Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Yes—we couldn't say a lot of those words in this place. But the thing is that Minister Keogh then took that straight on board, and, in 24 hours, the claim was not only assessed but approved. We can't do that for everyone, but what we need to do is to make sure that we put in place measures that help veterans to get things done sooner and quicker, and that's what this bill is about. It's about making sure that we, as a parliament and as a government, do the right thing by our veterans. Sometimes that means we've got to go the extra mile or we've got to change things, but we've got to do things collaboratively and accept that none of us come here with the perfect solution. We've got to work to make sure that we do things better.

We don't want to see people return from theatres of war to be told that they've got shell shock and, 'Here's your pay cheque. See you later.' If we, as a country, want to send our men and women into a place of harm, we need to take that responsibility to look after them when they get back—and that varies. There are so many different people who go through many different experiences that are just horrific.

As I said, the member for Riverina and I have been to spots. I've travelled through Long Tan. The one place I'm desperate to get to is Tobruk, but we're not allowed to go there at the moment. When you go through those fields and you get the feel and the smell of what they go through in peacetime, you can only imagine what it's like in times of conflict. When you get to spend time with people who put themselves on the line and are prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice, then our obligation goes beyond just our moral values; it goes to our national values and what we believe in and what we stand by.

This bill and these measures—they're not huge measures—tidy things up. They make things just that step easier. I think the important bit is that we make the time, the energy and the effort to look after veterans. As the member for Menzies pointed out, it's the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. Anyone who has looked at the Vietnam War and Australia's position on the Vietnam War knows that there were many varied views about the war and what we should have done. But I think the consistent view, at the end of the day, is that we made the decision as a country to send people over there, and we owed them respect when they got back. That change happened. Prime Minister Bob Hawke really brought that to national attention when he created Vietnam Veterans' Day, or Long Tan day. I think it's been growing steadily ever since—the importance of it and the importance of what those people did. I've never done it and I don't think I'd like to do it, but I have the utmost respect for those that do. I don't think that's a unique perspective; I think that's a perspective shared by everyone in this place. The question is how we do that. How do we put that into practical measures?

Increasing the staff in DVA to help speed up the claims process, getting those claims through and heard and done, with support, is something that we need to do. It's important that we walk the walk when we talk the talk. I think that this government has been very focused on what we learnt from the royal commission. We can talk about that another time, but we know that that's been a horrific process for a lot of people. We've just got to keep working together as a parliament and as a nation to make sure that we give people the respect that they've earnt and the ability to have the best possible lives. With that, I wish this bill a very, very speedy passage.

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