James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment (Budget Measures) Bill 2022. This is the second bill regarding increasing the support that we, the Commonwealth, provide to veterans that I have had the opportunity to speak on this week. Can I start by acknowledging all the veterans who serve in this place, in both houses, thanking them for their service and making the comment, as I always do in debates on these types of bills, that it is very helpful that people who have served and are veterans are able to contribute in these debates and give those of us who have not served in uniform their very important perspective, not only their own but that of the networks they are very deeply engaged in through the veterans community.

It is poignant that we are debating these matters in a week that culminates in Remembrance Day, on Friday. Of course, 11 November is a commemoration link to the armistice at 11am on 11 November 1918, when hostilities ceased on the Western Front. From there came the Treaty of Versailles and other treaties that ended the First World War, the Great War. There was nothing great about it, but historians hoped the magnitude and devastation of that war would lead to such an ingrained lesson to humanity that we would never have a repeat of it. Tragically, that was not to be, given the Great War is now referred to as the First World War.

This Friday in our electorates we will all take the opportunity to commemorate, at 11am, the moment that has by extension become a commemoration of sacrifice across all conflicts in this nation and in many nations around the world. For some it is their primary remembrance event. In this country, Anzac Day has at least equal, and potentially greater, significance, given how specific it is to the service of Australian and New Zealanders at Gallipoli. Nonetheless, this Friday is certainly one of the very significant commemorations in this nation.

Billy Hughes said at Versailles that he spoke for 60,000 dead Australians. The magnitude of that loss and sacrifice, given the adult male population of our nation at the time, is absolutely spectacular. People come to this country from around the world, and if you take them out of the cities—our regional members would advocate that people see the real Australia when they get out of cities—there would not be a country town in this nation that does not have a commemoration of some type to boys lost in the First World War.

What's so striking and people note is that it's amazing what kind of impact and legacy a war on the other side of the planet left here in continental Australia. That, of course, is the case in the other great nations that engaged in that conflict. I have a suburb called Dernancourt in the north of my electorate, which is named after the Dernancourt village in the north of France, which had a very significant battle in early 1918. It was a battle that was a very significant halting of one of the final German attempts to break through the front before US soldiers arrived in support a few months later in 1918 just towards the culmination of that horrendous war.

We in the coalition, of course, support this bill, which increases the payments to those in total permanent incapacitation who are veterans and who have served our nation. Obviously we want to take every opportunity to do everything that we should do to support those who have served this nation and give them every support in their lives and careers, both during service and after. This is specific to after service. None could be more deserving than those who are in a situation where they're totally and permanently incapacitated and not in a position to earn the income and have the career that they would have absolutely had if they hadn't made such sacrifices in serving our nation. Obviously supporting increased ways to help them more is something that in the coalition we always look to support the government on. We look to support them on these matters and come up with our own constructive proposals where we see opportunity.

As local members of parliament, we're very engaged with our veteran communities in a number of ways, such as on the commemoration side and supporting the services clubs that we have in our electorates. I am also very honoured to have the Jamie Larcombe Centre in my electorate, which is one of the Commonwealth funded facilities that provide a number of veterans services to veterans in my electorate but also much more broadly in Adelaide and South Australia. At times as local members we are contacted, and there are times when veterans do need help to navigate and get the support that they're absolutely entitled to. Sometimes, regretfully, the bureaucracy can be slow and can get some of the treatment of our veterans either incorrect or delayed. One of the very important roles of us as members of parliament is to make sure that we're supporting all the people who we represent that are entitled to government services, but particularly our veterans.

I'd like to acknowledge all veterans who do so much to become leaders within the veteran community and support their fellow veterans, particularly those who are in need of that support. There's nothing in my experience that's more significant in providing veterans support than another veteran, who, of course, can understand exactly some of the challenges and experiences that they are challenged with or suffering from. Our veterans who take those leadership roles and provide that assistance to their fellow veterans really do need to be acknowledged and commended by all of us. In this debate I want to take that opportunity as well.

Other speakers have talked about the royal commission that is currently underway. Of course, we all eagerly await any recommendations from that process that we might have the opportunity to put in place in this parliament. The government at the executive level, depending on the nature of recommendations, will also have the opportunity to respond to those. There is absolute unanimity around the commitment from all of us in this place that any veteran suicide or serving personnel suicide is one too many. We stand ready as an opposition to work with the government on anything that comes out of that process that recommends ways that the government can do anything at all to prevent a single suicide from those communities. I think it's extremely important to take any opportunity from that process.

This increase is welcome, but it does come at a time when the cost of living is obviously growing at a very rapid rate. The people who we're supporting through this measure, this increase, are people who are on a fixed income. Whether they are veterans on the TPI or any other people on support payments—pensioners et cetera—in our society, inflation impacts on them more than anyone. When you're on a fixed income, when you have to very carefully manage the household budget, it is frightening to see prices going up, on average, at 7.3 per cent.

The budget and the Reserve Bank are predicting that the inflation rate will be increasing from that point. And, regrettably, around the world at the moment all the predictions being made about inflation by central banks and by governments are continually being revised up. We hope to see inflation falling, but regrettably the pattern at the moment is that it is increasing. Increases like this have to be seen with the lens of the inflation rate applied to them as well.

At 7.3 per cent, whilst increases to these payments are strongly supported, it is going to be important for this parliament, and this government—at a much more rapid rate than we've been accustomed to in the past—to keep looking at whether or not we're keeping up with those pressures. Hopefully, we'll see those pressures dissipate, and the government has got an opportunity to play a role in that as well and to apply policy measures that can assist with putting downward pressure on inflation. That's the context and the environment that we are in, in debating this bill, but I certainly proudly support it, as do the coalition.

Once again, I thank all the members who have indicated their support. There is a unanimity around it. I particularly thank the veterans who serve in this parliament who have spoken about the importance of this bill and have also spoken about their own particular experience as veterans. This feeds into how they can contribute to supporting and suggesting ways that we can do more to support our veterans. With those comments, I commend the bill to the chamber.

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