Harry Quick (Franklin, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

No, I am not—I am serious. I say it as it is. I brought my cabcharge card in today. I reckon all veterans should get one of these. I imagine the departmental people sitting opposite listening to this and hopefully taking some notes have one. We have them. There is a monthly management thing where there has to be a reconciliation, but Jack still has to get these travel vouchers and get them signed by the doctor. Occasionally you do go to the doctor, who is busy as all get-out and forgets to sign it. So you have to go back to the doctor again to get him to sign it—something as simple as this.

One of the retrograde steps was getting rid of our repat hospitals. I honestly believe that we ought to look seriously at that. They used to get gold-class service when they went to a repat hospital. I know from firsthand experience with Mum and Dad and Dad’s associated colleagues. We now are at the stage where the gold card is worthless. Lots of doctors will not recognise it, which I think is an indictment on the medical profession. Where is the ethos of the Weary Dunlop doctors—service to others before service to self?

Now, sadly, too many veterans are forced to queue with others at the accident and emergency departments in the hospitals. It is 68 years since 1939 and, assuming these guys were 20, they are getting old and their wives are getting old. As I said at the outset, there are not many members of the House who have really close links to these service men and women. It is okay for us on Anzac Day and Remembrance Day to honour them but, as I said, I have given you two examples. I have an even sadder one, a Gulf War veteran, 35, gold card TPI at 31, went to the first Gulf War at 17. He came into my office with associated drug problems because of his medical condition. He told me that the day before he came in to see me his 14-year-old daughter had to drag him off the Midland Highway between Hobart and Launceston because he wanted to get hit by a truck, because it was all too hard for DVA, drug and alcohol and the mental health people in Hobart.

We send these people away with great flag waving and fervour, but when they come back it is very hard. This bloke pulled up his sleeve and there were the slashes on his arm, saying, ‘This is how desperate I am, Harry, for someone to take responsibility.’ He came into my office the day before Easter. So, in my anger I rang up DVA, drug and alcohol and the mental health people in Hobart and they said, ‘We’re all going to have a holiday for five days.’ The world closes down. They hand all the problems back to everybody. But this guy wanted help that day. This was at half past nine in the morning. I feared for his life—not only his but whomever else he might get angry with, because he was angry. He brought his diary in and there were about 30 pages of foolscap where he had written down all the problems he faced. I finally got someone to assume responsibility for this bloke.

I cannot name him because tragically, just after Easter, he was forced to commit four armed robberies to get what he needed in order to survive. I will not say anymore because I have had to make a statement and I will probably be called to the court case. But here we have three: Maree Brownlie, in her 80s; Jack Sheppard, in his mid-90s; and this poor young fellow, aged 35, gold card TPI. They are falling through the hole. I know DVA do wonderful things, but there are some mechanisms that are needed. I cut a bit out of the paper: it is a list of all the seats where the government, in its wisdom, is pouring $249.77 million into road infrastructure. We can find that, but we cannot find some basic money to ensure that not one veteran, not one war widow, falls through the hole. Their name liveth forevermore.

I have been lucky since I have been in this place to be able to visit just about every battlefield. I have been to PNG—Lae, Wewak and Madang. I have made two visits to Gallipoli, where Dad was, and I have been to the Western Front, to Villers, Hamel, Fromelles and Albert. I have been to the Kuwait-Iraq border and seen the mess that was the first Gulf War. Most people here have seen my Iraqi helmet. I have been to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and seen how hard it is up there. I have been to North Africa. I have been to the Marshall Islands; my American uncle, Uncle Bill, served at Iwo Jima and Guadalcanal.

As I said at the outset, these insignificant little bills give us an opportunity to put on the public record some of our concerns. Our party is just as much to blame as the other side. We have had some wonderful ministers. In 2009 it will be 70 years since the last big conflagration. In the year 2007 I just wish that Australia Remembers continues. I know that in all our hearts and minds we honour our veterans, but we have to do it each and every day and find the necessary resources. If I were the minister I would make all the Second World War guys TPIs. I know how hard it was for my dad to get it. He basically wanted it for Mum because he was 20 years older than her and he wanted her to be looked after, because he knew how good the system was when we had repatriation hospitals and they lived in the country, hundreds of kilometres from Melbourne. So I remind people to read Graham’s speech. He said he had the visible scars of war—he has lost his legs. But lots of these people look like, and are, ordinary people who have given exceptional service, and they expect exceptional service to be given back to them. I thank the chamber.

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