Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Cyber Security) Share this | Hansard source

I thank all members for their contribution to this very important area of public policy that we as a government are given responsibility for. Can I just go firstly to the questions asked by the shadow minister in her first statements regarding the Medicare freeze, which the Labor Party introduced. As the shadow minister would be aware, we are in the process of now dismantling that freeze, which the Labor Party introduced. All the available evidence that I have been given is that veterans are still getting the services that they require. We will continue to monitor this, but all the available evidence to me and everything that I am hearing is that veterans are getting the care that they need, and there is not an impact on the services available to them.

With regard to mental health issues and the work taking place at the Thompson institute and whether we might be able to look to do more in the area of PTSD: research into PTSD has been something that we have prioritised and will continue to prioritise. It is something that we will look to do on an ongoing basis on the back of our world-leading changes in the mental health area for veterans. Now, if you have served one day, you can get free treatment and free access to treatment for all mental health conditions.

Identifying veterans is obviously an area which has not been a priority but now is. What we want is a very seamless process whereby, when you start in Defence, we will be able to follow you right through your Defence career into the veterans community. As of 1 July last year, that process has started. Obviously, it will take time, but at least, from now on, we are going to be able to monitor someone's career through Defence into the veterans community so that we will not get people falling through the cracks.

With regard to the $160 million investment in Veteran Centric Reform, I thank the Treasurer and the Minister for Finance for being the first Treasurer and finance minister, I think, in over a decade to properly invest in the Department of Veterans' Affairs to make sure that it will continue to be able to operate as a proper, standalone department. The onus now is on the department and me as minister to make sure that that money is well spent so that we can then go back and ensure that we continue this process. With the initial $20 million last year, we were able to demonstrate what that could do to claims times in certain areas we put that money to. My view is that with this $160 million we will once again be able to show the transformational impact that this investment can have, and we will be able to continue the process to ensure that we have a 21st century Department of Veterans' Affairs.

When it comes to the Centenary of Anzac grants, can I say that we learnt a lot. Obviously the previous Labor government introduced the grants that were implemented by our government. We have learnt from that, and we will make sure that they are rolled out extremely well in the coming months.

Expenditure agreed to.

Debate adjourned.

Federation Chamber adjourned 19:31

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