Mike Kelly (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Defence Industry and Support) Share this | Hansard source

I commend the Minister for Veterans' Affairs for bringing forward these reforms to this scheme that has been long overdue and in need of amendment and revision due to the inadvertent impacts that it had on the widows of our veterans. But I also rise in support of the amendment proposed by the shadow minister for veterans' affairs, because there's some unfinished business that's associated with the support measures for veterans. This is an area of policy that we often strive across the aisles here to achieve bipartisanship on as much and as far as possible, and I think that's been one of the great traditions of our parliament. We've been committed to supporting those who have served and sacrificed for our nation while also bearing in mind the importance of recognising families in that endeavour and the impacts on them. I'll come back to that in a minute.

I think we've realised, in recent times, with the new wave of veterans coming through, that there are a lot of things that need to be picked up and dealt with. We've recently had the Senate inquiry into veterans' mental health and suicide. Hopefully there'll be more to come from that. I've been really gratified to work in conjunction with my colleague the member for Berowra on the parliamentary group on the prevention of suicide. We've been very pleased about the progress that we've made on addressing issues of mental health and suicide, generally, through that friendship group. I want to salute the member from Berowra for his work on that group as well. But we need to see more flowing through from the results of the Senate inquiry into the mental health and suicide aspects of dealing with veterans' and ex-service people's mental conditions and mental health issues.

I'm very pleased to say that Labor has really taken this time in opposition to look at a number of issues that need to be addressed in this space as well. In particular, I was very pleased to be with the shadow minister and my colleague, who's also in the Defence portfolio, the shadow assistant minister for cybersecurity, who was with me on the day that we announced our support for veterans in getting jobs. This is a critical part of the whole mental health story as well, which is that transition piece for veterans. On that day we announced a $121 million package for a comprehensive veterans' employment policy. The idea behind this is that we want our people to get into good jobs and we need to do a lot more in boosting recognition of their skills. That's recognition for prior learning. That's part of our policy: to really aggressively lean forward on that to make sure that all of the wonderful skills, the wonderful learning that goes on in a Defence career, the particular attributes that are reinforced, the leadership skills and the communication skills all receive the appropriate recognition with states and territories and leading institutions. We intend to make that a key focus of this policy, but, more than that, we want to make sure that we're addressing this really big issue of veterans and unemployment. We're seeing that that sits at around about 30 per cent at the moment. For those who don't medically discharge, it's estimated that we're looking at an 11.2 per cent unemployment rate. This is a very critical issue. It's a very critical issue for the self-esteem and mental health of those veterans.

We were going to provide eligible businesses with a training grant of $5,000 to help veterans gain the specific skills and experience they may require in a particular Australian business, particularly in a small business which may not be able to assist with, provide or pay for that training. We would step in to that gap and enable our people to acquire the skills that they would need to fill a particular niche, within a small or medium enterprise particularly. This grant would really be designed to bridge that gap.

If we return to government, we'd be very enthusiastic about introducing this measure, which also establishes a transition service to supplement that support for employment training so that we would be very proactive in reaching out to veterans wanting career advice or seeking relevant and useful employment. Those training advisors that we would have within that transition service would receive particular training and be equipped to provide one-on-one support and advice to ADF personnel, making sure that they have the ability to reach out and take advantage of the best opportunities out there for themselves and their families, if they are in a family situation. Tailored assistance and effective support will also be rendered longer in that situation as well. We're going to extend access to that support for up to five years following a period of intensive support during the first 12 months. That support will remain there to continue to prop up our ex-service and veterans as they seek to transition. We would hope that we could implement that policy, but, certainly, I would encourage the government to look at a similar scheme that might be implemented before the next election.

I'm proud that we have also stepped forward on resolving the malarial drugs issue that has recently been a cause of great concern amongst veterans. People served in areas where malarial drugs were, effectively, being experimented with. I'm very pleased that Labor initiated the Senate inquiry that's going on into that at the present time. They're out there seeking evidence, and people should feel reassured.

I know that there were some who talked about whether there should be a royal commission or not, probably not quite properly appreciating the fact that Senate inquiries are armed with the full range of legal abilities to enable them to extract and obtain information, testimony et cetera and to take appropriate action to ensure that. The Senate inquiry process, I believe, will be a good one. We should, hopefully, get to the bottom of it—or at least begin the process of finding the key indicators and directions we need to go in to find out more or to have further investigation conducted into the effects of those malarial drugs and then, of course, ultimately to bring relief to the veterans who may be suffering from conditions associated with those malarial drugs. That would also, hopefully, bring a lot of relief to their families, who, as is often the case, are on the receiving end of the psychological effects of these situations.

I was also really pleased to see the announcement by our shadow minister recently of the establishment of a military covenant which would be underpinned by legislation. It's already something that has been done in the United Kingdom with no adverse consequences. It is a very important and clear signal to our people who are serving, but also for those who would seek to enter a career in the Australian Defence Force, that we have their backs and that that commitment will remain solid through all that they go through. I think people need to understand that that includes in training regimes, even without deployment. I've seen many times in my own career that people were severely injured or killed. Even if they don't receive an injury or lose their lives, just the sheer stresses and strain of a normal ADF career, even if they don't deploy, can be quite significant.

The military covenant process would really underpin the nation's commitment to our service personnel and their families, so I'm really gratified that that has been done. It was a commitment that began to be made a few years ago when I established a meeting between veterans' groups and the Leader of the Opposition, Bill Shorten, at the time. It is wonderful to see that we've been able to follow through with a firm commitment on that, should we be elected to government.

There are, of course, some still outstanding issues. One of them is addressed by this second reading amendment by the shadow minister. She has highlighted that it is a significant issue. The Repatriation Medical Fee Schedule, being linked to the Medicare Benefits Schedule, the MBS, has been severely affected by this ongoing Medicare freeze. I know that the minister himself is obviously doing what he can in his portfolio, but he needs help from some of his colleagues in other portfolios, in particular the Minister for Health, to resolve this issue, because the DVA fee schedule has remained stagnant since 2014 as a consequence.

As has been highlighted, we've had doctors telling us of the serious impact this has had. Thirty per cent of specialists are no longer committed to treating veterans. Only 44 per cent of specialists have said they will continue to see veterans if the freeze continues, and the remainder are considering other ways to charge veterans. And veterans are starting to suffer from this. The shadow minister highlighted some of the examples and testimony she's received from veterans in this situation.

Coming back to this mental health issue, which is so critical, we know that the Senate inquiry into suicide by veterans and ex-service personnel had submissions from the Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention, the Australian Psychological Society and the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists. Despite their repeated attempts to raise that issue, the fee schedule has continued to be out of step with what providers charge. As a result, veterans are being turned away from critical services in the mental health space that is at the heart of preventing these suicides. So this amendment is obviously critical, and I would urge the Minister for Health to support his colleague the Minister for Veterans' Affairs to deliver a solution as soon as possible in that respect.

We've also seen the veterans raising the issue of the Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation in the context of the current royal commission into banks. We've seen amazing things revealed during that royal commission, and certainly there was no excuse for trying to avoid such a royal commission. It has shone a light on areas in our financial services and banking sector that really did need to be highlighted so that we can move on to reform. We've seen evidence that's related to the superannuation sector as well, but it is missing this piece of looking into the Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation, and veterans are very keen for that to happen. Labor has endorsed that call. We support it. If we were in a position where the royal commission was continuing, we would certainly act to include the review of the Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation as well. I call on the government, while the royal commission is still in place, to extend the royal commission, if necessary, to make sure that the Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation issues are included in its work.

What was also a concern since the 2014 budget was the hits that veteran support services were taking from that period of time, which seriously threatened to undermine the bipartisanship that we have in this space. That included withdrawing veterans' area network support—the human contact that a lot of veterans would reach out to in rural and regional areas such as mine. Having that human contact is very important. I know it's often said that veterans of the new generation are computer savvy and understand how to access information. From the contact that I have had with veterans who have approached me, I can say that they're struggling. They're struggling to process the application forms and with the processes for entering the portal to get DVA support. Not having that veterans' area network system in place, with a human face and some human contact for them to engage with, is a really significant issue. I would also urge a review of the withdrawal of those services. Attempting to push veterans completely onto an online process is not very helpful.

We also saw attempts to withdraw the energy supplement. Thankfully, we've now had a reversal forced in that situation. That was going to impact on veterans as well. There were a number of other provisions in the 2014 budget that were going to affect veterans' pensions, support for widows, the legatees and the children in terms of education support. It's good that a lot of the measures of the 2014 budget were subsequently abandoned.

There are a couple of other things outstanding. We do need to take a closer look at personal equipment issues for our soldiers and airmen. A lot of our soldiers get broken by equipment that isn't properly designed or fitted for them. We do need to take a closer look at bespoking their equipment to prevent the costs of medical support later down the track. Every cent spent on that kind of personal fitting of soldiers will save a lot of money down the track.

I also had an issue with a constituent—I'll just use her first name, Thelma—who indicated other areas where we do have some holes to address. She was married to a veteran who had been a prisoner of war to the Japanese. She'd lived with him for 40 years after the Second World War, enduring a lot of stress and strain. He coped very badly with that experience, including alcohol abuse. He engaged in physical abuse of his wife through the nightmares that he was having; he would wake up in the middle of the night and he'd be strangling his wife. At some point, after enduring years of this, she had to leave him on the advice of doctors and others, who said that her life was at threat. She did it reluctantly but she had no other choice. When her husband died, she was not permitted to have access to widow support at that point. I remember we were trying to get her access to an ex gratia payment in that situation but, unfortunately, she died in hospital with a septicaemia complaint after getting a hip replacement, so we weren't able to deliver that relief for her. It is something that we also need to address in this space, in circumstances like that. I commend this amendment to the House.

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