Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am always pleased to follow the member for Barton’s speeches in this place. Before the member leaves the chamber, though, I would like to point out that the Prime Minister has indicated to the parliament that the difficulty in affordability of housing is at least partly caused by the lack of availability of land. I think the member for Barton unintentionally placed interest rates as being the reason for people being unable to purchase homes, which is a fairly unusual statement bearing in mind that interest rates, relatively speaking, are still low compared with what they have been historically.

The member for Barton also wrongly suggested that the government placed military bases willy-nilly in marginal seats to benefit marginal coalition members. Interestingly, while he delivered a broadside on service conditions and indicated that people are dissatisfied with the government and the conditions in the armed forces, he also seemed to suggest that a majority of service personnel vote for the coalition. On the one hand he said that we are not providing adequate terms and conditions for serving personnel; on the other hand he said that we want to place these people, who apparently should be dissatisfied with the government, in marginal coalition seats. I cannot quite follow the honourable member’s reasoning.

However, I do agree with him that recruiting is very important and, as a nation, we need to make sure that we have appropriate levels of conditions so that in today’s uncertain world we are able to obtain the number of enlistments that we need. We also need to retain many more of those people who are currently in service. Given your ministerial experience in this general area, Mr Deputy Speaker Scott, I know you would understand the importance of what I have just said and you would share my concern about the need to provide appropriate levels of benefits to those people who have served our nation so well for so many years.

The defence home loan has been around for a considerable period. Originally, it might even have been called a war service loan and it may have been allocated to those who served in the Second World War. Australia does have a very proud history and heritage in the area of defence. Our history is punctuated by battles on numerous frontiers. Not all of these have been won, but on the whole they have added to our maturity and strength as a nation.

Most Australians who sign up for the military do not sign up because of financial reward or to get what they can out of the system. They sign up so that they are able to make a contribution to the security of their families and their nation, and it is a selfless step underpinned by a love of the country in which they live.

For the last couple of years I have had the very great fortune to participate in the Australian Defence Force Parliamentary Program, which is an excellent opportunity for members of parliament who have had no military experience to get some real taste of life in the military. I am pleased to see the member for Wakefield, who is a former colonel, in the chamber. He is a great member and I know that he will be here for as long as he wants to be because he is doing such a wonderful job. When I was privileged to go on the ADF Parliamentary Program this year, I was very pleased that the member for Wakefield was able to be there too. In fact, he knew more than many of the instructors, and he was instructing those of us who were not as skilled as him in the use of weapons in how actually to use them.

Having said that, I do think it is important for us to understand the trials and tribulations and the stresses on family life of the serving personnel of the ADF and the length of time that they are away from their families and their homes. If I had not participated in this ADF program, I simply would not have been aware that people who serve in the Royal Australian Navy at sea are actually away sometimes for eight out of every 12 months. Many people joined what they thought was a peacetime Defence Force, and this is part of the reason for a bit of the turnover. The ADF has been much more proactive in overseas deployments in the last few years. There are many people who probably joined the armed forces never really intending to be deployed, and all of a sudden what they understood was going to be their service life was turned upside down. People who join the ADF at the moment, of course, would do so being aware of the reality of the situation.

I want to extol the role played by our fighting men and women. I want to commend them on their decision to sign up. It is only fitting that they should be recognised in various ways, including through defence home loans. The Defence Force (Home Loans Assistance) Amendment Bill 2006 affords a level of support for members of the Australian Defence Force in the area of homeownership. Recently, on 18 August, Australia commemorated the 40th anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan. At that battle, during the war in Vietnam, intelligent tactics, clever coordination of assets and sheer determination enabled the Australian forces to defeat a significantly larger opposing force. The government recognises the role played by our ex-service men and men, and I am very pleased, like other members, to have been able to announce funding for veterans’ organisations.

I would just like to digress briefly to state that the Queensland Air Museum at Caloundra was allocated $2,800 for a display of photographs and wartime memorabilia relating to the Vietnam War, and the Maleny RSL subbranch in Queensland’s Sunshine Coast hinterland received $1,400 to go towards a memorial service and a commemorative dinner. The Australian government also allocated $30,000 towards a memorial constructed in my electorate, on the bluff at Alexandra Headland, to commemorate the ex-HMAS Brisbane that was sunk as a dive wreck off the coastline last year. You would be aware of that, Mr Deputy Speaker Scott, because I think you were Minister Assisting the Minister for Defence at the time, and the Queensland Beattie Labor government would not provide the cost of sinking that ship, something that would usually be in the purview of a state government. I think we went to you and you gave us $1 million and later $3 million to make sure that that ship was able to be sunk as a dive wreck off the Sunshine Coast, bringing tens of thousands of dive tourists to the Sunshine Coast, boosting our local economy and at the same time improving our marine environment. On behalf of the Sunshine Coast, Mr Deputy Speaker, I would like to thank you for that very proactive decision by your good self when you were serving as a minister of the Crown. The grants to ex-service organisations that I mentioned do help citizens remember what fighting men and women have done and the personal sacrifices they make that accompany their enlistment in the Australian defence forces.

The Defence Home Owner Scheme also recognises the men and women of the ADF in that it provides individual members with a subsidy on the interest expense incurred on their mortgage. As was indicated by other members, this subsidy is linked to home loans received through the National Australia Bank, up to a maximum of $80,000. As the member for Barton mentioned in his contribution, the scheme was due to finish at the end of this year, on 31 December, but this bill provides for the scheme to be extended by 12 months until 31 December 2007.

The program was set up at a time when banks were the major suppliers of home loans. As we are all aware, this is not necessarily the case now, with there being many and varied providers of home loans in today’s market. I think that is a very positive change, and that change has benefited many people. The providers of home loans include building societies, community banks, dedicated lending agents and the like, and the mortgage market has evolved and will continue to evolve.

In recognition of this changing marketplace, the ADF is reviewing the Defence Home Owner Scheme. It does not wish for its fighting men and women to lose access to the scheme in the meantime, so it is a necessary evil that this scheme will be extended for an additional 12 months. This bill is all about making sure that the men and women who have served our nation in the armed forces are able to continue receiving support until such time as the review has taken place. The opposition has attacked the timeliness of the review and the need for the extension of time which is provided for in this bill. I think it ought to be pointed out that this is an attack on the detail of the process rather than on the overall objectives of the scheme. I think the member for Blaxland opposite is nodding his agreement.

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