David Shoebridge (NSW, Australian Greens) | Link to this | Hansard source

Since the budget, I've been hearing from veterans in fear of Labor's proposed $5,000 allied health cap. This cap was proposed to limit veterans' access to the necessary care they need to live. It can't be overstated how important allied health is to veterans and their families. It can be as urgent as a veteran with complex PTSD regularly seeing a psychologist to someone who's been injured in combat or injured in training seeing a physio so that they can play with their kids. Without these supports we are denying veterans a full life.

Veterans don't just need questions answered; veterans need a change in how the government treats veterans. We know there's a lack of trust in government, and this kind of action only makes that worse. Defence always seems to be able to find more money for US weapons corporations, more money for the Defence leadership. But right now we're watching Defence under Labor slush it for the men and women who have served.

Again we're seeing Labor squibbing it on gambling reform, putting a hopelessly weak package on the table, instead of delivering the reasonable and modest reform recommended by the Labor chair of their own inquiry. Ban the ads. That's the pattern in New South Wales too, even at a council level, where it appears the Australian Labor Party has been literally bought by the Australian hotels lobby, borked up by gambling interests and their mates that they won't stand up to. Meanwhile, these same interests that have bought Labor are bleeding communities dry.

The Greens have forced the Albanese government to send its half-baked gambling bill off to a proper Senate inquiry, and that matters. This legislation was never good enough, and Labor knew it. Delaying ads until after 8.30 pm doesn't protect a single child. It just protects the profits of an industry that has spent decades buying influence in this place at the expense of families torn apart by addiction.

Just ban the gambling ads. No more inducements. Kick out the pokies, and end the cruelty festivals that are some of the industries that gambling is based on. (Time expired)