Phillip Thompson (Herbert, Liberal National Party, Shadow Minister for Defence Industry) | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Minister for Defence Personnel. This morning, Renee Wilson, the CEO of the Families of Veterans Guild and partner of combat wounded Gary Wilson, told the media that the first she heard of the minister's discussion paper about his cruel cap was in question time yesterday. Why on earth hasn't the minister picked up the phone to the CEO of the organisation representing Australia's war widows?

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

I thank the member for his question, and I recognise his real dedication to these issues, of course from his own service and the great work he does, particularly in his community of Townsville, which is a key garrison city for our country.

I have had engagements with Renee, as you mentioned. She does great work through her guild and the work that she does to support our veteran families. I've had many engagements with her. We've been clear, when we announced the changes to allied health to improve access, that we would also be consulting with the veteran community around how we would ensure that there's no gap in service provision to our veteran community as a result of these changes. We've been very clear about that, and we'll be starting that soon. As I mentioned in question time yesterday that will involve a discussion paper. I haven't had a direct conversation with her about the discussion paper, but we really look forward to seeing all of that feedback come in as part of that process, including from Renee and her organisation and the many other ex-service organisations around the country.