Graham Edwards (Cowan, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary (Defence and Veterans' Affairs)) Share this | Hansard source

I want to address a couple of issues in this debate on Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2006-2007 and Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2006-2007 relating to my responsibilities as shadow parliamentary secretary for defence and veterans’ affairs. The first of these issues I want to address goes to the issue of the loss of value of the TPI pension. Before I get into that issue, I just want to say how ineffective this government has been in the face of the record reluctance of young Australians to sign up and join the ADF.

It is no wonder that the government has a retention and recruitment crisis on its hands. I have looked at some of the wasteful advertising on TV and in other places. The government are spending millions upon millions of dollars on this advertising, which is designed, I think, more to bolster the image of the government than to recruit. But it seems to me that, if they were dinkum about their need and the way they are going about their recruitment drive, they might be better off saving that money that they are wasting on advertising and putting it into looking after the veteran community—that is, veterans who served in previous eras or in previous conflicts—although, having said that, I am aware that a number of veterans who have served in Afghanistan, Iraq and places like East Timor are facing the same sorts of issues that older veterans are facing.

An example of that is in a recent letter that was sent to the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and to ex-service organisations by the Vietnam Veterans Federation in New South Wales. I might say that the Vietnam Veterans Federation under the presidency of Tim McCombe, himself a veteran, is probably one of the most credible of all ex-service organisations in Australia. I commend Tim and all of his team out there at Granville for the wonderful work they are doing across the board for veterans. In this letter, which they sent to the minister, under a heading, ‘Loss of value of the TPI pension’ they say this:

The Minister for Veterans’ Affairs is grasping at straws in his attempt to justify the government’s refusal to restore the lost value of the TPI pension and to stem its further erosion. His attempted justifications are untenable and contradictory. Our latest letter to the minister is enclosed.

I want to quote this letter because it shows that what is being said about the TPI is not just being said by me and other members of parliament on the ALP side who take an interest in these things but also in the broader veteran community. The letter is addressed to the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and it says:

Loss of the value of the TPI pension

Since 1979, the TPI pension has lost value compared with other pensions and the erosion continues.

In recent correspondence to the Vietnam Veterans Federation and others, you have defended the government’s refusal to restore the TPI pension’s lost value and its refusal to completely stem its continuing erosion.

The justification you give for the government’s inaction is that the TPI pension/Service pension package is adequate because it is roughly equivalent to the average wage.

But the TPI pension/Service pension package and the average wage are simply not comparable. It is like comparing apples with oranges.

Firstly, the spouses of civilians on the average-wage can earn as much as they like without it reducing their partners’ incomes, whilst any significant wage earned by partners of TPI pensioners reduces the TPI pension/Service pension package. This reduction is savage enough to discourage a great many spouses from taking up work. The importance of this difference cannot be overstated as the vast majority of Australian families find it necessary for both partners to work for at least some of the time to make ends meet. When spouse’s incomes are added to that of their average-wage earner partners, the TPI pension/Service pension package recipient is left far worse off.

Secondly many civilians on the average wage are in transit through that wage level and will be earning much more in later life. No such luck for the TPI Pensioner. He is stuck on the TPI Pension/Service Pension package for life and often from an early age. Unlike his civilian counterparts, he will have no chance to upgrade his skills and gain experience which will allow him to earn progressively more, so he can buy a house and accumulate superannuation for his old age.

Thirdly, there is another even more basic difference. Generally speaking, the civilian average-wage earner has not been sent off to fight Australia’s wars. War service is like no other job, it is uniquely dangerous and arduous. TPI pensioners’ war service did not conform to civilian norms so there should be no need for any compensation they might receive for the war’s devastating effects to be restricted by civilian norms.

In short, your argument for adequacy based on this comparison is fallacious and we are disappointed that you continue using it.

We are disappointed, too, at the figures you use in the comparison.

The average wage is clearly ‘income’. Any payments compared with it must also be ‘income’. The government has decreed that only part of the TPI pension is ‘income’, the other part being ‘lump sum equivalent’. Yet in making your comparison, you have included the whole of the TPI pension including the part you have decreed as ‘lump sum equivalent’. Your calculations are therefore invalid.

Including the whole of the TPI pension you calculate that a single under-65 TPI service pension/Service pension recipient receives a net $10 a fortnight more than a single average-wage earner. But if you play by your own rules and recognise that only part of the TPI pension is ‘income’, the under-65 TPI pension/Service pension package recipient is, in fact, over four hundreds of dollars a fortnight worse off.

The simple facts are these:

The TPI pension was 47.3% of the average wage in 1997 and it is now 43.5%.

The TPI pension is still losing value.

We ask that the lost value of the TPI pension be restored and its erosion stemmed.

This is an issue that the government must address. This is an issue that the government have run away from for some years now. We know that they changed the system in 1996. That is over 10 years ago, and it is time they recognised that they made a mistake and fixed it up.

I know that this is also an issue for the ALP to address. In due course we must address this issue in terms of our own policies, and I am greatly heartened by the work that Alan Griffin is doing out there. Alan is the ALP spokesperson on veterans’ issues. He has been out in the veteran community, listening to them, taking on board their arguments and showing them a great deal of respect. I know that this is an issue that Alan wants to see resolved as well.

The important point is that the government is currently putting together its budget that will be produced in May. I urge the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, who is the government spokesperson for veterans’ affairs in this parliament, to ensure that he gets his fingers into the Treasurer’s purse and rectifies this disgraceful erosion of the TPI pension. As long as this government continues to treat veterans in the shoddy way that it has then it will be equally hard to recruit young Australians to serve in the ADF. Word of mouth through the veteran community to younger people is simply saying, ‘Think twice about signing up because when the flags have stopped flying, when you are out of uniform, governments forget about you very quickly.’ That, unfortunately, is a sad truth. If the government is dinkum about its care and concern for veterans, it will make sure that in this budget it rectifies that erosion of the TPI pension. I once again compliment Tim McCombe and the Vietnam Veterans Federation for the tremendous work they are doing.

The second issue I want to deal with is the Australian Defence Medal. We saw this medal announced with a lot of hoo-ha some time ago. I think it is a very sad thing to say that there are so many anomalies in the way in which this Australian Defence Medal was put together and in the way in which it is being processed and sent out to the veteran community that it is causing a lot of angst and a lot of concern in the veteran community. I want to deal with one issue in relation to all of those confronting problems with the medal, and that is the issue that relates to members of the ADF who have been discharged on medical grounds.

I was recently contacted by the Injured Service Persons Association national group. I know that this is an issue that they have taken up. Their national president, Ray Brown, has written to me and has written to the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs pointing out the anomalies and asking him to get them fixed. But, in short, the military and honours and awards area is refusing to process applications for the Australian Defence Medal from former members of the ADF who were discharged on medical grounds. These people have just been put in a queue. They are in a sort of backlog area and no-one is dealing with their applications. Ray Brown quoted to me some correspondence that he had from one of his members, and I will quickly read it:

Hi, Ray.

I applied for my ADM in April last year. I telephoned around Sept to follow up as my husband applied same time as me & received his in July. I was told it is coming.

Yesterday I telephoned again & got an interesting response from Nigel at Directorate of Awards. He said all medical discharge applicants have been put on hold until they finalise policy about proof of discharge & compensatory injury. I asked him what he meant by that & he said they received more applicants than expected ... and many could not provide PROOF of their med disc and compensation.

I told him I found that to be quite embarrassing for them & inappropriate as most med disch would have some form of proof if needed.

In the end, he asked I provide further evidence. I had sent in my med disch certificate & now I have resent it with a copy of my compensation payment (which I marked confidential.) So another stuff around. With the letter I included I advised them since they were having so many problems even bothering to contact the members whom have claimed about their problems I would let my ESO know so they could inform all members.

As I see it, this is just purely a matter of resourcing. Surely, if this area—which we know was stripped of its resources some time ago by this government—had adequate resources, it could deal with and process these applications. There is no doubt that the government have made an absolute mockery of the medals situation in Australia and they continue to make a mockery of it by the way they are denying injured service men and women their access to a medal which the government trumpeted last year as being a very important medal. It is an important medal, and any backlog or any other reason that prevents these deserving members of the ADF from getting that medal should be rectified. I know it is something that I and the ALP will be having a bit more to say about later on this year. But there are a lot of anomalies in the way this medal is being processed and it is time the government accepted responsibility for them.

I have listened to a number of government speakers during the course of this debate. They have come in here whining and whingeing and moaning about state governments, trying to look for some scapegoats because of their own inefficiencies and their own shortfalls in the way that they have been managing the interests of Australia over the past decade. Instead of running around looking for scapegoats, they ought to come in here and accept responsibility for those things that they can affect and change, and they are not doing that. They are just running around, looking for someone to blame and, as Kevin Rudd says, playing the blame game. It is time they stopped doing that and it is time that they started to address the real issues.

Just in closing, last year I had a great opportunity to visit Salt Lake City as a guest for five days of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I was incredibly impressed with what I saw there. For instance, I was fortunate enough to attend the Sunday morning session of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints conference at the Temple Square in a centre that holds some 30,000 people. Prior to the conference we listened to the live CBS broadcast of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Music and the spoken word. This is a world-famous choir. This broadcast occurs every Sunday and is usually held at the tabernacle, which is currently undergoing refurbishment. At that conference we were also fortunate enough to listen to the address by the president of the church, Gordon B Hinckley. The president is now in his 96th year and is the 15th president of the church.

The thing for me which was a great eye-opener was to learn of the incredible work that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints does in humanitarian aid right throughout the world. It was just an absolute eye-opener to see the way that they are prepared, the way that they have stockpiled goods, and the way that they can so quickly respond to worldwide situations, including the tsunami, and the cyclone that hit their own country. I will quickly mention some of this. At a place called Welfare Square they have a bakery and a cannery. They provide employment services, grain storage, a thrift store, a dairy produce facility, storehouses and a family services office, as well as facilities to teach cooking. The philosophy of their welfare area is that people who want help must be prepared to help themselves.

It is interesting that, from 1985 through to 2005, the church, through its humanitarian aid services, provided $US830 million in total assistance to needy individuals in 163 countries. Distributions included 51,480 tonnes of food, 7,697 tonnes of medical equipment, 68,923 tonnes of surplus clothing and 5,753 tonnes of educational supplies. One product which really caught my eye was a maternity kit for mums-to-be or recent mums caught in disasters. It was a simple kit packed with the necessities of life for a new baby and a nursing mother. It was so practical yet simple, and I am sure it is of great benefit in times of need. I would like our Australian aid organisation to have a look at this pack. I thought it was just brilliant.

I want to thank those members of the church who hosted me and looked after me, particularly Phil and Trish Baker in Perth, Leo and Carmel Talbot and Lionel and Marianne Walters. I will be hosting them in Parliament House next month and we are looking forward to that. We are looking forward to about 40 young people coming here. I seek leave to table this report. It is simply a report I have written. Other members might find it useful. I would certainly like to once again compliment the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for the wonderful work they do worldwide. I seek leave to table that report.

Leave granted.

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