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

Good. I just was not sure. I hope they are not here arguing against indexation, because that would be very disappointing. I hope the government after 11 years is not making light of these issues and is taking these issues very seriously, as I am today.

I reaffirm my commitment to our veterans. I remind the people who are listening or reading this speech that to date Labor under Kevin Rudd is the only party that has made the commitment to our most severely disabled war veterans that they will have their pensions adjusted to take account of not just the cost of living but also the standard of living. That is an important point that should be understood by government—it is not just the cost of living but the standard of living. Veterans today are probably doing it tougher than they have ever done in the past, and that is very disappointing. We are living in good times but they are not good times for everyone.

Under a Rudd Labor government, these veterans will no longer have to depend on the government to deliver these one-off catch-up payments. Catch-up payments are always generous and are always a good thing, but I would like to see catch-up payments more than just once per election cycle. This is more important than that. This is more important than just once in a while in a budget. A real commitment from government would be to say: ‘Let’s fix the endemic problem. Let’s go to the core of the problem. Let’s fix that. Let’s not have veterans worrying about this issue continually. Let’s not have the debates, the backwards and forwards, over how much a catch-up payment should be, about whether they deserve it and about whether they should get it.’ Of course they should get it and of course they deserve it.

This should not be a political tool; this should not be used as propaganda in election campaigns. This should be done automatically. This should be done as a matter of course. This should be done for the benefit of veterans, not for the benefit of government. Catch-up payments, handing out money—their money, taxpayers’ money—are not about self-promotion; they are about doing the right thing by veterans in the first place. This is about making sure you do not ever need catch-up payments. In the end catch-up payments are an admission of failure. They are an admission that you have done the wrong thing. They are an admission by the government that after 11 years they did not get it right and still have not got it right. That is what catch-up payments are—an admission of fault.

Indexation is the core problem. By fixing that problem you will make it better for veterans. At the end of the day they are the people we are trying to help and serve. They have served us; it is now time for us to serve them. Labor has promised that over the first four years pension recipients would be $1,700 better off, with their pensions building to be $30 a fortnight more than they otherwise would have been. This is the proper way to go. While it is a lot of money, in the end it is not a lot of money. It is a bit like the tax cuts. They are certainly welcome. It is a little bit of money. It is always good to get some of your money back. Of course, you are not going to get all of your money back—and I think veterans will understand that too. They are not asking for a whole heap. They are not asking for huge handouts. What they are asking for is a fair go. They do not want the one-off catch-ups. They actually want proper indexation. They want to have these matched properly.

This bill has a number of key provisions relating to income support and assets. It is split into five distinct schedules. It is important when we mention these that we outlay our concerns as well for the veteran community as a whole. I have talked extensively on indexation and the potential if we do not do this to compromise veterans’ standards and wellbeing. The second schedule looks at rehabilitation and compensation. Again I shake my head because I cannot understand or believe that in 11 very long years there has not been a time when the government thought it was important enough to look more closely at veterans and the issues very close to them.

As we saw, there was some aid in the budget, but the government did not take the time to specifically address veterans’ issues. I hate to sound like a broken record on this matter, but the government are out of touch. They are out of touch with the community and they are certainly out of touch with the veteran community.

The budget made no specific reference to mental health issues or the suicide rate or any other serious issue within our veteran community. These issues need to be seriously and adequately addressed by government. The RSL in fact has called for priority assistance on these matters for some time, particularly within their recent budget proposal, and Labor has long been calling for these issues to be addressed. But, as I said, unfortunately, it has not occurred to date. It has fallen on deaf ears. I am hoping that the government do not get scared off by this. It may be a slightly controversial topic for government; otherwise, you could not find any other reason why they have not dealt with it as yet. I see that the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs is here. I welcome him. I know he is a good supporter of veterans. I have welcomed him to my electorate and he did a good job, so I will acknowledge that. While he is here, I ask him to take note and to properly look after veterans.

In conclusion, I raise a couple of things specifically in the bill, as well as other matters. Claims processing times are an issue, and I think the minister needs to look at that very carefully. There has been a blow-out in the time it takes for veterans to get their claims processed. That concerns me. In fact, there has been a 400 per cent blow-out in claims processing times. I do not think it is good enough, and I am sure the minister does not think it is good enough, either. Maybe he should look at that. It would be no surprise to find that perhaps staffing is at the core of the problem. Over the last two financial years, staffing levels of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs have notionally been down by 12.5 per cent. I understand from this budget they will be down again. Fewer staff obviously means more work, more pressure and slower processing times. Again, that is simply not good enough.

In the time available to me, I conclude with a commitment from Labor, from Kevin Rudd and from me. A Labor government will increase benefits for our nation’s most severely disabled war veterans. A Rudd Labor government will restore the value of the special rate disability pension—TPI and TTI intermediate rate—and the extreme disablement adjustment pensions by indexing the whole of those pensions to movements in male total average weekly earnings or to the consumer price index, whichever is greater. And, for the first time, Labor will take up the catch-up payment problem, and the admission of failure by government through a catch-up payment that they have not done the right thing.

Labor need to make the acknowledgement. I always hear platitudes to veterans and they are wonderful to hear. We attend Anzac Day ceremonies and other ceremonies that remember the fallen. We have to remember not just the fallen but those who come back with mental health and physical disability issues. We have to understand their particular issues, their needs and their situations in the community, their families and their children’s health and we need to make that special effort. I do not think it is a lot to ask government. I have had a look at the budget, and so has everybody else in the community. And there is plenty of money and more where that came from—I am sure the government are happy to tell us—because they are certainly ripping it out of people’s pockets. While you are ripping it out of people’s pockets, do not forget to put some of it back into veterans’ pockets because they deserve it for the things they have done for this country. They never asked to go and defend us. We asked them to do so on our behalf as a whole community and I think it is only right that, while they do their duties, we should carry out our responsibilities.

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