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

and you know that if you want to put forward new proposals you have to find funding within your own department. It then becomes an issue of priorities. Priorities over time are examined and sometimes they are changed. But I tell you one thing I am confident about: I am confident about this Minister for Veterans’ Affairs. Alan Griffin over time will prove to be one of the best ministers this portfolio has seen. He ran your policy towards the end of your government. Your policy was dictated, in effect, by the shadow minister. That is recognised within the veterans community and in relation to his achievements in this bill and in terms of the budget process. I know what happens on the email system and I know what happens in the veterans community in relation to this minister. They like him, they now he goes in to bat for them, he is across the issues, and he visits them. Senior members of the veterans community are very happy with this bloke and they have good reason to be, because they have one of the best in the pack. The former minister should know this: there will be no better defender of veterans in the Labor Party than Alan Griffin, the current Minister for Veterans’ Affairs.

He has a lot of credibility in the community. I have a large veterans community. My electorate was settled after the war, so it has housing commission and war service homes. I have been committed to veterans issues for the 18 years I have been in this parliament. The veterans kit that my office produced—

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