Chris Hayes (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Lyne for bringing this matter on for debate. Let me begin tonight by saying that there is no question that the men and women who have served our country in our military deserve our full support and appreciation. It is a unique job, and our veterans will always be valued in this country. I note that Bob Baldwin and Stuart Robert are in the room. I certainly valued the 10 days that I spent with these guys and others with the servicemen and women at Al-Minhad, which is part of Operation Slipper. I certainly came away, and no doubt all the rest of us did too, with a deep appreciation of the professionalism, dedication and commitment from our young men and women who are serving this country. Clearly, being in the ADF is a unique job.

The one reason when coming to office that we initiated this review is that it was an election commitment. We engaged an independent reviewer, Trevor Matthews, to determine whether there was a case for change from the current arrangements in terms of the calculation of military pensions. It was our election commitment to hold that review. It was conducted at arm’s length from the government, hence it was conducted by Mr Matthews. The result of Matthews’ recommendations was that there be no change to the current method of CPI indexation. He found that CPI at present was the best available mechanism for the purpose of indexing superannuation pensions.

I feel it is important to point out that this motion essentially seeks the military superannuation pensions to be increased in the same way as the age pension. However, in his review Mr Matthews did not consider it unfair that civil and military pensions be indexed on a different basis to the age and service related pensions. In fact, he considered that these are different benefits, providing for different purposes, and he concluded that it is fair that they can be increased on a different basis.

As the Minister for Finance and Deregulation originally noted in the parliament, Mr Matthews drew a distinction between the obligations of state when it came to providing a safety net for its more disadvantaged citizens and the obligations of state as employer to provide a superannuation benefit to its employees and former employees. It is also important that I point out tonight that the government is committed to considering a better indexation method for civilian and military superannuation pensions. Again, that is one of the recommendations that we accepted from the Matthews inquiry. I take the opportunity to encourage veterans associations to work with government to determine the best long-term method for indexing military superannuation pensions.

During a debate of this type, we should also acknowledge the work being done right now to ensure that the Australian Defence Force’s employment package is competitive and attractive. While it is very important, superannuation is but one element of the total employment package of ADF members. The current package is highly competitive and attractive and, as a result, has had a marked improvement in retention and recruitment rates within the ADF. Target incentives are needed to enable us to attract and retain personnel, particularly when the skill sets that they acquire are in such high demand in industry generally. Let there be no doubt that the government is committed to providing a competitive employment package for ADF members, and military superannuation certainly rates very highly.

If one examines the employment packages of ADF members as a whole, they certainly reflect the unique nature of military service. Military superannuation is already accessible after five years, earlier than civilian superannuation, and under the older schemes ADF personnel can access their superannuation benefits after 20 years service, no matter what their age is. Furthermore, the military superannuation scheme is complemented by the military rehabilitation and compensation arrangements, which provide more appropriate compensation and support to members who suffer injury or illness as a result of their service.

Finally, I acknowledge that there will be members of the veterans community in Australia who do not agree with the Matthews report and its recommendations. I would encourage veterans associations to continue to work with government to find an acceptable long-term outcome in the indexing of military pensions to safeguard their interests into the future. (Time expired)

See this speech in context