Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I wish to sum up this debate, if I may speak briefly. Firstly, I'd like to thank the members who have contributed to the debate on this bill this evening. In particular, I'd like to thank all parties in the House for their support of this bill and for its prompt passage. And I thank the honourable members for their commitment to supporting our service personnel, veterans and families, especially the contributions that we have heard tonight from those who have served in our defence forces. I'd like to acknowledge the shadow minister for veterans' affairs, the member for New England, who spoke about the service of his grandfather and his recently deceased father, and also about the national obligation to our veterans that falls upon us. In particular, he picked up on the point that it's the way that we treat our veterans and support them after their service that will be reflected in our capacity to recruit to our defence forces as well, especially at a time when we are seeking to significantly grow the size of our Defence Force.

The member for McEwen made the very interesting observation that despite his service in the cadets it proved to him that he did not have a future career in the Defence Force because of his desire to avoid having to continually polish boots! But he did speak very favourably of the organisation that he is aware of, Vets in Construction, and that organisation's support for the employment of veterans—their support in the construction industry and the importance of employment generally for our veterans. He too wanted to see better support for our veterans, particularly to make sure that they don't feel—as veterans had said to him that they did feel—that they were, and had been in the past, ignored. Of course, our government is committed to making sure that no veteran feels that they are being ignored by their government.

I want to thank the member for Herbert for his contribution to the debate this evening. He spoke, and not for the first time in this House, about the 'bad time', as he described it, that he had from his injuries, both physical and mental. He spoke about the importance of connection to and continuance of having purpose in one's life and in what one does post service with the Defence Force. It was why he joined the Defence Force and it was what he was looking for after it. It was that which showed him the importance of education and being able to see a different future that would also provide purpose. He made the very astute observation, that was repeated by many—and which we do need to reinforce and remember—that not all vets are broken. Indeed, the report last week from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare did highlight the many positives for our veterans and our veteran community in the way in which they exceed the general Australian population when it comes to their rates of employment, their home ownership and their income levels, and that is a good thing. It is a very good thing and we should celebrate that and continue to promote that. But of course that doesn't mean we can ignore those who do need special and additional assistance.

The member for Blair spoke about a veterans' charity work in his own electorate and the great work that they do in supporting the community there, and the very important aspect of making sure that what we talk about here and in other places is not where it ends—that we have practical supports put in place to support our veterans. I very much want to acknowledge the work of the member for Blair, as the shadow minister for veterans' affairs during the last term of parliament, in putting together a policy suite that we took to the election and that I now have the honour of seeking to implement. It is all about providing practical support measures for our defence personnel, veterans and families.

The member for Braddon also spoke of his own experience in the Defence Force, the work that he did in training soldiers and the special bond that exists between soldiers. This repeated the words of the member for Herbert in describing them as a 'tribe' and the difficulty of transition—in leaving the tribe and the need to undertake a transformation for the soldier as they transition out of defence. He also referred to something which we absolutely embrace on this side, as the government: embracing the family unit and its importance to a successful transition out of defence. It's partly why we have made the decision to refer to what were previously 'wellbeing hubs' as 'Veterans' and Families' Hubs. This is because it's about supporting not only the veterans but also families, because getting that right is so vital to seeing a positive transition into civilian life and an ongoing successful transition to civilian life.

He also spoke about something that's very close to us over here, which is the importance of highlighting to business the skills that veterans bring to the private sector—skills that they've developed in the Defence Force. They are soft skills like leadership, teamwork, being able to work under pressure, having agility—things that we do want to make sure that our employers are very well aware of—as well as the hard skills they have developed in Defence, whether that's in a trade or in some other technical area. It's why we committed in the last election $24 million to developing a veterans' employment program that is partly about highlighting these very important soft and hard skills that our veterans bring and are able to provide to businesses who may employ them.

The member for Kingsford Smith—and I want to thank him for his great work and commitment to our veterans as the Assistant Minister for Defence and Assistant Minister for Veterans' Affairs—spoke about an excellent program that Defence, the Department of Veterans' Affairs and Phoenix have been working on: a new PTSD treatment, which is now available through Open Arms, the mental health and counselling support service for our veterans. That is a new program. We're very happy to support it. It's proving to be very efficacious. In particular, as he referred to, because of the way it operates, the drop-out rates from the program are much lower.

All of this feeds into how we as a government are making sure our veterans and their families are well supported and looked after as they transition from the Australian Defence Force, and this is an important task and responsibility of government. Indeed, it is a solemn commitment that we must make. The previous government did not before the dissolution of the 46th Parliament introduce legislation to deal with the issues that are being dealt with by this bill, and that resulted in financial uncertainty and distress for some 370 veterans. The Albanese Labor government has prioritised this important legislation. This legislation will ensure our commitment to veteran employment as it supports education opportunities to upskill veterans who currently have reduced ability to work.

The Military Rehabilitation and Compensation and Other Legislation Amendment (Incapacity Payments) Bill will resume access to the beneficial calculation of incapacity payments for eligible veterans. This means that eligible veterans—those undertaking approved study under a rehabilitation plan—will again have their incapacity payments restored to 100 per cent of pre-injury earnings. The lack of action on this pre election has meant that veterans receiving such payments had them unnecessarily reduced from 1 July, but this bill also backdates payments for those veterans, making good on the loss they've sustained because of the inaction of the previous government. We're committed to delivering a comprehensive veterans' employment program, as I referred to before, to support personnel as they transition to civilian life. This program that we are debating in this legislation is a key part of that.

It's initiatives like this that not only support a veteran and their family financially but can support a veteran's mental health as they undergo their transition from service. We have an obligation to ensure all our Defence personnel are kept safe here and abroad mentally and physically. The same goes for when they come home. This pilot program will ensure that veterans can continue their education as they transition from service, ultimately increasing their capacity and, indeed, opportunities for employment, which is a key predictor of success as they return to civilian life. It will ensure they are best placed to succeed. It will help address some of the issues that have been presented to the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide and that are referred to in its interim report of only a few weeks ago.

Our serving personnel put themselves in harm's way to protect our national interest. We want our service personnel, veterans and families, to know that Australia is proud of them and that our country will always be there for them, and so I commend the bill to the House.

Bill read a second time.

Message from the Governor-General recommending appropriation announced.

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