recognition of the significance of critical military events and of how they may have changed the course of history and are often examples of extraordinary sacrifice and courage. I believe Australia does that well, and military commemoration services have become a regular feature of Australian life, with some services being very unique to individual communities. However, what we haven't done so well, as a nation, is to support our defence personnel during and after their military service. That has culminated in the shocking statistics on defence suicides and the royal commission that is currently underway.

The Defence, Veterans' and Families' Acute Support Package Bill 2022 seeks to improve services for present and past defence members and their families. The bill establishes the Defence, Veterans' and Families' Acute Support Package. The existing family support package provides support to families of veterans with warlike service who are participating in rehabilitation to adjust to new or challenging life circumstances. The program provides short-term targeted support and complements Department of Veterans' Affairs services and other government services. Under this bill, eligibility for support is extended to family members of working-age veterans who are at risk or are in crisis, irrespective of whether the veteran is participating in a rehabilitation program or has rendered warlike service, and it expands the range of support to family members under the existing program. The extended range of supports available includes child care, household assistance such as garden maintenance and meal preparation, and capacity-building support in relation to financial literacy, relationship skills and mental health first aid. The bill also amends the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 so that family support payments for veterans and their families are exempt from income tax, and it amends the Social Security Act 1991 so that family support payments for veterans and their families are not income for the purposes of the social security income test. I understand that around 430 families and 450 widowed partners are expected to benefit in the first year.

Families do play an essential role in supporting current and ex-serving Australian Defence Force members. The government recognises that more support is needed for partners and families and recognises that support for veterans' families is too important to wait for the outcome of the royal commission, as other speakers have, quite rightly, said. The support package responds to recommendation 19 of the report of the August 2017 senate inquiry into suicide by veterans and ex-service personnel titled The constant battle: suicide by veterans. It also responds to recommendation 19.2 of the June 2019 Productivity Commission report A better way to support veterans, going further than the recommendation to ensure veterans and their families are indeed well supported.

The defence, veterans' and families' acute support package will provide at-risk veteran families with access to a range of services up to the value of $12,500 over two years. Families can access support services to the value of $7,500 in the first year and $5,000 in the second year. In addition, families with children can access additional support to the value of $10,000 a year for children under school age and $5,000 a year for primary-school-age children until the child reaches high school age. Also, under this measure, widowed partners can access support services to the value of $27,835 each year for two years to meet the cost of help around the home such as cleaning, gardening and other maintenance, counselling for them and their children, skills based support such as mental health and first aid, and other practical support for the family's wellbeing.

The existing program is targeted at working-age families in recognition of the unique challenges they face transitioning to civilian life. With respect to that, I want to quote fairly extensively from some of the key points from the Productivity Commission report A better way to support veterans:

…   …   …

…   …   …

The issue of suicide will be better addressed by the royal commission.

Importantly, the report also says:

An implicit principle underpinning the current veterans' compensation and rehabilitation system is that military service is a unique occupation. There are a number of features that distinguish military service from other occupations, including that members:

…   …   …

The key message of this report is that despite recent improvements to the system, the current veterans' compensation and rehabilitation system requires fundamental reform.

Those comments from the Productivity Commission report, I believe, accurately sum up the situation with respect to veterans right now. They couldn't be more clear and more direct. It is time that changes are made and additional compensation be provided.

The member for Lyne, the speaker before me, quite rightly pointed out that this legislation mirrors legislation brought in by the last coalition government, I think, in March this year. My response to that is simply this: the legislation responds to two reports, the Senate report of 2017 and the Productivity Commission report of 2019. They're from three and five years ago. It took the coalition government some three years after the Productivity Commission report to even bring legislation before the House when it knew that there was an election pending and the legislation would not be dealt with. Furthermore, we subsequently learned that the coalition government cut $430 million from the Department of Veterans' Affairs. Again, that was money that was urgently required to address many of the issues that have been raised by the Productivity Commission report and which are being addressed by this legislation. Yes, it is well overdue, but it is good to see that this government, as one of its priorities, has come into this place and brought this legislation before the parliament so we can get on with providing the support services that veterans need.

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In my six years in this place, I've had the privilege of holding the responsibility of being Chair of the Defence Subcommittee of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade. Now that the government has changed hands, I find myself in the position of deputy chair. It's a role that I relish. It's probably one of the ones I've enjoyed the most of the numerous committees I've served on in this place.

I've never served in uniform. I remember as a young lad, I say to the school students who are in the chamber at the moment, fronting up to the St Kilda Road recruitment centre for the ADF. I wanted to be a fighter pilot, like many other young people—yes, a top gun. We'd shifted from F-111s to the F/A-18 'Classic' Hornet and I wanted a piece of the action. So I went down to the St Kilda Road recruiting centre and they said, 'Come back when you have high distinctions in maths I, maths II, English, physics and your choice of subject.' Guess what? I never went back!

But, whilst I have never served in uniform, particularly in my role as chair and now deputy chair of the Defence Subcommittee I have developed an enduring respect for those that have. I have had the privilege of working alongside many of our men and women in uniform in that role. Also I've tried to do at least one or two ADF parliamentary program trips throughout my six years in this place. I can honestly say that the men and women of our ADF are absolutely remarkable human beings. If any of the young students in this chamber want to take up a life of service in this country, they could do no better than to serve in the ADF for a period of time.

It's often said that men and women who go into politics are volunteers and their families are conscripts. Exactly the same could be said for men and women who join the ADF. Our men and women in the ADF put themselves at risk. They know that, at any point in time, they could be called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice. But their families don't make those commitments—at least not firsthand. But we know, out of all of the inquiries that have been done over many years, that our men and women in the ADF sometimes, not always, are impacted upon by their service. Sometimes it's physically; sometimes it's mentally. And, of course, that has an impact upon their families. What I have learned in my time in these various roles is that, when men and women join the ADF, they join with great ideals of doing great things and enjoying great comradeship. One moment they're flying, driving or sailing multimillion dollar—or in some cases multibillion dollar—equipment. Their camaraderie is sky high. They have a sense of mission. They have a sense of purpose. But when they leave the ADF, particularly those who leave the ADF involuntarily because of either ill health or disciplinary reasons, those involuntary departures can have very, very significant impacts on our ex-serving ADF members. Of course, many of those ADF members, those veterans, will return to families, and there are impacts that family members watch and see their loved one go through: feelings of helplessness and the loss of mission and purpose. Like any family, they share that pain, and it has impacts on those families.

The care of our veterans and their families is an issue that should be absolutely beyond politics. I don't care whether you're Labor, Liberal, National, Teal or Independent—those men and women who served this country with great distinction deserve the honour to be respected and looked after not only when they are in uniform but also when they leave.

Back in 2017, I think, I had the privilege of travelling overseas to look at the world's best practice for the care of our veterans who are suffering from PTSD. I had the privilege of travelling to England, Sweden, the Netherlands and Canada to look at what those countries do to look after their veterans. And what I saw in those four countries, beyond a shadow of a doubt, was that the provisions that we have in this country are far better than in those other countries. That's not to suggest that the $11½-odd billion that we spend each year in the care of our veterans, through the Department of Veterans' Affairs, is perfect. It is not. The care of our veterans cannot just be gauged by a dollar sign. There have been many stories, and the current royal commission is working through those, about people not receiving the care that they need. I'm not suggesting for a second that it is a perfect system—it is not—but I don't want Australians to have a misperception that their governments of any persuasion do not hold veterans in the highest esteem and do not do everything they can to look after them. Can we do better? Yes, we can. Must we do better? Yes, we must.

The Defence, Veterans' and Families' Acute Support Package Bill 2022 will provide greater care and protections to the family members of our veterans. Families are the conscripts—the people who didn't sign up as their family members did. I want to acknowledge all members in this place who have served as veterans affairs minister, certainly in the 45th and 46th parliaments. The former Deputy Prime Minister, who's in the chamber today, was one of them. Every single one of those men who have held that position—I think they have all been men since I've been in this place—has absolutely undertaken their responsibilities with great diligence, care and, dare I say, love.

I want to acknowledge the current veterans' affairs minister. I want to acknowledge him for taking my call recently about a veteran who I was very concerned about and who's a constituent of mine. As sometimes happens, we were getting a bit of a run-around from the DVA. I rang and I said: 'Mate, we've got problems. I'm quite concerned about this constituent.' And, to his credit, he fixed it in 24 hours. Credit to you.

This is beyond politics. The care of our veterans should never descend into a political game of argy-bargy. I hope that does not happen. I'm not going to stand up here and say, 'We've done this; you guys have done that.' There's no place in this debate for that, not when speaking of the men and women who've served our country with distinction. I can tell you now, from all my dealings with them, they are not interested in that sort of conduct. They just want to know, if they're going to pull on the uniform, if they're going to put themselves in harm's way, that they're going to be looked after and, importantly—probably even more important in their eyes—that their families are going to be looked after. That's what this bill will do. This bill, in effect, mirrors a bill that the previous government put into the parliament prior to the election, but I'm very, very pleased that the current government has picked it up and run with it. I thank the House.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I concur with the former speaker's fine words, and, in the spirit of bipartisanship, I too want to thank the member for Burt, the current veterans' affairs minister, for being in the House to listen to these important speeches. It's not always that a minister is able to be present for all the speeches on a particular bill, but he has made himself available, and I thank him. I also, like the former speaker, want to thank him for addressing the matters I've raised with him and being prompt to take my calls and respond to the conversations that we've engaged in. If this is going to be a measure of his tenure as the veterans' affairs minister, then I'd like to think our veterans are going to be well served, as they always have been. Veterans' affairs has to be, as the previous speaker mentioned, beyond the partisan argy-bargy of politics.

The position of veteran affairs minister is an old one. It's been around since it was called the Minister for Repatriation. Edward Miller first served in that role, from 1917, when the position was inaugurated. He served in that position until 1923. The current veterans' affairs minister is, in fact, the 46th person to serve in that role. It is an important position—and I say that is a fine former veterans' affairs minister, the member for Gippsland, enters the chamber. He knows all too well the importance of our veterans.

Yesterday we heard a fine address-in-reply, an inaugural speech, by the member for Menzies, who, in his concluding remarks, said:

And if we ever lose our map—

he was referring to the building that we are in, the wonderful House of Representatives—

let us stand at the main entrance. At that point you will see a road that draws a long line to names on a wall. These are the names of Australians who traded all their tomorrows so that we may have today.

Of course, he's right. Having just looked at the Australian War Memorial's website, there are 103,000 names on those walls that he mentioned, and they are the bronze roll of honour. They are the names etched into history, etched into immortality. They are the names of those who served and lost their lives in the duty of our nation. Some of them volunteered; some of them were sent, but all of them had that obligation to our nation, to our freedom, to our democracy. We owe them a debt of gratitude, just like we owe a debt of gratitude to those veterans who return from conflict, those veterans who return from peacekeeping missions and those veterans who may never even leave our nation. Many of their names, too, are on the wall of remembrance, the roll of honour, for having made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation.

The bill before us, the Defence, Veterans' and Families' Acute Support Package Bill 2022, is an important piece of legislation which is agreed upon by both sides of the chamber. That is so very important. I am a former Minister for Veterans' Affairs as well as a former Minister for Defence Personnel. I served in the role from 20 December 2017 to 5 March 2018, so a hundred years from the time when the position was created. I was not a long time in that role. I was then called upon to do other duties, including the Deputy Prime Minister's role. But, indeed, I knew how important it was, having also been Assistant Minister for Defence and being someone who proudly came from the only inland regional centre in which there were all three arms of defence. I say that because we've got the home of the soldier at Kapooka, the Army Recruit Training Centre, where every recruit does their 13 weeks of basic training. We have march-out parades just about every other Friday, and people—families—come from all over the nation to proudly watch that long line of khaki. It stretches around the parade ground at Kapooka and all the way back to Gallipoli—even before that—and that is not lost on the families and friends of those brave men and women who are Australia's newest Army recruits.

Of course, if you spend any time in the Royal Australian Air Force you will end up at Forest Hill, RAAF Base Wagga Wagga. That is fantastic. It has been in place for many, many decades, and long may it continue. And, of course, we've got a Navy base connected, attached and working alongside Forest Hill. It's also connected, attached and working alongside HMAS Albatross at Nowra, making sure naval officers get an inland experience, Mr Deputy Speaker. We're a long way from the nearest drop of sea water, but at Wagga Wagga we're very proud that we are a garrison city, a tri-service city. That will continue because of the fact that we are spending nearly a billion dollars of infrastructure money on upgrading those two important bases to serve the three important military traditions, navy, air force and army.

In February 2018, when I was the veterans' affairs minister, I introduced the Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment (Veteran-centric Reforms No. 1) Bill 2018. I know how much of a role the member for Gippsland had to play in that particular legislation. It implemented several new initiatives to deliver better services to veterans and their families. It was groundbreaking work that needed to be done and was done, and the benefits are now flowing through our defence communities and through the general community. The bill created a new veteran payment to assist financially vulnerable veterans who have lodged a compensation claim for a mental health condition and are unable to work while their claim is determined. I note the member for Solomon is here too and I thank him for his service to our nation in uniform. Thank you.

But I digress. As I was saying, if you spend a minute in defence, in uniform, you will get free mental health care for life, as you should. Partners of veterans may be eligible for the veteran payment, and veterans with dependant children may be entitled to the maximum rates of family tax benefit part A without being subject to the family tax benefit means test while they receive the veteran payment. At the time, I said that veterans and their families are at the heart of communities around Australia. That has rung true since 1917, when World War I was still being waged in Europe and Africa, and it's just as important today.

Our veterans have supported us. This government, and all governments, are committed to ensuring they receive and have access to the support services they need. Family plays a central role in the veteran's health and wellbeing, and this bill, a veteran-centric bill, will ensure that vital services such as income support and health care help veterans and their families who are transitioning into civilian life.

I know that prime ministers past—Prime Minister Turnbull, Prime Minister Morrison and, indeed, Prime Minister Abbott, and others too—put in place policies to ensure that veterans were looked after when it came to being absorbed back into civilian life and, most importantly, getting jobs. Not every veteran is broken; not every veteran requires the help that other veterans may well need. Veterans are contributing mightily to the nation's workforce and to the nation beyond their uniform lives. That is also very well commended. I thank prime ministers of all political persuasions for making sure that veterans can transition back into civilian life—that they can, after their time of duty is over, make sure that they can contribute for their own wellbeing and, obviously, for the community's wellbeing.

The purpose of this bill before the House is to provide better tailored short-term and targeted support for veterans and their families. It has four key components: it ensures that support payments are exempt from income tax or social security determinations; it ensures that there is expanded flexibility in choosing services to match a veteran's individual needs; it extends eligibility to family members of working-age veterans who are at risk or are in crisis, including the removal of a veteran's requirement for war-like service to have been undertaken; and it continues the harmonisation of veterans' entitlements across the three veteran related acts. These are all important provisions, all vital components and all part of this bill.

The bill is almost identical in scope and cost to the coalition's Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment (Enhanced Family Support) Bill 2022, which was introduced in March and which was to have taken effect from 1 July 2022. So I commend the member for Burt, the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, for picking this up and running with it. As I said, this is bipartisan and is across the chamber, and I certainly acknowledge that.

The bill establishes a wider group of people who will be eligible for assistance under the Department of Veterans' Affairs' Family Support Package. The $11½ billion that the Commonwealth spends on veterans is a cost—yes. It's a cost to the bottom line, but it's an investment. It is an investment in those people who have served this nation and who deserve every bit of help, every bit of support and every bit of respect that is justifiable, that they are entitled to and that we give. And it's largely uncapped, as it should be, because those veterans who have fallen through the cracks, who may not have previously engaged with the Department of Veterans' Affairs, who may not have sought help and who may not be receiving help, but have suddenly found themselves requiring assistance, should contact the DVA. And if they don't get the help or support that they need in that first phone call then try, try again. I urge and encourage them to do that. Go through one of the wellbeing centres.

I appreciate that Wagga Wagga, my home town, is currently in the throes of trying to establish two, one called Pro Patria, a community driven centre, and another one called the Riverina Veteran Wellbeing Centre. That had an opening of sorts last October. It is modelled on the federally funded veterans' wellbeing centres, such as the recently opened facility in Nowra. The Wagga Wagga centre aims to deliver a range of support services, including physical and mental health, advocacy, education, employment, housing and financial assistance, and I commend Charlotte Webb for her work in ensuring the progress of that.

But I really want to promote the Pro Patria Centre. The Carmelite nuns have offered up their site in North Ashmont to further that particular facility. There are many good community board members on that—David Bardos, Anne Delaney, Paul Fernon, Alan Lean, Brad Maynard, Helen Wheeler, Jason Frost—making sure that they can make a difference for veterans and for first responders as well. Colonel James Hammett, the former commandant of ARTC Kapooka, was an honorary committee member. He was pushing it as well during his time there. He has since moved on, and we thank him for his service to Kapooka. As I said, there are many other community members as well. Lyle Salmon is the chair. There are Jane Barnes, Lachlan Feeny, Dr Jim Read, Angelo Strano, Colin Taggart, and Jackie Van de Velde, all of whom are making a difference, trying to progress that and hoping to get funding. I have had a good, long chat or chats not just with the Minister for Veterans' Affairs but, indeed, with the Deputy Prime Minister, who is also the Minister for Defence.

In relation to that, the former coalition government promising $5 million for a wellbeing centre in Wagga Wagga. It just makes good sense. We've got so many veterans in Wagga Wagga, home of the soldier. Spend any given time in the Air Force and you will end up at Wagga Wagga. It is an important Navy strategic base as well even though we don't generally have a lot of water around the area unless it's flooding, and I'm not sure that HMAS Adelaide will be down the Murrumbidgee River any time soon!

I commend this bill. I again thank the minister for having the foresight, the dedication and the commitment to attend the chamber while people are speaking about this bill. I commend him for the work that he is doing in this space at the present time and wish them all the very best for the future. It's a big role. I also commend the Department of Veterans' Affairs. Sometimes they get a bad rap. By and large they do a very good job, and I know they'll continue to do that on behalf of our veterans.

Sophie Scamps (Mackellar, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to talk briefly to the Defence, Veterans' and Families' Acute Support Package Bill 2022. We've lost more of our defence forces and veterans to suicide than we've lost in the past 20 years in conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is not a battle of armies on a field; it is a silent battle amongst us at home, and we are losing it. Each death sweeps through families and communities, leaving profound grief and sadness. After endless reports—50 at the current count—and 750 recommendations later, how is it possible we could fail so many who were brave enough to defend our country? Vulnerable defence personnel and veterans are experiencing isolation, poor mental health, despair, bullying, relationship breakdown and unemployment. One soldier said:

When I did return to civilian life, my mental health eventually caught up to me and it was extremely overwhelming at times. I think it's because I had been so hypervigilant for such a long time, the emotions inside of me built up and pushed me over the edge.

This bill is important to the 1,800 veterans and their families who live in Mackellar, my electorate. With the passage of this bill, vulnerable veterans and their families will have more flexible support, including extending that support to a wider and more eligible group. We must understand that, to support veterans, we have to support their families as well, with services including things such as household help, relationship skills training, mental health first aid and financial literacy. This bill will also provide support whether or not a veteran has rendered warlike service. I am shocked that it is only with this bill that we are now acknowledging that not just Australian defence forces who have fought on the front lines but also those who are in supporting roles will get the support that they need.

It's no wonder that our veterans struggle if, after being educated on the importance of discipline, duty and dedication to their unit and their country, they find that, when they enter or re-enter civilian life, that loyalty doesn't go both ways, that they weren't actually enough of the team to be eligible for the DVA support.

As a doctor I understand that acute problems need to be addressed as quickly as possible or they become chronic. When a problem becomes chronic, it is harder to fix and takes more time, more money and more effort. The greatest challenge of this extended support act is that, right now, claims are taking up to 30 months to process—up to 30 months. The backlog of claims is massive: 43,000 people with around 60,000 claims are waiting to be processed. Clearing the backlog is the No. 1 recommendation that will save lives immediately. I commend the member for Burt for bringing this bill forward.

Ross Vasta (Bonner, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I call the honourable member for Menzies and congratulate him on his recent elevation to the 47th parliament.

Keith Wolahan (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. Can I begin by thanking the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, the member for Burt, for being here and introduce myself as the co-chairman of the Parliamentary Friends of Veterans, along with the member for Spence. The member for Spence and I recently found out that we initially served as army reservists together, and it's wonderful to gather here again. I also served with the member for Solomon—we did commando selection together—and I'd like to commit to you and this place that, when it comes to serving veterans, I'd like us to work together for their interests over ours.

I am a veteran and I was a lawyer, but I will admit that I find the current legislative regime confusing. It's really hard to understand. If I'm struggling after 12 years as a barrister and many years as a solicitor, then veterans and their families are struggling. If you go to the Law Council of Australia website, they have principles of the rule of law. One of them is this:

The law must be both readily known and available, and certain and clear; …

In this area, we can do a lot better, and the Defence, Veterans' and Families' Acute Support Package Bill 2022 seeks to improve that.

In the House last night, I was honoured to give my first speech. Sitting up there in the gallery were the parents of Greg Sher, a Victorian who was killed in Afghanistan. Also watching online were the parents of Marcus Case. They are friends of mine and have links to Menzies. But we should also remember those who suffered and were wounded, not in Afghanistan but in training and in courses and back here at home in Australia. It's right that we remember those who paid the ultimate sacrifice, but there are many names on many memorials of people who paid the same sacrifice but here at home.

There are particular aspects of this bill that I commend. I will single out three. The exemption from income tax is important. Whenever I meet veterans, I see that the dignity that comes from work is important to everyone and it's important to veterans. I have seen some veterans who are maybe pushed down a path where they could be working and they're not, and they suffer for that. Sometimes we kill people with kindness, and we shouldn't. In this place, on many other areas and issues, we talk about the dignity of work, and that applies equally to veterans. We should always encourage that wherever we can, and this exemption is important for that.

I also note that it has other services that have been extended to families, including child care and household assistance. If I could give an example: a good friend of mine Marco De Vincentis, who deployed to Iraq but didn't deploy to Afghanistan, passed away too young, here at home. I met his partner, Natalie, at an event, and I felt a sense of guilt that I didn't get in touch during COVID. I found out that she needed help with simple things, like her roof was leaking—that was something Marco used to do. I didn't know what to do, but luckily I remembered my dad's a roof plumber and I sent him down to fix it. But not everyone has a dad who's a roof plumber or who knows one, so to have that sort of assistance in the bill is really important as well.

Finally, I think not making this link to warlike service is very important. I remember, before deploying to Afghanistan, meeting many former commandos or former members of the ADF who hadn't deployed, and you could tell they had a sense of guilt about not doing that. They didn't need to have that guilt, because they'd made the same contract that all of us had. They'd put on a uniform not knowing where they would be sent—

Ross Vasta (Bonner, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The debate is interrupted in accordance with standing order 43. The debate may be resumed at a later hour. If the member's speech is interrupted, the member will have leave to continue speaking when the debate is resumed.