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

We have only made one commitment, and that is DFRDB indexation. We have made no comment upon defence travel, Minister. I will just update that for the record. On budget night, the minister made much of the government's $17.4 million package to respond to the findings of the Campbell Review of Military Compensation Arrangements. The review's recommendations were tabled by the minister in the House on Wednesday, 23 May. In that statement the minister indicated that 96 of the 108 recommendations were adopted. What he did not say was that the government has delayed the implementation of the major findings of the review until a later date, principally to save money.

In Senate estimates on Tuesday night, the Department of Veterans' Affairs confirmed that recommendations implementing compensation-offsetting reform and major changes to the review and appeal methodology have been delayed by a government decision not to spend any of the announced funding for a further two years. This means that a returned soldier, sailor or airman, or airwoman, will be forced to wait another two years for the government to implement findings fully endorsed by the ex-service community. Minister, why have these been delayed, why wasn't this announced earlier and what are the implications of this delay?

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