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

The member for Wannon seems quite concerned about this topic, and I am addressing it—don't you worry. I want to talk about the failures of the opposition when they were in government to keep Australians safe. I want to talk about their failure to ensure that the Department of Veterans' Affairs was adequately resourced. I want to talk about their failure to ensure that those who had kept Australians safe, those who had worn our uniform, those who had put themselves in harm's way for our nation, were provided with the supports, services and compensation that they very justly needed and deserved. Instead, what we saw was a continued failure to properly resource the Department of Veterans' Affairs, meaning that we had a backlog when we came to government of some 42,000 claims from veterans that had not even been looked at by someone within the department. That wasn't the department's fault; it wasn't given the funding for enough people to do that work.

That's what this government has gotten about doing. In the October 2022 budget, all the way back then, we made sure that we funded 500 additional staff for the Department of Veterans' Affairs. It wasn't just about providing the numbers; it was about making sure that they were staffed with Australian public servants, that we weren't relying on the churn of labour hire, people with insecure employment who sometimes didn't even last long enough in the department to complete the very necessary training to make sure that they could assess those veterans' claims. In the budget that was delivered the other week, we committed to further investing in an additional 141 staff to ensure that we can process the claims of veterans faster.

Yet, when we talk about failure, we had the Leader of the Opposition in his budget reply come forward and say that he thought the Australian government was employing too many public servants. Apparently, making sure we have enough people to process the very legitimate claims of veterans to get the support and services that they need is but a triviality to the Leader of the Opposition. He thinks we should get rid of those people. He also complained about the level of government expenditure. When we look at the level of government expenditure, part of what is driving that increase in government expenditure is that we have gotten on with the job of processing veterans' claims. What has that meant? It has meant that over five years we are increasing expenditure on veterans' pensions, on their compensation, on their health support and services and on their mental health support in the order of $6.5 billion. We are getting on with actually processing veterans' claims and making sure that they get what they need and deserve.

Why do we do this, though? We do this because we understand the solemn commitment that every Australian government must make to their serving Defence men and women that we will look after them, that when they put on our nation's uniform, when they come home, when they hang up that uniform or when they face injury they will get the support that they need and, frankly, deserve and their families need and deserve. That's why we have made a lot about increasing our resourcing for the Department of Veterans' Affairs. It's why we've been very clear that we're not just providing the additional resources that the department needed, and which it was without for so long, but that it improves the lives of the people who work for the department, it improves the lives of veterans and it improves the lives of their families. And we want to see that support for veterans to continue to be of a bipartisan nature across this chamber. So I think it is particularly galling when we see the opposition then say: 'Oh, you're employing too many public servants. You're spending too much money.' That's money that those veterans and families always deserved and were always entitled to but, because of a lack of resourcing, they were not able to receive it. It was like the foot was placed on the hose of support being provided to our veterans.

So what have we done? In this budget there's an additional $477 million going to increase support for more than 340,000 veterans and their dependents. We'll soon introduce legislation to implement the first recommendation of the interim report of the defence and veterans suicide royal commission, to simplify and harmonise the legislation that underpins the entitlements for our veterans. We're employing an additional 141 staff in the Department of Veterans' Affairs and we're boosting veterans' home care and community nursing programs with an additional $48.4 million of funding to ensure that there are no gaps in the service provision provided to our veterans and families—so that they always get what they need and deserve. Australian veterans deserve better than what they were getting from an underresourced department from the previous government—the litany of failures that are the subject of the debate today. It's about protecting those who support and protect Australia. They deserve to know that long after they've hung up their uniforms they will be supported by the government that they have sworn to protect, the values of which they have sworn to uphold. Our veterans have kept, and continue to keep, Australians safe. Supporting them is the least we can do.

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