Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Health) Share this | Hansard source

I hope the minister will come back to the repatriation medical fee freeze. I have some further questions on the budget for the Veteran Centric Reform. I note that in the 2017-18 budget there is $160 million appropriated for only one year of the Veteran Centric Reform. As a result of his own discussions at public forums, it has been regularly cited that a significant amount of work needs to be done. Different figures have gone around but in excess of $500 million over a period of time, I think a six-year period, has been discussed. We understand and have been in mutual agreement that having a system that is at risk of catastrophic failure is not good. My concern is that the budget has only an amount for years '17 and '18. Minister, what will that money be spent on? What particular parts of the program will be fixed as a result? What further money will be necessary to deliver the full Veteran Centric Reform, to fix the full IT system as well as deliver what PwC and the department have been working on? In the last budget they had been allocated money to put a program together. How much will be required to actually deliver the full scale reform in the Department of Veterans' Affairs? What is the process? What has been the commitment from the whole of government to properly fund this over the forward estimates?

Is the minister concerned that money has not been secured in the forward estimates? What other commitments have been made by the Prime Minister and the Treasurer to properly fund the department to undertake this reform?

In the time I have left I am going to move onto another budget measure. The minister is waiting for me to finish. I would like to now draw the minister's attention to the $7 million that was allocated in the budget, although it is unclear in the budget papers, to recognise 100 years of armistice in 2018. Further investigation has identified that, while not described in the budget papers, this will be allocated as $50,000 per electorate. How was this program determined? Will it be the same as the Centenary of Anzac? Will it rely on local members putting together projects? Considering the length of time that Centenary of Anzac process took to ensure that the proponents had all their paperwork, can the minister see this process being actually rolled out so that projects are delivered by November 2018? What sort of support will be given to electorate offices to go through this process? If one electorate does not spend its full amount, will the money then be re-allocated to other worthy projects or will that be returned as a saving to consolidated revenue? Has there already being consultation with the veteran communities at the grassroots level about this program?

I ask these questions with hindsight, knowing my own experience with the Centenary of Anzac grants. While a very, very excellent Labor program, it did take significant time to ensure that proponents could get their applications in and that committees were in a position to be able to look through those. It took a very, very long time at the department end to process those. If we are wanting a program that properly recognises November 2018, the 100-year centenary of armistice, what assurances can the minister give that there will be adequate support for electorate offices as well as adequate processing time at the department's end?

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