Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

The Albanese government is investing in Australia's defence and national security to keep Australians safe today and in the years to come. The Albanese government is committed to lifting defence funding above its current trajectory so it will be 0.2 per cent of GDP higher by 2032-33 than on the current projections that we inherited from the previous government. We inherited an unsustainable defence budget. The DSR identified multiple examples of the former government announcing initiatives without allocating additional funding to the Commonwealth budget to support them. We are delivering immediate actions through the initial reprioritisation of the Defence Integrated Investment Program. We will rebuild the IIP as part of our first national defence strategy, to be delivered next year.

I'd like to address some of the issues raised by the shadow minister for defence industry. I want to commend him for picking up my talking points from when I was the shadow minister for defence industry and for making all of the same criticisms of the lack of work in this area by the previous government that I used to make when I was the shadow minister. He talks about a concern about no sovereign capability, when the previous government thought sovereign capability meant making sure we spent money on Australian security guards, Australian hotels and Australian real estate agents to support our submarine program. That wasn't a capability for defence, but the previous government didn't understand that at all.

So, yes, we have to clean up the legacy that we've been left when it comes to rebuilding sovereign capability in defence industry and across our Defence Force, and that's what we are getting on with doing. It's why we have had to reprioritise $7.8 billion across the forward estimates to make sure that our defence dollars are being spent in the most appropriate way to achieve the strategic outcomes that are required, as identified in the Defence strategic review. Recruitment and retention are, of course, a key part of that. It's why in the last budget we announced a $50,000 continuation bonus to keep more people serving in our Defence Force. It's why we are moving to a new contract arrangement for recruitment. It's why, as part of that arrangement, we are moving from, at the moment, a 300-day recruitment time frame down to a 100-day time frame, and we are trying to reduce that even further so that we can get more people into the pipeline.

I would like to thank the shadow minister for veterans affairs for his continued support of my role, unlike the member for Herbert in his contribution, which concerned me greatly; I'm deeply troubled. I thank him for his support. In particular, I thank him for his support in working with government, as we wish to work with all parties, on the veterans' legislation reform program. I completely understand his point that that's not a blank cheque, and that's why we will work collaboratively across the parties and with the veterans' sector to make sure that we get this reform right. But when it comes to the administered budget, that some $12 million that he referred to, that's, of course, demand driven. If more claims are processed and if people need more support, that money gets spent, and that's an important part of how that budget is acknowledged.

The backlog is also important. The reason the backlog peaked in September is that we inherited such a problem that we had to recruit hundreds of additional staff. We started doing that. It takes months to train those staff. It takes a while to have that effect, and we're now having a downturn in that backlog. But let me be clear: the evidence to Senate estimates at the end of last year from the then secretary of the department was that, under the resourcing provided to DVA by the previous government, the backlog would never have been gotten through. So when it comes to processing times, of course a consequence of that blowout in the claims backlog under the previous government, which we are getting a hold of now, is that those claims take longer to process. That is what happens. That's why we're trying to get through this backlog. I'm glad to have support for doing that, and we are going to keep doing that.

When it comes to hubs, the previous government, the opposition, have made a lot about the hubs that they committed to at the last election but didn't—

An opposition member: You opened the one in Darwin, but you—

And I was very happy to open it, because—the member makes a very good point—the one in Darwin was funded. The other ones you took to the election were not. We are rolling out eight additional hubs. We're very happy to fund that. We think that's a great program. We're working with other RSLs and organisations on similar types of programs to move forward.

Can I point out something very important on unmarked graves? The reason there's less money is that we cut the internal administration cost in the department. The money is going out the door now, and we're very proud to be able to deliver that important program and support that. In the process, we've identified graves that are going to get full commemorations, because that's what they deserve. We're happy to be delivering on all of these measures.

I'm happy to go on, if you would like me to, Madam Deputy Speaker Ananda-Rajah, because there's clear interest. When it comes to an important issue in response to veterans' support, those opposite have made the point about the desire to make sure— (Time expired)

Proposed expenditure agreed to.

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