I move:

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the Member for Riverina from moving the following motion immediately—That this House:

(1) requires the Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Defence Personnel to immediately attend the Chamber and be permitted to speak for no more than 15 minutes to explain:

(a) why the Government is proceeding with the proposed veterans allied healthcare cap despite widespread concern from veterans, ex-service organisations and allied health providers;

(b) what consultation was undertaken with veterans and stakeholder organisations before the announcement of the proposed cap;

(c) what modelling, advice and impact assessments informed the Government's decision; and

(d) how the Government can guarantee that veterans with complex and ongoing health conditions will not be worse off under the proposed changes; and

(2) permits the Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs to attend the Chamber and speak for no more than 10 minutes in response to the Minister's statement.

I have the statement there. Our veterans deserve better, and they have not been treated accordingly by this government. The words 'lest we forget' must carry meaning. It must just not be on 25 April or 11 November, when politicians stand beside veterans with medals, veterans who have served and veterans who expect better and say the words 'lest we forget'.

There are a couple of other terms that are important too. One of those terms is 'for what they have done, this we will do,' and it is the concluding line of the Australian Defence Veterans' Covenant oath. It's also the line used on the white and gold cards that our veterans so appropriately receive, and so many veterans showed me that card during the past fortnight, when I went to every state and territory and heard from hundreds upon hundreds of veterans at 11 forums. They had a mixture of both anger and sadness, disappointment and betrayal. They feel insulted by this government with its insidious, its unjust and its un-Australian cap on allied health services for our veterans.

There's another line that I want to read to the parliament. It was on a wreath this morning, and it read: 'For those whose battle followed them home.' That wreath was laid down at the front of this building, and it was laid by eight veterans and family members who then, almost unbelievably, laid down their medals, and that was done with a heavy heart—for veterans to take their well-earned medals from their chests and lay them next to a wreath and to say that they do not accept this government's allied healthcare cap. I shouldn't even use the word 'care', because this government has stopped caring and has stopped listening to veterans. At least the minister today showed the veterans a little bit of respect, just a smidgen. But it's about time, because a fortnight ago, when those veterans came to this place, he wouldn't see them and, when he did see them, he folded his arms, rolled his eyes back and threw his hands in the air, and he did not want to know about their concerns and issues.

So that is why I went right around the country over the past fortnight, and do you know what, Opposition Leader? I thought that probably, in one of the many forums and among the many hundreds of veterans, I'd get one veteran who would say: 'Hang on a minute. The cap's okay, for this reason or that.' But I didn't hear one—not one. I did not hear one veteran, out of the hundreds upon hundreds who attended those forums, in their own time and on their own dime, who was prepared to defend the government's policy—a policy, I might add, that was brought in without consultation prior to the May budget. There was no consultation. It came out of left field, and that is so typical of this government—bringing in policy that is going to our veterans.

And here we have the rub. Under the very mischievous and misleading heading 'Continuing to support veterans and their families', the budget 2026-27 information sheet says:

The Government will achieve savings of $748.0 million over three years from 2027-28 (and $340.2 million per year ongoing) from the introduction of a $5,000 Annual Monetary Limit for veterans' allied health services. Further savings of $30.1 million over three years from 2027-28 (and $12.2 million per year ongoing) will be achieved from simplifying referral requirements.

Well, tell a veteran that those referrals are going to be any easier. Tell that to a veteran who might happen to live regionally or remotely, far away from the city lights, because it's actually going to make it more difficult. Whoever came up with that should be reprogrammed and sent over the obstacle course at Kapooka, home of the soldier, at dawn every day for a month, because that is a disgrace. That sentence is an insult to our veterans who've put on a uniform and gone to protect this nation and its people. The government's first responsibility is to protect its people. Well, they're not protecting the people who protected the nation, and this is a disgrace. This $5,000 allied healthcare cap has been an absolute ambush on our veterans. They expect better and, moreover, they deserve better, but they're not being given any better by a government which refuses to listen.

It was only last week that we saw the minister scrambling and actually making some carve-outs, for TPI and other veterans, from this insidious policy. Do you know what he said this morning when he met the veterans, the Coalition of Veterans' Voices? He said, 'What other groups might you think should be carved out?' That's what the veterans told me. It's policy on the run. He has absolutely no idea, no care and no empathy for our veterans. That bells the cat. It's a saving. It's a cut to veterans, who do not deserve it. They have fought hard for this country. Even if they never left the canteen at Puckapunyal, they have served. They have served our country. They did what was told by this country, they did what was asked by this parliament and they deserve better from this government, which has no empathy when it comes to our veterans.

It's absolutely going against everything this government ever said when it came to office in May 2022, when it said, 'We will not leave anybody behind.' Well, let me tell you: tell that to the half a million veterans and to the 60,000 who are currently in uniform. They're proud of Australia. They're proud of our flag. They're proud of our people. But I tell you what: they're feeling a little bit tarnished and a little bit less worthy because of this insidious government—and it is—and this minister, who showed them contempt. At least he's given them a meeting today, but he's got his department scrambling now to try to catch up. He's flown to Sydney—okay. He's got on a Teams meeting and had a photo up with all the stakeholders. Well, he should have done that before the budget.

Do you know what he should have done when that Treasury official came in and said that the Treasury wanted savings from every department? The minister should have banged the table and said: 'We're not going to take it from veterans. We're not going to take any money away from veterans, because our veterans deserve better.' And what we deserve is a minister who stands up for the people he's supposed to serve. He's not just the minister for Veterans' Affairs; he's the Minister of Defence—

You shut up, Member for McEwen! You absolutely shut up! And you should, because this is important. These are our veterans. They cannot—

The member for Riverina will withdraw that remark.

I'm not going to! He should be quiet. He is screaming out at me when I'm sticking up for veterans, and I'm not going to withdraw it. There's no way known I'm going to withdraw it. He should be quiet.

Order! To assist the House, we do not use that language. We do not use that language. For the respect of the House, I ask you to withdraw the use of that word.

To assist the House—what he should do is use his voice to stick up for veterans, because they deserve our support. It doesn't matter what side of parliament you're on. They need support.

On a point of order—under standing order 91, the member has repeatedly disobeyed the presiding officer, and I ask you to bring him back to the matter at hand.

Member for Riverina, you've withdrawn the remark?

I did withdraw the remark.

The member for Riverina can continue.

What we should be doing is scrapping the cap. What we should be doing is sacking the minister and putting a minister in cabinet who actually understands and has empathy for our veterans, who deserve better.

Is the motion seconded?

I second the motion. There are about seven advisory groups that advise the Minister for Veterans' Affairs and the Department of Veterans' Affairs, and these advisory groups are made up of veterans and ex-service organisations. These are people that are experts in this field, and they are the people that the Minister for Veterans' Affairs should have spoken to before bringing in this cap of $5,000. Not one of them was spoken to. Not one of them agrees on this cap. This minister has brought in this cap that is going to leave veterans worse off, and there's nothing that the Prime Minister can say nor are there any other weasel words that can be said that will convince the Australian people otherwise.

The Prime Minister said that, for all total and permanent impairment and the special-rate disability pension, those people will now be carved out and that this wasn't the case before. Let me tell you about a friend of mine, Paul Warren. He's missing his leg. It got blown off in Afghanistan, in the same explosion where Ben Ranaudo was killed in action on my deployment in 2009. He's not TPI. He's not on the special-rate disability pension. He's had issues with his leg. His leg can't function properly. He's had infections. He's been in the worst despair of his life, but the Prime Minister and the Minister for Veterans' Affairs want to stand up and say: 'It's okay. I'm sure this won't affect veterans'—veterans like my mate Paul. It is not true! This is going to absolutely wreck the veteran community.

The minister couldn't even be bothered meeting with veterans. He hasn't met with any. When he gets dragged to the table, he doesn't want to talk about it. He doesn't want to come down and defend it. This is not good enough. This minister has lost the faith of the veteran community. He's lost the faith of the Australian public. To be honest, the Prime Minister should sack him because, right now, they're scrambling. There was no consultation phase announced when we found this policy in the budget. No-one knew about it, but now there's a consultation process because they're trying to save face. It was not in the royal commission. Nothing about a $5,000 cap was in the royal commission.

The Prime Minister and other members want to talk about the 'price differentiation'. We're not talking about that. We're talking about a cap. You cannot say that this cap is what the veteran community wants. Politicians are not experts. They're not. They should be taking advice from the experts, and, in this case, it's the veterans and their families.

A veteran has told me that he will not be a burden on his family. You know what that means? That means he has a plan to not be with us anymore if he hits this $5,000 cap, because he knows what will happen. It will put him in such a hole. He will drink more—he told me this—he'll self-medicate, and he won't be here anymore. That's what veterans are saying. They're talking about suicide, and this government can't do the right thing and scrap the cap. Veterans are openly talking about suicide. This isn't good enough. For the Prime Minister to now say, 'I'm meeting with veterans,' to cover for his incompetent veterans' affairs minister just highlights the laziness of the Minister for Veterans' Affairs. It shows that he's incompetent, and it shows that he's not listening.

Five years and two weeks ago, there was the rescue mission in Afghanistan. We sent people into the most dangerous place in the world, into the belly of the beast. A lot of those people that went on that rescue mission have left the Army and are looking at DVA and putting their claims in. Some of them are trying to get back in, because they know that they'll hit a cap very quickly—with their knee injuries, their mental health challenges, their shoulder injury—and, as soon as they meet that cap, then they don't get support.

The Department of Veterans' Affairs has said that it will take several months to get an increase in that cap so you can get the service you need—several months! This is ridiculous. This minister is clearly not up to the task. If you've lost the faith of the people you're supposed to stand next to and support, then you shouldn't be in the job that you have. This minister is failing upwards continually. This prime minister should do the right thing. He should frogmarch him back in here, give him, like the motion says, 15 minutes to answer to this, and not talk about all the other policies but talk about who told him that a $5,000 cap was a good idea. What veteran? Just one—one veteran. The answer is 'you will not be able to get it'. I'm fearful for what will happen next. We do not need any more suicides in the veteran community. This minister needs to go.

I move:

That the debate be adjourned.

The question is that the debate be adjourned.