Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When addressing the graduating class of the Australian Defence Force Academy last year, Governor-General Sam Mostyn AC said:

You have prepared yourselves to live ADFA's motto: to lead, to excel. You have learned to be leaders who will work for peace and stability, who will make ethical and helpful decisions, who will prioritise human life and dignity and always act with compassion and care.

You embody the ADF values of service, courage, respect, integrity and excellence. I believe these values will guide you throughout your careers—not as abstract ideals, but as the foundation of trust, teamwork, service, loyalty and duty.

I attended this particularly wonderful function at Duntroon to see Inigo Bardos, son of David and Jane from Wagga Wagga, graduate. Those who graduated on that day will one day be veterans. Those who graduated on that day will one day need our help. Those who graduated will look to the Department of Veterans Affairs. They will come through their military careers. There will be ups and downs, but we wish them every success. We know that they will uphold that bond of courage, unity and teamwork. So we must ensure that, when they do finish their military careers, we are there for them. That's why this veterans legislation is important.

Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures No. 2) Bill 2025. At the outset, the opposition supports the passage of this bill. We do so because these amendments are necessary to ensure the successful implementation of the veterans reform framework and to allow the transition to a single, simplified compensation and rehabilitation system to operate effectively from 1 July 2026.

For too long, veterans and their families have been forced to navigate a fragmented system spread across multiple acts of parliament, each with different rules, thresholds and processes. The coalition supported the royal commission's interim recommendation to simplify and harmonise these arrangements precisely because complexity creates stress, confusion and, all too often, injustice. That is why we supported the primary reform legislation and why we continue to support the objective of a single ongoing framework under the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act. A unified scheme has the potential to reduce duplication, improve consistency in decision-making and make entitlements, claims and review pathways easier—not harder but easier—for veterans and their families to understand and access.

This bill is largely technical and consequential in nature, but these amendments—well, they matter. They go to how the system functions in practice, how fairness is preserved, and how confidence is maintained during what is a significant transition. The bill clarifies review and appeal rights under the new framework, ensuring veterans retain access to internal reconsideration and external merits review through the Veterans' Review Board, with onward appeal pathways preserved. It establishes clearer rules for claims and decisions that straddle the transition date, reducing legal uncertainty and the risk of inconsistent outcomes.

The bill also addresses important practical matters, including dependent compensation where death occurs after the transition date but relates to earlier service; the application of funeral benefits; education assistance for students and dependants; impairment and additional disablement payments; and the preservation of allowances and decoration payments so that recognition based support continues uninterrupted. These are precisely the kinds of details that matter deeply to veterans and families, particularly at times of illness, loss or transition. However, it must be said that this is now the second miscellaneous measurements bill required to complete or correct the government's original reform package. Quite simply, it's just not good enough. These provisions are not new or unexpected. They are core implementation details that should have been resolved in the primary legislation. Veterans, their advocates and their families deserve certainty and stability in the law, not rolling fix-up bills. Legislative patchwork risks undermining confidence in a system that reform was meant to simplify.

While the opposition will not stand in the way of amendments that protect entitlements and ensure the framework works as intended, we will continue to hold the government to account for incomplete legislative delivery. The opposition has moved an amendment to remove the mandatory legislative requirement to notify the Chief of the Defence Force when a serving member lodges a Veterans' Review Board application or accesses non-liability healthcare. We strongly believe that decision should rest with the serving member, not be hardwired into legislation. Automatic notification to the Chief of the Defence Force risks reinforcing perceptions of career risk and stigma, particularly around mental health. Evidence before the royal commission made clear that some ADF members delay or avoid seeking care because they fear the impact on deployability or career progression. Simply from a wellbeing and suicide prevention perspective, encouraging early, trusted access to care must be paramount. Legislative settings should reduce barriers, not create new perceived risks. Defence will still be able to access operationally necessary information through existing mechanisms or with the member's consent where required.

On Monday, many of us in this place attended the Last Post Ceremony at the Australian War Memorial. During the ceremony, it was noted just how important it is that this parliament maintains a direct line of sight to the War Memorial. We in this place have the power to send our men and women in uniform into harm's way, and with that power comes an enduring responsibility to use our authority to properly support our defence personnel and to really care for our veterans. It was a really deeply moving reminder that our obligations to those who serve do not end when the uniform comes off. They continue in the systems that we build, the laws that we pass and the way we treat veterans and defence personnel throughout their lives, particularly when they are at their most vulnerable. The coalition record reflects that commitment, from establishing the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide to delivering non-liability mental healthcare, strengthening Open Arms, recognising service through the Veterans' Covenant, investing in wellbeing centres and important transition support and, I'd say, the creation of the Australian War Memorial itself.

Finally, I would like to pay tribute to the men and women in uniform who I recently had the pleasure of meeting at RAAF Base Pearce and HMAS Stirling, which I'm sure the deputy chair is quite interested in. It indeed was a privilege to speak with so many people on that day, particularly the young personnel who are just starting out on their careers and are enjoying their careers in the ADF, a career which offers incredible opportunities, skills and pathways for those who choose to serve.

So, to our sailors, our soldiers and our Air Force personnel: we hear you, we see you, and you matter. Our ADF men and women do an extraordinary job, often away from their families, and they deserve our respect and our support—real support, not tricky legislation but real support that helps them when they are in need. That is the lens through which we approach this bill. We support it because it is necessary, but we will continue to push for legislation that puts veterans and defence personnel first, not just in principle but in practice. I thank the House.

Zaneta Mascarenhas (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will suspend the chamber until the chair is resumed.

Sitting suspended from 11:49 to 11:52

Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The rate of veteran suicide is a national tragedy, and that is why the Albanese government has been working at pace to implement our response to the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. I thank members across the House for their contributions and for their support of the government's work so far to improve the lives of current and former serving veterans. The passage of the Veterans' Entitlements, Treatment and Support (Simplification and Harmonisation) Act 2025—the VETS act—early last year was in response to the royal commission's interim report. The bill before us, the Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures No. 2) Bill 2025, furthers the implementation of this simpler veterans entitlement system.

The VETS act will simplify veterans legislation from 1 July this year and do away with the current tri-act system to make it easier for veterans and families of veterans to know what they are entitled to and make it faster for the Department of Veterans' Affairs to process their claims. From 1 July, all veterans' rehabilitation and compensation claims will be dealt with under a single piece of legislation, the new and improved Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004, also known as the MRCA. This includes a commitment that no veteran or family member will experience a reduction in the payments that they're already receiving. To be ready for this date, there are some technical amendments that are required.

This bill proposes a number of minor technical amendments to veterans legislation. These amendments will help to ensure the smooth implementation of these reforms and the transition from the complicated tri-act arrangements to the single ongoing act. As with any new act, there are some amendments required, aimed at correcting minor administrative issues and removing ambiguity in line with the policy intention of the VETS act. The Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures No. 2) Bill 2025 has 16 technical amendments that will ensure a smooth transition from 1 July 2026. This bill deals with the following matters: the review pathway; compensation for dependants and deceased veterans; funeral compensation; access to MRCA education scheme; additional disablement amount; Victoria Cross allowance and decoration allowance; service injuries, diseases and deaths arising from treatment; treatment of serving members; direct deductions; and application and transitional provisions. These technical amendments will make sure there are no interruptions to providing critical benefits or payments to veterans and their families.

I would like to thank the interim shadow minister for his contribution to the debate, and I want to emphasise the continued need to work across the parliament to make sure we're achieving the best outcomes for veterans and families of veterans. I thank the interim shadow minister for his support for a minor government amendment to this bill, to follow. The VETS act is the most significant reform to how we support veterans in a century, making it easier for veterans, and families of veterans, to know what they are entitled to, and making it faster for DVA to process their claims. This bill supports the implementation of the VETS act.

Whilst the amendments contained in the bill are minor, they are critical to ensuring the intent of the VETS act, and the smooth delivery of services, continues and is ready for 1 July 2026. These amendments are evidence we want to get this right, and we're keen to continue to work across the parliament to ensure the best outcomes for veterans and families of veterans. I commend the bill to the House.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The original question that the bill be now read a second time. To this, the honourable member for Hume has moved an amendment that all the words after 'that' be omitted with a view to substituting other words. The immediate question is that the amendment be agreed to.

Question unresolved.

As it is necessary to resolve this question to enable further questions to be considered in relation to the bill, in accordance with standing order 195, the bill will be returned to the House for further consideration.