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

Minister, why is it that you have increased fees for occupational therapists and podiatrists, but for the second year in a row have failed to increase those fees for physiotherapists when many veterans require holistic allied health care? For two years in a row you've raised expectations in terms of support for health professionals like physiotherapists, and yet you've failed to deliver. In addition to that, Minister, why is there no funding in this budget to address the terrible plight of homelessness among veterans, where the estimates are that about one in 10 people who are living rough on the street or who are homeless are indeed veterans. We've seen RSL NSW and RSL Queensland raise the point that they have had an increase of nearly 25 per cent and 26 per cent respectively in demand for their housing and homelessness services during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a huge issue and a significant factor in veteran suicide and mental health. Why has this not been addressed? Why has this been outsourced to the states? Why has the Morrison government shirked its responsibility and failed to show national leadership in terms of homelessness amongst our veteran community?

In addition to that, Minister, why are three of the veterans hubs so far behind what was announced? It was the intention of this government to make sure these veterans hubs were delivered by the end of 2020, but still three of the hubs have yet to be delivered and are expected perhaps by 2022. You've made commitments in the budget for two extra veterans hubs, one in Tasmania and one in South-East Queensland. Minister, the situation was that in 2016 in my electorate the then LNP candidate, Teresa Harding, made an unfunded commitment for a veterans hub in Ipswich near the RAAF base at Amberley, but your government has reneged on that commitment. In the 2019 election you made no commitment, and in this budget there's nothing. You've made a commitment now for a veterans hub in South-East Queensland.

I call on you, Minister, and I ask you: will you put that veterans hub near the RAAF base at Amberley in my electorate or will you just put it in coalition seats like Dickson, Ryan or other northern parts of Brisbane? Minister, it's really critical that you deal with this issue and address the issue of why these veterans hubs are so far behind. I call on you to answer these questions: why have you failed to deliver the veterans hub on time and where precisely will you deliver those veterans hubs you announced in the budget? The member for Herbert said one will be in Braddon. Is that true?

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