Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to speak on the Australian Defence Force Superannuation Bill 2013, the Australian Defence Force Cover Bill 2015 and the Defence Legislation Amendment (Superannuation and ADF Cover) Bill 2015. The provisions in this legislation, which was introduced on 25 June this year, establish a new military superannuation scheme for ADF members, to be known as ADF Super. As the member of parliament whose electorate contains Holsworthy Army Barracks, and with many of my constituents serving in the military, I am very pleased to be part of the government that bring this legislation to parliament.

At the outset, this legislation recognises that the military service in this country is unique. One of the hardest things I have done since becoming a member of parliament was to attend a funeral at Woronora Cemetery for one of our servicemen killed fighting to protect freedoms in Afghanistan. It tugs at our heartstrings to see a deceased soldier, a deceased digger, and his widow and his young kids.

It is perhaps apt that we are debating this legislation one day after the 49th anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan, which was brought up by other speakers. Reflecting on that important concept of the importance and unique nature of military service, I would like to quote a few passages from some of our soldiers who fought in the Battle of Long Tan. This is one from Private Jim Richmond, who was caught in that battle. He wrote:

I rolled over on my side hoping that the mud would dry out the wound and help to stop the bleeding. The artillery was still coming in and it was dark by now and I knew I'd get no help till the morning at least.

I kept hoping that the artillery wouldn't get me. I was worried about my mother, and I kept thinking if I died she would be up shit creek, so I prayed a lot and made a lot of promises, but I'm afraid I never really kept any of them after I got back home. It was the longest night I've ever known.

The artillery was still coming in and I can remember thinking, 'This one's going over, and this one's falling short, and this one's for you Jim.'… The other thing that I was really worried me was the thirst. He drank all my water during the night and I got painfully thirsty. I reckoned that if I could survive the Viet Cong troops and the artillery I'd probably finish up dying of thirst.

I just lay there helpless and praying and trying to stay awake and wishing to hell it would get light soon.

That is just a small example of the unique nature of military service. I would also like to quote Private Terry Burstall, another survivor of Long Tan, as an example of the unique nature of military service in this country. He wrote at the aftermath of the battle:

We recovered the bodies of our friends who had been laughing living beings the day before. Nothing takes the supposed glory out of war more quickly than the sight of dead mutilated friends.

Unfortunately it brings about a hardening of feeling toward your enemy that pushes normal human feelings of compassion to the back of the mind. It brings conflict down to a very personal level and gives you the licence to remain aloof from the suffering of others as long as your own little band is protected.

I personally do not care how many troops we faced at Long Tan or whether the body count is accurate or not. Jingoism is the last thing we need. I do not care who claims victory.

The only fact I care about is that a lot of good men from both sides died that day and I will be for ever saddened by that.

They are the words of Private Terry Burstall. And yet, one of the great shames of this nation is that when the servicemen returned home after the efforts they put up in Vietnam they were denigrated and ostracised and were even spat at and had red paint thrown over them. Of course, that left many of the returned veterans deeply traumatised. That was a shameful time for our country—something we should all be ashamed of.

If we learnt something from the past, we learnt that we must give our ADF members all the support that we can, and that is what this legislation does. It is fixes one of the longest running grievances of the veterans and ex-service community—namely, the lack of flexibility and portability of members' superannuation.

These reforms will improve the conditions and services for members of the ADF. The new military superannuation scheme will be a fully-funded accumulation scheme, and will be known as ADF Super. Most importantly all members will not be compelled to move to ADF Super, but they can chose to do so. For the first time ADF members will be able to join their superannuation fund of choice. So we are saying that your superannuation, and where those funds to ADF members go, is your choice. This is the first time, since the superannuation funds were put in place, that we are giving our service personnel a choice that they can make. They can either stay with the default fund or they can go out and put their superannuation in other funds.

Also, in recognition of the unique nature of military service ADF Super members will receive a generous employer contribution rate of 16.4 per cent regardless of the superannuation fund they choose. This is significantly higher than the rate available to the majority of Australians of 9.5 per cent through the superannuation guarantee but, again, the difference simply recognises the unique nature of military service in this country. We do not know what will happen in the years ahead, but we know it is highly likely that we in this parliament will have to call on ADF members to fight, and perhaps very soon we will be asking many more than those who are already serving in the Middle East to go and contribute to the fight against the evils of Islamic terrorism that are currently ravaging the Middle East. By doing what we are doing today we are recognising the unique nature of this service.

The Australian Defence Force Superannuation Bill establishes a new statutory death and invalidity scheme known as ADF Cover. ADF Cover ensures that all ADF personnel who are members of the ADF Super fund have full death and invalidity cover. ADF Super provides the same level of death cover as is provided to members of the current MSBS. The ADF cover will be provided regardless of the superannuation fund chosen by the ADF member and, importantly, ADF members will not be required to make any contributions to this ADF cover and all benefits paid under the ADF cover will be met from consolidated revenue. So there will be no additional cost for that ADF cover for our defence members.

Finally on the general issue of superannuation, one thing we need to remember is that superannuation belongs to the person who earned the funds in the first place. It does not belong to some union movement or some government body—it belongs to the person. As a personal opinion, I would like to see both sides of this House consider enabling young Australians to access funds that they have in their superannuation accounts for a deposit for a house. We have seen the figures—for the first time in our nation's history there is a significant decline in homeownership rates for young people. We need to take steps to address the supply shortfall, and that is being done, but we need to ask how we can help more young people get a deposit for their first house. When I first started work, like many other Australians of my age I was able to put aside a percentage of my salary—10 per cent—to save for a deposit for a house. Now we are asking young Australians to put aside that money but to put it in a superannuation fund. I would like to see young Australians being able to access their superannuation fund so they can get a deposit for a house. But there has to be some quid quo pro. Perhaps that could be that down the track the money they used to get themselves established in their own home has to be considered as part of their assets outside their house, as occurs when we do the assets and income test for the pension. We need to look at housing affordability in this country. It is important for our country that young Australians have the goal of owning their own home, and that includes members of the ADF.

This bill shows that the government recognises the importance of military service in this country. We are addressing a problem that has been raised and we are making sure that ADF personnel have flexibility in where they put their super. I commend the bill to the House.

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