Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker Wilkie, I acknowledge your service and that of the member for Wills. There seems to be a growing cohort of veterans in this place, which is a great thing. I've never served in the military. I have a great deal of respect for those that have. When I think of veterans, I think of people like my political parents, Elizabeth and Ron Worthington, who served in the Royal Australian Air Force. I think of my next-door neighbour and friend Greg Keiley, who served as a navy clearance diver. I think of all the men and women that I have met in my role as the member for Fisher through organisations like the RSL and its various sub-branches in my electorate, Young Veterans, SMEAC, and all those veterans organisations which do terrific work.

Fisher is home to one of the largest veteran populations in the country. If you're going to retire, why not retire on the Sunshine Coast? That's pretty demonstrative of people in almost all lines of work—it appears everybody wants to end up on the Sunshine Coast, and why wouldn't they? But that brings certain challenges, and the challenges that veterans face are many and varied. I've often spoken in this place about those challenges, but it's worth while bringing them up again. Those challenges essentially arise out of transitioning into civilian life. One minute these men and women are flying, driving, sailing or being responsible for multimillion dollar or sometimes multibillion dollar equipment. They have the benefit of what we all long for, and that's a sense of mission—a sense of purpose, something to get us out of bed in the morning. They have that camaraderie that you would well know, Deputy Speaker. But when they leave the military they often lose that sense of purpose, that mission, that camaraderie—unless they replace it with something else. And many young men, particularly young men who leave the military involuntarily, either from a disciplinary perspective or a health perspective, find that transition extremely difficult. This is where it is vitally important that the government of Australia, no matter what political stripe it may wear, step in and support them.

The member for Riverina said something very poignant in his speech earlier. He said that not all men and women who leave the military are broken and busted, and I could not agree more. Our men and women who transition from the military are, by and large, successful, happy and go on to lead very fulfilling lives, and good on them. But a small number of them struggle. They struggle because of the lack of a sense of purpose or a sense of mission and because of the lack of the family connection that they enjoyed when they were in the military. They struggle because of not being wanted, not being needed and no longer being entrusted to use very expensive equipment.

This is where I think we've got a really great opening for governments of Australia. I have been to see every veterans' affairs minister and encouraged them to implement a similar concept to what the United States did after World War II, which they called the GI Bill. The GI Bill provided free tertiary education to US servicemen, essentially, because that's what it was after World War II—men and women. It provided free tertiary education to help re-integrate them and to help transition them into civilian life. It replaces that concept of mission or purpose. Studying for an undergraduate degree or even, perhaps, a postgraduate degree is a great opportunity to shift your focus from the military to civilian life.

I want to acknowledge the great work that's being done by the Australian Catholic University, Griffith University, and the University of the Sunshine Coast in this regard. All three universities are doing some tremendous work—without a lot of assistance from governments, I might add. They're doing this off their own bat. They should be acknowledged. It is so incredibly important that governments get behind these tertiary organisations and, more importantly, get behind their veterans.

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