Bernie Ripoll (Oxley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Hansard source

It is always a pleasure to speak on veterans affairs issues and bills, and I am particularly pleased to speak on the Veterans’ Affairs Legislation Amendment (2007 Measures No. 1) Bill 2007. It is a pleasure because I have a lot of interest and concern in the affairs of veterans not only in my community but right across Australia, as I know many other members and senators do, and for good reason. I have a lot of veterans in my electorate, perhaps one of the larger veteran communities in all of Australia. Over the years that I have been the member for Oxley, I have grown not only to know their community better but also to understand their community much better. I believe I have developed a very strong, good working relationship with the veteran community, as I think all members of parliament and senators should do. In doing that I have managed to better understand and better inform myself of what it really means for them to be veterans—not just for the veteran personally but for their families, for their children and for their friends as well.

There are many issues that revolve around being a veteran today, and some are highly complex issues—compensation, welfare, wellbeing, mental health and physical health. Again, as I just said, these are issues not just for the veterans themselves; they impact on their families and friends and their children. So it is significant today that this chamber debate this bill and make some very necessary changes, some long overdue changes, to the veterans affairs legislation, which needs to be improved.

It is also significant because it is the first opportunity I have had since Anzac Day to speak in this chamber on veterans affairs issues, so I will put on record that Anzac Day this year was a great event, as it always is. It is a commemoration, it is a special celebration in remembering those who have gone before us and fallen, and it signifies all those veterans who have served our country. It was with great pride that I attended a number of Anzac Day events in my electorate and was represented at many others. It is with great pride that I note in my electorate, and in other electorates—in Ipswich as well as in Brisbane—that Anzac Day is becoming more and more significant, more and more important, that more schools are being involved, that young people are being involved and taking the time out. They are coming out earlier. They are going to the dawn services. We are seeing some of the largest crowds we have ever seen.

People might have different views as to why that is the case, but it does not really matter why that is the case. I think it shows and demonstrates an interest of the community, an interest of young people, that our history is important, that our veterans are important, that the things that they did for us are important and that we should never forget that—that the mottos of Anzac Day and the words that we speak on those days, ‘Lest we forget’, are serious, solemn words. They are there to ensure that we do not forget and that we recall the deeds of the past. We know that Anzac Day is not a celebration of war or even of victories, for that matter; it is a commemoration, a remembrance day, and a very important one. I thought I would take the opportunity while speaking on this veterans affairs bill to note that.

Not only should we be looking after veterans for the things that they have done for us but veterans themselves take great pride in looking after others. They do it for themselves when it comes to looking after their own. They set up their own advocacy groups and help groups. They make sure that one mate looks after another mate, and I think that is the most important step, the very first step. They cannot do it on their own, and that is something that government needs to understand. While they are prepared to put in the time to volunteer and do the things they have to do, they cannot do it on their own. They need assistance. They need professional services, professional officers, counsellors and also money. They need funding, because these things do not just happen as a matter of course. They need the support of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs also. They also need understanding from the department, which I know they do have—maybe not always as best as it could be, but it is certainly very good—and they need the understanding of the government and of the minister.

That support is important for the work they have done for us in the past, for the things they have done for us, and for the work they continue to do in the community—within their own community and in the broader community as well. There is a great spirit of volunteerism within the veteran community. I do not know what it is about them, but I know that in my community—and it is always a great source of pride for me—whenever there is a volunteers awards day, whenever you need volunteers, whenever something is happening in the community, they are the first to stick their hands in the air. They are the first to give freely of their time. They are the first to want to contribute to their community. Perhaps it is because they have served, perhaps it is because of their military background and training, or perhaps it is just because they really are decent people.

I want to also mention that this legislation affects a whole range of people: those who would have served in World War II, through to Vietnam, to more recent conflicts—Iraq, Afghanistan—and to peacekeeping. Certainly in my community, veterans are well represented in all those fields and many others as well. This bill will certainly deal with a whole range of people in the veteran community.

It is just a housekeeping bill, though. It raises a number of issues and tries to provide better service for current arrangements within the Veterans’ Entitlements Act. It tidies up a number of things that are out of date and do not work any longer. It is no surprise that federal Labor support this bill, because ultimately it corrects unintended consequences of the current drafting and improves the arrangement of income support and pensions for our Australian veterans. While I say that we support it, I also add that there are some parts of the bill which I personally have issues with, that concern me and that I do not think are completely appropriate. Nevertheless, the bill in its entire form is worthy of support because it does help veterans.

The other issues we can continue to debate in this parliament. I think if there is anything we can say about debates in terms of veterans affairs issues it is that there is great bipartisanship from both sides of the Australian parliament. While we might disagree on some of the timing issues, some of the minor detail and other improvements that could assist veterans, at least we all agree on those things that will help veterans and are for the betterment of veterans’ lives.

What is disappointing, though, is that the Howard government continues to deprioritise a range of very important issues currently associated with our veterans. This I find more than disappointing. In fact, I find it surprising that after 11 years in government it has not found the time, the will or the tenacity to listen enough to veterans to understand some of their issues. In relation to this bill I speak in particular of issues of indexation, which have an impact on all veterans who receive some type of assistance from the government. This is important because of the mental health issues that I raised before and a range of other problems that are encountered by our veterans that need to be promptly addressed.

It is not limited just to those types of issues. Veterans, like other ordinary people in the community, face a range of day-to-day problems associated with just getting by, just with surviving, existing. While it is true to say that we have got a strong economy—we hear it every day and we are not shy to talk about it; nor is the government, I suppose—it is not evenly distributed. Some people are doing exceptionally well, and that is the reality, but many others in the community are actually doing it tougher than they have ever done it. I think one of those groups in the community that are doing it particularly tough today, right now, is veterans. Veterans are doing it tough. Their pensions do not quite cover this new, great economy that we have. It is a good economy, but it costs a lot to be part of this new economy and not all veterans can afford to be part of this new economy. This is not something that I have come to a conclusion on by myself; this is something the veterans are telling me. They are saying: ‘Our pension and some of the allowances we get just do not match the extra costs of living today. They just aren’t matched by what we receive.’

That is why I said earlier that I am disappointed that, after 11 years and a lot of crowing about how great the economy is, the government have not taken the time and have not felt it was important enough to go to the core parts of indexation, pensions and compensation for veterans in our community to try to balance that up and make things a bit better for them. I like to think I can apply some pressure to government from time to time, particularly on these issues. What I hope does not come out of this is another advertising campaign. I think we have all seen plenty of advertising campaigns. What I would like to see is some money spent on veterans directly. I do not think you would have to tell the whole community. I think that, maybe by doing it, veterans would know. They would know it in their hip pocket. They would know instantly. They would know it through their newsletters, at minimal to nil cost to government. I hope that out of this we do not get some flash advertising campaign which actually costs more than any of the changes that the government might put forward.

Fixing this ongoing indexation problem for our veterans would restore value to their payments. I do not think I would get any argument on that. I am hearing some murmurs across the chamber from the Liberal Party. I wonder whether they are arguing that veterans do not deserve proper indexation. I am not sure, but I hope that is not what they are saying.

See this speech in context