Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about the Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment (Omnibus) Bill 2018, which proposes three schedules that will assist DVA internally in giving veterans their entitlements. We are talking about the men and women who have put on Defence Force uniforms to protect our nation—people who have been prepared to put their lives on the line for this country for our benefit, so that we can have the freedoms and the lifestyle that we enjoy. So I think it is more than critical for us to ensure that we give them the support and help that they need and that we welcome them back to society and give them every opportunity to get back into everyday society and have a fulfilling life after they have returned.

In McEwen, we're no strangers to veterans. We have a very strong sense of military history through places like Puckapunyal, Light Horse Memorial Park and the wonderful Vietnam Veterans Commemorative Walk, which a group of veterans got together with us to build. It is a magnificent structure and it's a magnificent place for Vietnam veterans. The key part of it is that it was built by veterans for veterans and their families. It doesn't matter what day of the week or what time of day you go past; there is always someone there looking at the 62,100 names that are on the DigiGlass walls. Many of those veterans returned to our area to spend the rest of their life. There are some 5,800 veterans in McEwen alone. They are out there working in all different facets of our community. Whether it be in the CFA or whether it be in shops, farming or whatever, they are out there contributing very strongly to our community. In seeking the support and services that they deserve, they shouldn't be put through a lengthy and complicated claims process. We should be making it easier for veterans and their families to access what they need, rather than making them jump through hoops and rather than duplicating red tape.

That is why we on this side of the chamber support this bill. It makes changes to streamline the claims process and removes some of the red tape that veterans currently face. The bill doesn't fix every issue in the claims process—not by a long shot—but we're pleased to see measures being taken to improve outcomes for currently serving members, veterans and their families.

I particularly want to note the member for Kingston's dedication and hard work over her time as shadow minister in supporting veterans, particularly in facing the challenges of a government in chaos. She has had to deal with three different ministers this year. I know that's a problem, because veterans themselves tell me that when they've tried to contact the minister they find suddenly the minister's changed and everything seems to have been forgotten. It's not right and it's not fair.

Schedule 1 of the bill will help facilitate earlier acceptance of liability by allowing the CDF, the Chief of the Defence Force, to make a claim for liability for any serving ADF member who has consented to the CDF doing that on their behalf. What does that mean? It means that the person affected by the service injury or disease will no longer be the only person in a position to make that claim, particularly if they're incapacitated or have other issues.

Schedule 2 of the bill would align the powers of the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission to obtain the information they need to process claims from an array of departments under the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988. The commission can already require information from the Department of Defence and DVA and the CDF, but these proposed changes would mean that the MRCC could require information from any Commonwealth, state or territory department—say, from the Australian Taxation Office or Centrelink or Medicare. Again, this is an example of the critical streamlining improvements that this bill proposes for veterans' claim processes.

The third schedule of the bill would make sure that the lump sum determinations made by the secretary of DSS will apply as exempt lump sums from the income test that applies to DVA income support clients—so, like lump sum payments under the National Redress Scheme or drought assistance, for example. As it stands, the commission implements separate yet identical lump sum determinations for payments that have already been exempted by the DSS. At the moment, this places more burdens on DVA which could easily be removed by improving consistency between the departments—between DSS and DVA income support. So DVA will still be able to make the exemptions where appropriate, but it's a necessary measure in removing some of the bureaucratic hurdles that have arisen where DSS has already granted an exemption. This will mean that veterans won't have to wait for DVA to make an instrument in order to gain benefit from the lump sum exemptions. We strongly support preventing unnecessary delays with the creation of additional instruments in order to improve access to integral services for our veterans and their families.

There are many things that we have seen with veterans, and I think you've just got to spend time with them to realise just what great people they are. I think about people who we see across our community. At the moment, we are currently dealing with Matthew Blunt, a disabled veteran who is in the Invictus Games, who is getting absolutely screwed over by the RACV not paying out on an insurance claim. Matthew is dealing with trying to be the best that he can as an athlete and trying to be the best that he can as a person—he's dealing with these issues—and the RACV have flatly rejected to support this bloke by doing the right thing and fixing his house when it should be done. This complicates things. This puts pressure on people. Matthew hasn't got a kitchen or a lounge room in his house because the ceiling has fallen down; yet the RACV refuses to support him.

I think of people like Ian Goss, a Nashos vet, who got together with a few mates who wanted to have the Nashos be part of the whole Anzac experience. Through the work of Ian, the local Nashos are getting together and keeping veterans in our community engaged—going out there, talking to them, helping them, bringing them in and giving them opportunities. Through the work of Gossie, Sunbury now has a dawn service—a very moving and powerful ceremony that has been run by Nashos for the wider community and is one of the great drawcards that we have locally.

We have people like Keith Murphy. Sadly for Keith, he's going to be moved into the seat of Nicholls, and he accepts that he's not going to get the great support that he has now. But hopefully Drummie will look after him. Keith's a top bloke. Keith's the kind of bloke who goes out and garnishes support; where we find veterans' graves in disrepair, Keith goes out and gets the businesses and the people behind to help. They help because the Commonwealth graves guidelines are, frankly, rubbish. For people who died from injuries, if you can't 100 per cent say that that happened during the war, you can't get a Commonwealth war grave. These are people who had come back with injuries.

I think of Private Herbert Speirs, whose grave we did last week. Private Speirs was on the Western Front in the First World War. He was buried under rubble for three days. When he came back from war, he suffered with lung and stomach issues. He can't get a Commonwealth war grave. But the good people of Seymour—the people you'd better look after, because we love them—got together gardening services, engravers, the RSL and my great friend the padre, Don Kaus, and we rededicated that grave to give Private Speirs a grave that befits someone who served his country.

Of course the Vietnam veterans, the Mitchell sub-branch of the Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia—I don't know what you say about the Rosses and Hanks of the world—are all great people who built the magnificent Vietnam Veterans Commemorative Walk. It is the place, as I said, where veterans go, where their families go and where they can be together and have a commemoration of the 62,100 people who went to Vietnam. But they're not finished. They're preparing now. We've got to do one for Korea. We've got to do one for our Middle East veterans. These guys are bringing our younger Middle East veterans, who we are seeing more and more in our community, who have been disengaged, together to help.

One thing I'm very proud of is my friend Des Callaghan. He is now the vice-president of RSL Victoria. Des was a local councillor, but he's one of the first on the phone. When you ring him and say, 'Mate, I've just spoken to a veteran; they're having a lot of problems,' Des is on the phone straightaway. He's into it. He gets in there and he helps them. He delivers.

These are just a handful of the people that we get the pleasure of dealing with. Doug Bishop in Sunbury is secretary of the RAR Association. Doug has introduced me to a lot of people and given a lot of support for working with veterans to help them.

I know that these people are going to welcome this bill if it makes it easier for veterans to get the support they need where they need it and when they need it. That's the important thing.

As I said, this doesn't go a long way to fixing everything, but it is a good, positive step forward. And that's why when we look—I mentioned the member for Kingston for her absolute dedication to our veterans—at the policies Labor is putting forward, one is a clear agreement between government and the military, not lip-service but a clear agreement that says: 'You served for us. We will be there to help you.' It's not lip-service. It's not wrapping ourselves in the flag. It's standing there and saying, 'When you have to go and have a cup of tea with someone, when they need the help and the support, the government will be there because you were there for Australia.'

I'm always proud to support our veterans, and I'm proud to stand with Labor, who will always support measures that improve the processes for veterans and their families. We can never forget their families. For that reason, I support this bill, and I want to see more being done to give back to those who sacrificed so much for our nation and have come back and suffered. We as a collective have a responsibility to look after them and to make sure that we repay them for what they've done for us.

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