Andrew Nikolic (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Minister, this government took a policy for veterans to the last election. There were four pillars included in that veterans' policy. At the head of it was the recognition of the unique nature of military service. I think by any measure that is readily apparent when you look at the spectrum of conflict that our military has been involved in over the last 20 or 30 years. I recall when I first joined the army. We were very focused on the defence of Australia. With that came the withering of land force capability. But what occurred over the next 20 or so years was an expansion of the sorts of things that we asked our Defence Force to do. This highlights the unique nature of that service. This includes everything from one end of the military spectrum—humanitarian assistance, disaster relief and response to things like Fukushima, Banda Aceh, flooding in Oro Province, bushfires in Victoria—right through to the other end of the military spectrum with high-intensity military conflict in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. The things that we ask our troops to do across that very broad spectrum are unique indeed. In my view it is absolutely appropriate that the unique nature of military service was one of those four pillars.

The second pillar is the retention of a stand-alone department of veterans affairs. The third pillar is about supporting veterans through adequate advocacy and welfare services. That transition from department-led to bureaucracy-led advocacy and welfare for our veterans is absolutely vital. I hear from veterans in my community that sometimes that is where we do not do as well as we would like; when people leave the warm, soft, comfortable bosom of the Department of Defence and move to the bureaucratic structures that are then responsible for them. We have to make sure that that transition is as seamless as it can be and that our veterans are indeed supported as they make that vital transition from uniform through to the Department of Veterans' Affairs.

The fourth vital pillar, which is particularly important from where I sit, is tackling mental health challenges for veterans and their families. I would like to focus on what this budget delivers in terms of the key policy priority of tackling these mental health challenges. I note that much good work has been done, but there is more that can and should be done. Military operations over the last decade or so have resulted in what can only be described as the latest cohort of veterans. Some 72,000 ADF members have been deployed since 1999. It was with a great sense of pride that I welcomed my daughter back at the end of last year from her second tour of Afghanistan. She is part of that latest cohort of 72,000 ADF members. She is the only one of my three children to follow me into the military, but one I am very proud of. She joins that cohort, and I want to make sure that she is looked after into the future should she have needs that arise from her Defence service.

Minister, can you outline new initiatives in the budget that relate to meeting the mental health needs of veterans into the future? I am particularly interested to note that eligibility for access to VVCS services has been expanded—including in northern Tasmania, where we have made that available across the north. It was previously centralised in one location; now it is available in two locations. Can you explain this change to eligibility, and which categories of people are now included who were not previously? In the context of improving mental health outcomes, how is DVA working together with the Department of Defence to help ADF personnel make that important transition from full-time military service to their civilian employment?

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