Jenny Ware (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2023, which I support. At the outset, I acknowledge and thank all of our current serving veterans, as well as those who have left the military. Thank you for your service.

My electorate of Hughes is proud to house the Holsworthy military barracks. It is one of the Australian Army's major footprints within New South Wales and includes many Army and tri-service training institutions, as well as various regular and reserve Army units. It includes a special operations engineers regiment, as well as the 1st and 2nd special ops commando regiments. I was very honoured to witness the Green Berets passing-out parade in November last year. Holsworthy Barracks is also the staging location for domestic operations in New South Wales and covers almost 20,000 hectares of land. The 2021 census identified that over 3,640 people who live in my electorate of Hughes have either current or former ADF service. Again, I thank them, as well as all of our other serving ADF members.

The measures in this bill are largely uncontroversial. There are minor amendments that will ensure, for example, consistency of veteran compensation for medical travel and the preparation of an annual report on the Repatriation Medical Authority. The bill modernises some of the language that is in older acts and updates references to some superseded acts. I commend the bill to the House.

I do mention that the coalition government did invest over $11.5 billion each year to support the wellbeing of around 340,000 veterans and their families, and I would ask that the current Labor government continue to provide that support to our veterans. We haven't always done it well in this country—acknowledging veterans returning, particularly those who returned from the Vietnam War. The coalition also instigated the ongoing Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, and I know the government has started to enact some of those recommendations that have come out of that report.

However, under the Labor government, veterans have lost their voice around the cabinet table. I commend the member for Riverina, who was a former veterans' affairs minister, and the comments he made about the importance of the veterans' affairs portfolio being within cabinet. I think we owe that to our veterans, to ensure they are being provided with adequate support and advocacy at the highest level of government. The bill includes largely uncontroversial amendments but will assist to ensure we are providing ongoing support to our returned veterans, particularly when they are seeking medical assistance.

This year marks the 50-year anniversary since the end of Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War. As a nation, we have not done enough to acknowledge the service given by our veterans in Vietnam—many of whom were not volunteers. Today it was wonderful to be part of a parliamentary event where we met former Vietnam veterans and their families to thank them for their service and to provide them with the acknowledgement they so deserve. In my electorate, I've been honoured to meet with many returned Vietnam veterans and their families, and to present them with a certificate of appreciation from the Australian government that's signed by the current Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Matt Keogh.

I take this opportunity to mention just some of those to whom I've presented a certificate recently. First of all, I will mention some who served in World War II; some of them are posthumous. I mention Cecil Eric Doyle, Michael James Foley, Frederick Maurice Doyle and William Andrew Doyle; they all served in World War II. Serving in Vietnam were George Edward; Kenneth Wood; Mervyn Douglas Nann; Terence Michael Doyle; Leonard Spencer Vine; and Steven John Tovey, who served in both Vietnam and Malaysia.

To conclude, I commend this bill to the House. I thank all our currently serving ADF members, as well as those who have returned, for their service.

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