Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Defence Personnel) Share this | Hansard source

I'm pleased to speak on the Defence Service Homes Amendment Bill 2019, and I move:

That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:

"whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House criticises the Government for failing to:

(1) address the high number of veterans experiencing homelessness, as highlighted by recent reports from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute;

(2) fix Australia's broken aged care services for veterans, as highlighted by the current Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety; and

(3) respond to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's northern Australia insurance inquiry recommendations to urgently fix the wider crisis in the northern Australia insurance market".

Labor joins with the government in recognising the unique place in which the men and women of Australia's ADF and veterans generally are held in the hearts of Australians. We honour them for the contribution they have made to our country's defence and, as we are seeing now, to emergency management in facing bushfires, cyclones, floods et cetera. The Australian community has an expectation that veterans and members of the Defence Force and their families will be looked after and treated well in a manner consistent with the sacrifices they've made on behalf of us, our children and our children's children. Labor is committed to recognising the unique nature of the service and the sacrifices of those concerned. The Australian parliament is passing this legislation, we think, with our support, although there is an amendment which we hope the government will accept.

The Defence Service Homes Amendment Bill 2019 will amend the legislation that currently operates—the Defence Service Homes Act 1918—to expand eligibility for concessional homebuilding insurance under the Defence Service Homes Insurance scheme for all current and former members of the Australian Defence Force who have served at least one day's continuous service from 1 January 2020. Currently, the scheme is restricted to ADF personnel with warlike service or at least four years service, or eight years for reservists, and widows and widowers of these individuals. This expansion of eligibility is designed to close existing gaps and ensure that all current and former members of the ADF are eligible for homebuilding insurance under the scheme, regardless of the type of service they've undertaken. Reservists, peacekeepers, widows and widowers will be eligible under the scheme, and that's a good thing. This will streamline eligibility requirements and recognise all those who have served our nation, meaning more ADF members and veterans will be able to access low-cost homebuilding insurance.

ADF members who are posted to regional or northern Australia who are not eligible for the scheme face significantly higher homebuilding insurance premiums and, consequently, increased cost of living pressures. In some instances, ADF members may be unable to secure insurance cover for their home. This is a particular problem in my home state of Queensland and in the northern parts of Australia, which are subject to cyclones, floods and now, tragically, also bushfires. The ADF has a large presence in northern Australia, particularly in areas like Townsville, in my home state of Queensland, which is home to Lavarack Barracks, where there are around 4,600 ADF members posted. We know those opposite don't like to talk about climate change, but we know from experience that climate science says that northern Australia is generally more disaster prone, with greater exposure to and frequency of adverse weather and actual disasters and to more-extreme events such as cyclones, tropical storms and floods. ADF members and veterans therefore face higher insurance premiums as a result of being posted to bases like HMAS Cairns, Robertson Barracks in Darwin or RAAF Base Tindal in Katherine in the Northern Territory when compared to regions in southern Australia. This increases cost-of-living pressures on ADF members who are posted to these locations and subsequently establish family homes in these regions and who, indeed, may settle there after their posting has been completed.

These changes will help reduce costs faced by ADF members, veterans and their families and provide greater peace of mind for deploying members and their remaining spouse and family should an adverse event occur and an insurance claim is warranted. I note the scheme is a highly valued benefit among veterans communities and ADF members, so expanding it in this way will serve as a useful defence recruitment and retention tool.

These amendments are a consequence of the recent change to the definition of 'veteran'. Historically, the term 'veteran' was only applied to those with active service and those who only served at home being called ex-servicemen and ex-servicewomen. With the introduction and expansion of Non-Liability Mental Health Care, the definition has now changed so that anyone who has served one day of full-time service in the ADF is classified as a veteran. We agree with that. These changes will align the Defence Service Homes Insurance Scheme with the policy of supporting veterans who have served regardless of the type or length of service, in recognition of the sacrifice they've made in the interests of the nation. These amendments will mean better outcomes for defence personnel, veterans and their families, especially in the regions, and that's why Labor supports them.

I've made a number of amendments in the motion I have moved. They deal with issues such as the high number of veterans experiencing homelessness, as highlighted by recent reports; the broken aged-care services for veterans, which was highlighted by the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety; and the failure of the government to respond to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's northern Australia insurance inquiry recommendations to urgently fix the wider crisis in the northern Australia insurance market, which, as I've outlined already in this speech, affects veterans. I moved that motion, as I foreshadowed earlier, criticising the government's failure in a number of areas affecting veterans and the Australian community more broadly, especially in northern Australia.

First, it must be said that the good measures in this bill stand in stark contrast to the government's complete failure and inaction when it comes to the plight of homeless veterans. As I mentioned in the House last night, it would be remiss not to note the alarming findings of the recent Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute reports. The AHURI report showed that veterans are almost three times as likely to experience homelessness as the general population, with 5.3 per cent of veterans homeless in any given 12-month period compared to the national average of 1.9 per cent. This is an indictment on the way we treat our struggling veterans, many of whom find themselves in poverty and, therefore, in homelessness. It shows that far too many are falling through the cracks and that support services are failing some of our most vulnerable people. Veteran homelessness is a national shame, and the government needs to do more to tackle this crisis.

Previously we have seen figures that one in 10 people who sleep rough are actually veterans. I recently met with the board of the New South Wales RSL—last week, in fact—and they noted that there is a 25 per cent increase in the number of veterans who are seeking their help. But it's not just about homelessness; it's about mental health and wellbeing and suicide prevention more broadly, because these conditions and these situations often go together. The fact is the government needs to do more to support current service personnel when it comes to transitioning out of the ADF and into civilian life, through assistance with health, mental health, employment and financial service and advice.

There have been a number of reports into veteran mental health in recent years, most notably the recent Productivity Commission review of the veteran support system in this country. We know that the government plans to release a response to this report and a veteran mental health and wellbeing national action plan by the end of the year. That's all well and good, but this is a government which has been in office for three terms, more than six years, and is only now hastily coming up with a plan to address these issues.

On a similar note, as my amendment refers to, the government needs to act to fix Australia's broken aged-care services for veterans. In the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety we heard some harrowing testimony and submissions from veterans and ex-service organisations, who said many veterans feel abandoned and no longer acknowledged for their service when moving into aged care. In its submission the RSL pointed out that, just like the veteran support service and system, navigating the aged-care system run by the Department of Veterans' Affairs and the Department of Health can be complex and confusing for many veterans and their families. The veterans aged-care home operator RSL Care South Australia told the commission how veterans with mental health issues like post-traumatic stress disorder can age prematurely and require early entry into residential aged care. So we see veterans in aged care facing special challenges and needing tailored support.

In the royal commission hearings, the Secretary to the Department of Veterans' Affairs, Liz Cosson, conceded the department needed to do more to help veterans moving from its own low-level aged-care services to the mainstream residential aged-care system run by the Department of Health. What's more, the DVA has admitted it will take years before the two departments' systems, even the DVA's own multiple IT systems, can actually talk to each other. Once again, this underscores the need for better information-sharing between agencies to understand the issues and provide services when and where they are needed.

If we are going to tackle a range of issues affecting veterans, including aged care, homelessness, mental health and suicide prevention, we need better data and joined-up services, and that's not happening now. To that end, as I've said before, Labor supports including a question on military service in the next national census so we know more about where the veterans are, where they're located, how many veterans there are out there and can better deliver support services to them. The fact that this government hasn't done that in three terms shows its failure in this area. I know it's supported by Veterans' Affairs ministers at the state level because I've spoken to numerous of them. On that note, we welcome the secretary's comments that the department needs to do more in the aged-care space, and our veterans deserve better when it comes to aged care.

As per the amendment I've circulated, the government needs to respond to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's northern Australia insurance inquiry recommendations to urgently fix the wider insurance industry in northern Australia insurance markets, which so affects so many veterans at the RAAF bases and the military bases I referred to earlier. It is interesting that the government cited the interim findings of the ACCC inquiry as one of the grounds for this amendment. That inquiry found that consumers in the northern parts of Australia face significantly higher insurance premiums and can often be underinsured when natural disasters hit, so it is commendable the government is addressing this issue for our defence personnel and veterans. But it needs to respond to the ACCC's recommendations and act now to fix this urgent problem and the wider problem of accessibility and affordability of insurance for all consumers in northern Australia.

Since July 2019, the ACCC has been calling on the Morrison government to act on the 28 recommendations to help residents and small businesses in northern Australia who are unable to secure reasonably priced insurance for their homes and businesses. To date, the government has ignored these recommendations and the pleas of locals for action. Even before this latest ACCC report, the Liberal and National Party government here has been promising to fix this crisis for years but has done nothing. As Labor has continually pointed out, even the government's own north Queensland backbenchers, the member for Herbert and Dawson, have grown sick of telling their communities to wait for action and are trying to distance themselves from the government's complete failure to address these issues. Of course, this comes on top of the government's own failures with respect to the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility—or, as we like to call it, the 'no actual infrastructure fund'.

A full four years after it was set up, the NAIF has only released $44 million, or less than one per cent, of its $5 billion budget, with not one per cent released to projects in my home state of Queensland. Despite this parlous state of affairs, the NAIF board somehow saw fit to approve more than $400,000 worth of bonuses for senior NAIF executives—talk about rewarding poor performance! These bonuses are part of $26.6 million in administrative costs racked up by the NAIF or nearly 40 per cent of all the funds that have left the NAIF to date. It is an absolute disgrace. The government needs to stop wasting money and start spending money on much needed projects in northern Australia. It's like an episode of Yes Minister or Utopiaan infrastructure facility that hasn't funded any infrastructure. This is a government that talks a big game when it comes to the regions and northern Australia but doesn't deliver much at all.

The government's incompetence, which is holding back jobs and economic development in the north, is very stark. Once again, it shows that across so many policy areas, whether it's veterans, aged care, the regions or the economy, this is a lazy do-nothing government that has no policies and plans for the country, and has failed to deliver for Australia.

As I said earlier, we have a special obligation to help our veterans. We train them, we ask them to put their lives at risk for us and yet we find them sleeping rough or not being properly looked after in their old age. The government needs to do more to address a whole range of challenges affecting our ex-service men and women, especially when it comes to homelessness and aged care, which is precisely why I'm moving a second reading amendment on these issues. Notwithstanding that at least the government's current bill before the chamber means a better outcome for defence personnel veterans and their families, and that's why Labor supports this bill. I commend the bill and the amendment to the chamber.

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