Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Acting Deputy President Bernardi. You know, these veterans are really feeling it out there. There have been issues with Veterans' Affairs for a very, very long time. You can ask any external service organisation out there. We've got some massive issues going on outside in the service organisations as well. They are split; there are many groups of them out there. They are not united either. You have put bandaid after bandaid after bandaid on from the department; that is what you've done. You people come in here and try and cover up and pretend, for nicety's sake, that it is fine and dandy and that it is running along just fine, when we've already hit 61 suicides this year. And I wake up on Monday morning and hear that a young man has finally woken up out of his coma—he is another statistic, after fighting Veterans' Affairs for five years. I think that's pretty heartbreaking. You can see that this is full-time in our face in our office. I've lost two staff, who have gone down after dealing with Veterans' Affairs over the past two years, because it's complicated and it's difficult to hear the harrowing experiences of veterans and their families and what the Department of Veterans' Affairs is doing to them.

It surprises me that a senator that comes from Northern Queensland, which has one of the highest representations of Defence, can walk in here and, in plain ignorance, think that nothing is going on and that these people have been treated fairly by Veterans' Affairs. I would suggest that senator go out there with their boots on. I would suggest that senator should have shown up every day at the inquiry, while the rest of us sat through listening to their stories and trying to hold back tears. This isn't a one-off. Over 500 submissions were put to that inquiry, and they are still coming in. The Defence Force Ombudsman is struggling to keep up with the demand. So we have some serious issues here.

I won't come in here and serve my time as a senator and put it in the too-hard tray, or pretend that nothing is going on. I won't do that, and I won't do that to every man and woman that has served this country. The trouble is you are now being questioned because there is finally somebody that is here to represent them. And I will continue to do that. I will not be silenced, and I shouldn't have to be silenced. They want a voice in here. You've had plenty of time—both sides—to fix this. And it is getting worse. Veterans' Affairs is getting worse. When you've got somebody like Liz McCrossin who basically says in front of a TV camera, 'Yes, I admit, we've got some massive problems,' then I think it's pretty hypocritical of a senator to walk in here and pretend everything is okay, when it quite clearly is not. They are hurting.

One of the best things that you people on that side could do is get those 24 recommendations put in, and do it now, because that is what is going to save lives—not the DRCA. It will be the 24 recommendations that you put in and act on as quickly as you possibly can. And get that department cleaned up. The other issue you have in that department is that there is abuse going on with departmental staff at lower ranks. This is why we want a national audit in there, because it will pick that up. You are coming unstuck at the seams. For goodness sake, be honest with yourselves as a department and let your people come out and speak without any repercussions, and then we finally might get the veterans the help that they have been begging for year in, year out.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a third time.