David Johnston (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I reassert the proposition that I put: there is an existing program that deals with precisely the matters the senator has raised, if he is prepared to pay any attention to the answer that I gave him. But of course, on the subject of defence, the other side is so embroiled in the politics that they are not interested in following through what benefits are available to Defence beneficiaries, to children of former Defence members, so I am really obviously wasting my time. During their time in office, the only thing they had to concern themselves with about Defence was to treat it as an ATM and a cash cow and rip it off. And that is exactly what they did, to the tune of $18 billion in four years. So it is the height, may I say, of hypocrisy for the Labor Party to come in here with a question about Defence benefits.