Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to start by thanking the member for Blair for this excellent and timely motion, and I want to recognise your service as well, Deputy Speaker Wilkie. We dug into the same ground a couple of times in the past. I want to thank all MPs, including the member for Forde, who just spoke, and others here in the chamber, who really care about this issue. To my mind, it is one of the most important questions that we might consider in this place. And it is an issue where I am proud to say that I not only talk the talk in here but walk the walk in my electorate, where I have, in the past months, got three veterans into employment opportunities.

It is important that we assist our soldiers, sailors and aviators who have served Australia to integrate back into civilian life with supports and also, if possible, into meaningful work. It's about more than employment; it's about us living up to the social contract and ensuring that we, the citizens of Australia, fulfill our duty towards veterans, who have donned the uniform and been trained to serve and protect our country and our interests.

Far too many veterans struggle with the move into civilian life. Too many veterans sleep rough, find themselves incarcerated, have difficulties managing their own mental wellbeing and struggle to find a job. I always say that it is a minority, but it's way too many, and we need to do more. Because we campaigned hard on this based on the evidence of so many patriots—young men and women of this country who, having served, made the decision to take their own life—we know that the numbers of deaths by suicide that have been reported aren't the full picture.

I also look forward to hearing, later today, the ministerial statement on the interim report of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. We know that there is a lot more that we can be doing, and I welcome the interim report to make sure that the royal commission is doing the best it can by our people in order to fix any systemic issues that we know are in the support scheme.

When they transition out of the Defence Force, many of our serving men and women end up, as the previous speaker mentioned, in our emergency services as our first responders—our police, firies and ambos. And aren't we lucky that they do, because they really underpin those emergency services with a lot of skill and knowledge and the attitudes that we need to get after it and to respond where those services are required.

However, we also know that many veterans have feelings of discrimination in the job market, where employers can't see the great employee in front of them when they're applying for jobs. It is outrageous, but it does happen. Some jobs have specific skill sets, but we know, from those who do employ veterans, that you'll find them to be the most eager, competent and thorough members of any corporate, not-for-profit or government team. It is those skills that the ADF training gives them, such as the military appreciation process and risk assessment. Just as a matter of course, every day, decisions that are made have good logic, common sense and that risk assessment process.

The mining industry is reaching out to employ more veterans for all those reasons, but we know that we need to do more. It will help our national productivity. It'll help our sovereignty. It'll help our industries across the board. We are committed to doing everything that we can do to make sure that veterans aren't left behind. I welcome the interim report from the minister later on, and I'm committed to ongoing work with him to improve the lot of our veterans when it comes to their employment.

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