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

I am pleased to speak on the Defence Legislation Amendment (Enhancement of Defence Force Response to Emergencies) Bill 2020. At the outset, I will say that Labor will not stand in the way of this legislation. The bill should not be seen as an excuse for the government's manifest failures during the 'black summer' bushfires, which ravaged our country and were so tragic in terms of the impact on lives and property. The Australian Defence Force is a critical part of the national response to emergencies and natural disasters and performed admirably during the bushfires to protect people, businesses and homes. The ADF should never be used as a partisan tool, as it was earlier this year. It should never be used as a marketing mechanism or a donation device, which this government did, to its shame.

I have paid tribute before, and I do again, to the men and women of the ADF for the contribution they made to the 'black summer' fires and to other disasters and emergencies in which they have performed in an exemplary manner. As the shadow minister for defence personnel, with responsibility for reserves, I know our reservists have often answered the call when natural disasters have struck, at home and in our region, and have provided humanitarian assistance in times of crisis. That's why Labor welcomed the compulsory call-out of our defence reserves, to provider greater support to those communities affected by the catastrophic bushfires last summer. That call-out order—the first ever during peacetime—saw around 3,000 reservists, together with regular ADF personnel, provide invaluable support to state fire and emergency services as part of Operation Bushfire Assist.

I had the opportunity to attend a Parliamentary Friends of Defence briefing from operation commander Major General Jake Ellwood in February this year. I remember speaking with Major General Ellwood at the briefing and telling him how I had seen firsthand the full spectrum of emergency responses in my own community over the years.

I was a child when the 1974 floods devastated South-East Queensland and flooded my home in Ipswich. Eight feet over the top of our roof the floodwaters went. I vividly recall watching, as a young boy, the soldiers and the Army trucks helping to move furniture and belongings from our family home before it was flooded, for which, I know, my parents were very grateful; we all were, and so were our neighbours.

Then, in 2011, my electorate of Blair, based around Ipswich in the Somerset region, was heavily impacted by the Queensland floods. As the federal member, I liaised with different levels of government and assisted by doing what I could in the coordination of efforts on the ground. Frankly, I was disappointed and frustrated at the slow rollout of the ADF's support. That said, we were very happy to see the wonderful work of Air Force and Navy and Army units—the Army and Air Force units being based at RAAF Base Amberley—in assisting communities in evacuation, relief and recovery and the rebuilding of communities. Their operational work was fantastic.

The importance of getting disaster recovery arrangements in place, getting them right and taking on board and learning the lessons from every disaster is absolutely essential for governmental response. So it is that the changes in this bill are the result of a review of existing arrangements conducted by Defence following the 2019-20 bushfire season. The bill will make several changes to the administrative arrangements for the use of ADF personnel and particularly for the call-out of reserve personnel in response to civil emergencies and natural disasters under the Defence assistance to the civil community, or DACC, policy. These arrangements will be streamlined. The amendments in this bill will streamline the process to call out the reserves to allow a more rapid deployment of the ADF in these scenarios.

Firstly, the bill will simplify arrangements for advising the Governor-General prior to the issue of an order to call out the reserves by allowing the Governor-General to act on the advice of the Minister for Defence, after consultation with the Prime Minister, in all circumstances, not just for reasons of urgency. In effect, this will make the current urgent advice mechanism the standard procedure and remove the need for advice to go through the Executive Council.

Secondly, it will increase flexibility in terms of the types and periods of service the reserves can render during a call-out rather than require continuous full-time service. For example, this would allow the use of reserve service days for shorter periods where this might be more appropriate.

Thirdly, the bill will provide immunity in certain circumstances from civil and criminal liability for Defence personnel and other designated protected persons similar to that enjoyed by civil emergency services. There are several limitations to these immunity provisions—namely, the individual must act in good faith and perform their duties in support of disaster preparedness, recovery and response. Those limitations are appropriate.

It's worth noting that these protections could be extended to members of the armed forces or police forces of a foreign country. They're intended to cover scenarios where other nations come to our aid and send military or police services to assist where they may be needed in Australia—for example, the US Marine rotations in the Northern Territory. During the 2019-20 bushfire season, for example, Australia received considerable assistance from the armed forces of New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Indonesia, Canada and the United States. Indeed, one of General Ellwood's observations from Operation Bushfire Assist was that the acceptance of such support can be even more powerful for relationship building than the provision of it itself, particularly for our Pacific neighbours. Being able to provide these immunities will make it easier for our overseas partners to provide this support.

Finally, the amendments address anomalies and gaps in current arrangements which mean that reserves who provide continuous full-time service during a call-out will have to pay tax and yet, strangely—this is really odd, I think—they do not receive superannuation. It's not fair that that's the case. So these changes will ensure reserve members who undertake continuous full-time service under a call-out order will get the same entitlement to super and related benefits regardless of whether their service was voluntary or not.

Importantly, these amendments will be backdated to the first reserve call-out, in November 2019, to benefit members who deployed then. All up, these amendments provide greater flexibility in a call-out of our reserves, enabling greater consistency in the treatment of reserves and ensure that our Defence personnel have the appropriate legal protections when serving our nation under these emergency arrangements.

Labor is aware of concerns, however, about some elements of the bill, including the immunity provisions and potential interpretations of subsection 123AA(2) of the bill. Secondly, while we appreciate the need to address delays with the current urgent advice mechanism experienced during the recent call-out, there are some concerns that removing the executive council from the process for advising the Governor-General before the issue of a call-out order could be removing an important constitutional safeguard.

In light of these two issues, Labor considers there is value in referring the legislation to a short inquiry in the Senate. We'll reserve our final position on the bill until the Senate legislative inquiry delivers its report. Also, this may allow time to consider the recommendations of the final report of the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements, otherwise known as the bushfire royal commission, which is due to report by 28 October. Labor appreciates the briefings provided to date by Defence officials with respect to the legislation and we thank the government for doing so. I had the opportunity to participate in one such briefing with the shadow minister for defence, and the additional information provided by the Minister for Defence helps us in our consideration of this bill.

Labor has consulted with key defence personnel and reserve representative bodies, which are broadly supportive of the increased flexibility these changes should provide—in part, due to defence workplace reforms initiated by the former Labor government. The Australian Defence Association noted the reserves provide useful surge capacity for regular units, and the amendments will improve the ADF's overall emergency response capability, while reserve members will continue to receive the existing protections, under a call-out order, under the Defence Reserve Service (Protection) Act 2001.

The ADA noted that it was regrettable the government had abolished the longstanding Defence Reserves Support Council, the DRSC, in a shock announcement last year. For more than 40 years the DRSC had built positive relationships between defence, industry, reserves, welfare organisations, unions and the community and played an important role in increasing understanding of support for reserves service. I was very critical, at the time, of the decision by the government to scrap this body, given there was a secret review and minimal consultation with the DRSC and its members, including the ADA. I understand the new replacement body is made up of industry and big business employer representatives, hand-picked by Defence, with next to no ministerial responsibility or oversight. So I remain sceptical of just how effective this will be in protecting the interests of reservists in the future.

Moving on, the Defence Reserves Association supported the removal of the requirement to use continuous full-time service during a call-out and provide flexibility to use reserve service days as part of the bill. However, the DRA noted that the reserve service days often involved less bookkeeping, record keeping, on behalf of the units compared to continuous full-time service. So it would be important to maintain a paper trail on members using reserve service days during a call-out in the event, for example, of future compensation claims in relation to service.

While this point doesn't necessarily go to the substance of the bill, it's useful feedback for the government on how the legislation should be implemented and administered, going forward. As the shadow minister for veterans' affairs, I'm very mindful of our duty to look after defence personnel not just during their service but afterwards and of the need for good data and information sharing between Defence and the Department of Veterans' Affairs.

I might add that the DRA was disappointed they're not being consulted on the bill and that Defence did not appear to consider a previous review of reserve employment undertaken by retired Army Reserve officer and Victorian Supreme Court judge Greg Garde. Given the minister's own background as an Army Reserve officer, I expected her to have consulted widely and wisely and ensured that stakeholders, like the DRA, were engaged. Indeed, I spoke at the DRA's annual conference last year with the minister, Senator Reynolds, on a panel. I understand that after we alerted them to the bill the DRA wrote to the minister, so I trust that they have now had an opportunity to have input into the process.

In conclusion, our brave service men and women put on the uniform every day and are ready and willing to keep Australians safe, be it overseas or at home. We see the best and brightest of their contributions during emergencies and disasters, whether it's fires in Western Australia, cyclones in Queensland, floods in South-East Queensland or bushfires in Victoria. Labor wants to thank our Defence personnel for their service and support at all times, especially when our communities are most in need. As the shadow minister I acknowledge the outstanding contribution provided by our reservists and, indeed, all ADF personnel and defence civilians during the bushfire season and during the current pandemic. They have performed in an exceptional way. I think I can speak for all members in this place when I say that they represent the very best of our country. I commend the bill to the House.

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