Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence Science, Technology and Personnel) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the minister for his statement to the House. The coalition welcomes the government's response to the Campbell Review of Military Compensation Arrangements. The government has accepted 96 of the 108 recommendations of the review and in response has detailed a $17.4 million package of assistance to veterans and their families.

The Campbell review considered the coalition's Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004, or MRCA. The act was developed by the previous coalition government and in particular by former Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Danna Vale, who determined that this legislation would ensure the best possible outcome for veterans. The new act combined elements of the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 and the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 to provide a modern compensation scheme for veterans and members of the Australian Defence Force.

The MRCA came about in response to the Tanzer review and the tragic Black Hawk accident at the High Range training area near Townsville in 1996. That accident focused our attention on the deficiencies of the military compensation system as it was then constructed. The act has generally worked well save for the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission's previous decision to refuse to adopt the option of multiple offsetting formulas as allowed by the act. It was therefore prudent to consider the legislation and its operation to ensure that it meets the expectations of the veteran and ex-service community.

At the 2007 election Labor committed to a review and in 2009 announced that a review would be conducted by the Secretary of the Department of Veterans' Affairs, Mr Ian Campbell PSM. Mr Campbell's review team comprised representatives from the departments of defence, Treasury, finance and education, and employment and workplace relations. A sixth representative and expert in repatriation law, Mr Peter Sutherland, was also selected. It is fair to say that, after some pressure from the coalition, the report was finally concluded in early 2011 and was released for comment from the veteran and ex-service community. That public consultation period concluded at the end of June last year. Despite commitments to address 'no-cost' initiatives before last Christmas the minister's own deadline unfortunately lapsed, though the government has now responded to the entire report as part of this year's budget.

The coalition has long pressed for the compensation-offsetting methodology to be addressed. The act gives the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission the power to adopt multiple compensation-offsetting formulas, an option which the commission had not previously taken. The new arrangements will provide two calculation methods enabling the best possible outcome to be achieved where a veteran has multiple accepted conditions under one or more acts. This change will be important to ensure that veterans receive adequate compensation for their accepted conditions. Importantly, it recognises the differences in the compensation methodology calculation under different acts to ensure that a veteran receives proper compensation for their service-related injuries. As the minister quite rightly said during his ministerial statement, it is about reflecting the unique nature of military service. The coalition cautiously welcomes the adoption of the white card system for veterans with entitlements under the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988. The adoption of the white card system does not come without some risk attached, though. The government admitted in February that no consultation with providers had been undertaken in relation to this recommendation. The coalition will therefore seek further information from the government to make sure no veteran is left worse off as a result of this change. It is a step in the right direction but, as noted by departmental representatives in Senate estimates this year, it relies on the goodwill of providers to be implemented. That it is being implemented without consultation is slightly concerning.

The MRCA is a complex piece of legislation. Decisions taken by veterans in relation to their compensation can have significant life-long impacts, and the move to provide additional financial support to veterans and their families when making decisions about compensation is a welcome step. Whilst the government will provide further financial assistance in this area, it is disappointing that the government is continuing to cut $1 million from the BEST program. BEST, for the benefit of the House, is the Building Excellence in Support and Training program, and was established by the previous coalition government to assist largely-volunteer veteran and ex-service people and organisations to provide pension and compensation claims assistance to veterans. As a result of these cuts in the BEST program, veterans' welfare and service centres across Australia are being forced scale down or even close their operations. It is my view and the coalition's view that this will hurt the next generation of veterans seeking help and assistance with gaining their proper entitlements under law from the Australian government.

Unfortunately, this is not the only area where the government is letting our veteran community down—a community that, as the minister said in his own statement, involves and has shown a unique nature of service through its service. Labor continues to oppose the fair indexation for DFRDB and DFRB superannuants. Labor unfortunately opposed the Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Amendment (Fair Indexation) Bill 2010 put forward by Senator Ronaldson in the Senate. We believe that the fair indexation bill we put forward, which indexes defence pensions in the same way as the age pension, represents fair, just and equitable indexation. We believe it represents a fair go to veterans.

The minister is known as a decent minister, and I call on the him to join with the coalition to see that these veterans get a fair go: Minister, they deserve it. The veteran community will welcome the somewhat delayed response by the government to the Campbell review, and will welcome in many ways the minister's statements here this afternoon. We will consider the enabling legislation when it is introduced, and I know the shadow minister is looking forward to examining the government's response in greater detail during Senate estimates next Tuesday night. I thank the minister for his statement to the House and look forward to some positive outcomes from the work that the minister's department has done.

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