Peter Lindsay (Herbert, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

The honourable member for Herbert is considering drawing the chair’s attention to the state of the House if something does not happen shortly! Claressa, you might have to come up and speak if that is okay! We have very good clerks in this place.

In relation to the veterans’ concerns about the small payments being replaced by lump sums, yes, there has been some concern in the veterans’ community about that. That has been expressed but I do not think the veterans community needs to be concerned about that. I think that what we really need to be looking at is what will replace the lump sum payment in due course. That is something we need to hear from the government about and something that we need to be mindful of. Certainly, the veterans community will be looking for that.

The Defence Services Homes Insurance Scheme—this is for people eligible under the Defence Home Ownership Assistance Scheme Act 2008—currently provides home insurance to eligible Australian veterans and members, peacekeepers, widows and widowers. This measure will extend eligibility for home insurance to those serving and former members and reservists eligible under the Home Ownership Assistance Scheme introduced in 2008. The extension will provide eligible persons access to cost-effective insurance designed specifically for the service and ex-service community. I note that included peacekeepers. The Australian Defence Force is not only a force of war fighters. It is a force of peacekeepers, of humanitarians and of people involved in training and regional assistance. They do a wonderful job for our country, in our name, for those less fortunate than us.

Last night I was privileged to be with senior officers of the Australian Defence Force. They told me that in Afghanistan, for example, it was not so long ago when no young female was allowed to go to school. They were kept illiterate. Could you imagine a policy like that in Australia—that females should be kept illiterate? I think that we all understand how out-of-date that kind of policy is. I was recently in Pakistan, where it pains me to have to say that the only thing lower than a dog is a woman. How could that be? But the point that we were discussing last night is that there are now some 5 million young women going to school in Afghanistan. What a great outcome, and part of that is being delivered through the ISAF contribution and also through the will and commitment of our mentoring task force on operations in Afghanistan. We can thank the men and women of the Australian Defence Force for that particular contribution.

I would also like to inform the House that there was a discussion about our Bushmasters that we use in Afghanistan. The Bushmasters are just tremendously capable vehicles, making sure that we can operate safely with our troops. When their V-shaped hull hits an improvised explosive device the blast is shot off to the sides. The front wheels of the vehicle can be blown 100 metres on either side of the vehicle but the people inside are kept relatively safe, and that is a tribute to our Australian designers in providing a mobility vehicle for the ADF that keeps our troops safe. I say thank you to the people of Thales in Bendigo for what they do and thank you, too, to the men and women of the Australian Defence Force. We can guarantee that both sides of the parliament will do what we can to look after the veterans of our country now and in the future.

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