Daryl Melham (Banks, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker Vale, the member for Fadden might have had more credibility in his contribution if he had given a bit of the history, which you more than most would be aware of, of what happened with the former government and their dealings with veterans affairs and how you yourself had to go and defend the indefensible to your caucus and got savaged badly, which resulted in a reappraisal of the submission that your cabinet required you to put before your caucus to do with the Clarke review. Oh, yes, the former minister knows. No-one on either side can take the sanctimonious view in relation to this area. Of course veterans deserve more, and it is a hard battle getting anything out of any expenditure review committee of either political persuasion. Generally, the way we achieve it is over time, in a gradualist approach, and people do the best they can.

Do not come in here and rail against the Labor Party, which has only been in office for a short while. It would be quite easy to rail against the former minister, who did the best she could in the climate she encountered. I know the former Minister for Defence Industry, Science and Personnel. These are not portfolios that have the luxury of other portfolios. You have to fight tooth and nail—generally to Treasury boffins. Ministers of either political persuasion deserve support—and there is a lot of bipartisanship. So do not come in here and make out as if one side is more evil than the other.

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