Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Deputy Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

I'm well aware that, due to divisions, the time to respond has been significantly diminished for the Veterans' Affairs portfolio, but I thought it was important to give members a chance to raise their concerns. For any concerns I haven't got the chance to address this evening, I will seek to respond in writing to the members. I want to thank all members for their contributions—the members for Herbert, Braddon, Paterson and Blair. Thank you for your contributions and the issues you've raised.

What concerns me a great deal right now is that there is a general tone to the debate in relation to our veteran community which runs the risk of doing more harm than good. I was in Townsville recently with the member for Herbert, and one of the veterans said to me, 'Hope is like oxygen to a drowning man.' The point he was making was that we need to actually provide hope to our veterans who may be struggling at any point in time. What this government has done consistently year after year is invest more in services to support our veterans and their families; not to force it upon them in a Canberra-centric approach but to work with those communities and ex-service organisations. We partner with them to look at new models of delivering service and look at ways of supporting those veterans who may require some assistance, whether it's with their physical health or their mental health.

The contrast in approach that we're starting to see now from those opposite alarms me. It alarms me that we are in a position where those opposite are tending towards negativity to the point of taking hope away from our veterans. I caution those opposite from that approach. The contrast in approach from those opposite needs to be called out. I call on those opposite to work constructively, as historically it has been a portfolio where people have worked in very constructive manner. Those opposite may take exception to it, but they're being called out on the fact they have been very negative about the veterans portfolio in recent months, and it runs the risk of talking Australian veterans down and eroding hope.

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