In the last sitting, on the day the government scrapped the $5,000 cap on veteran allied health—good on them—the coalition and the Liberals in both houses slated the government. They demanded the resignation of the minister and they crowed about their unstinting support for veterans. To be clear, I'm not having a go at them for supporting the Scrap the Cap campaign, but Australians should know that the last coalition government did nothing for veterans. In a press conference on the day the cap was scrapped, I was asked by a reporter if I agreed with the coalition's call to sack the Minister for Veterans' Affairs. I said no, because no matter the criticism of Minister Keogh—I have aired a few of my own in this place—he's been in the job since 2022. When the other team were in the Lodge, the Department of Veterans' Affairs had six ministers in fewer than nine years. It was a revolving door of absolute incompetence. That's all it was. Most of these ministers didn't exactly cover themselves with glory, I can assure you. In 2014, the Abbott government increased veteran pay by 1.5 per cent, even though public servants were getting two per cent. We put a lot of pressure on them and so did a lot of the military families. Then Prime Minister Abbott restored some key allowances, but it wasn't until 2015 that he thought we were good enough for them to give us a two per cent pay rise.

In June 2019, the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Darren Chester, told the ABC that he couldn't see the point of establishing a royal commission—how's that going for you today, mate?—despite admitting the government didn't know how many ex-military personnel had taken their lives. A few days later, the Productivity Commission report was released, and oh my God! The report found that the veterans compensation and rehabilitation system was out of date, not fit for purpose and needed fundamental reform. In November 2019, Julie-Ann Finney's petition called for a royal commission and had 267,000 signatures. She got what was her second meeting with Minister Chester, and after that meeting, Julie-Ann told the media:

He said he still doesn't support one—

that being a royal commission—

because it will bog the DVA down for two years. I said you can't just bury hundreds of our bravest and not investigate their deaths.

One of the royal commission's key findings was that the backlog of claims was a key driver of the rate of veteran suicide. Between 2017 and 2022 the backlog of claims under the coalition went from 10,000 to 60,000. I still remember the day that Julie-Ann Finney, Colleen Pillen and Nikki Jamieson, the mothers of veterans who'd lost their sons to suicide, came to Canberra to beg former prime minister Scott Morrison to call a royal commission into defence and veteran suicide. They came to my office afterwards and they told me that former prime minister Morrison was as 'cold as ice'. He was meeting with the mothers of veterans who'd lost their beloved sons to suicide. He treated them like an annoying distraction.

In March 2022, on the eve of the budget, the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Andrew Gee, called a press conference in his hometown of Orange. Remember that? Andrew was emotional. He told the media he was on the cusp of announcing his resignation from cabinet because he was being refused funding for the Department of Veterans' Affairs. Andrew told the media that there was a massive backlog of 60,000 unprocessed claims, rightly calling it a 'national disgrace'. Unlike the ministers who went before him, Andrew Gee was made of sterner stuff. He explained to the media that former prime minister Scott Morrison and former deputy PM Barnaby Joyce had made a commitment that money would be allocated, even if only part of it appeared in the budget papers. Instead of caving to his political bosses, Andrew Gee threatened to resign unless the money was allocated. He told the media:

There are 60,000 Australians, 60,000 people who have served this country who have put their lives on the line ... and what's this government doing? Throwing them under the bus, failing to process their claims in a timely manner.

Of course, we finally got a royal commission, but not before former prime minister Scott Morrison came up with a national commissioner thought bubble—a national commissioner that would have no power to get documents or hold public hearings. And let's not forget One Nation, who also like to say they support veterans. Well, Senator Hanson blocked the royal commission for six more months than what we should have had to wait. All governments make mistakes. This government is no different. But, when you belong to a party that did very little to fix the issue at the Department of Veterans' Affairs, when you belong to a party that actively blocked a royal commission that the entire Australian veteran community was asking for and then stand in this place and talk about veterans as if your record on veterans is as pure as the driven snow—give me a break!

We need more honesty in this place. I'm so over the political amnesia in here. The bottom line is you on this side are not squeaky clean when it comes to veterans, and you can't sit here and pretend that you are. Your government had nothing to do with the chaos in the Department of Veterans' Affairs and defence? Of course it did. You drove us to a royal commission, and that's the truth of the matter.