Keith Wolahan (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Go out that door and turn right and you will see a clear line all the way through to the War Memorial, where 103,000 names are etched on a wall. Those 103,000 names are from every corner of this country, and they are from every background, many not born here. They were people whose politics we didn't know and we shouldn't know, because it's irrelevant. So to speak on this topic and to hear the member for McEwen engaged in the most partisan speech was really disappointing and beneath him and beneath this place.

I want to take you back to an event that happened in my electorate recently. It was an event to acknowledge Vietnam Veterans' Day, which used to be called Long Tan Day. Gathered there were so many Vietnam veterans from my electorate. Amongst them was one that I knew, because his son sits in this place over on that side: the member for Solomon. In that address, I singled him out because I wanted to make the point that service is above politics and beyond politics. Those who put on our uniform are patriots, no matter who they vote for, whether they're a socialist or way to the right. It doesn't matter. They're a patriot either way. They risked their life for a better tomorrow. To clarify, the member for Solomon's not a socialist—I just want to be very clear about that! He's not a socialist. But it is important.

We need to look at the numbers, because that wall that you can walk down the memorial to isn't just a piece of public architecture. It's an acknowledgement of the sacrifice and service that has come before us. One hundred and three thousand names sounds like a lot, and human brains aren't very good at thinking of large numbers. There are some Victorians in this place and we're thinking of our fellow citizens, who are deservedly having a long weekend back in Victoria. But, when we think of large numbers in Victoria, we think of that other great icon in our state, the MCG. One hundred and three thousand names is a full MCG with veterans spilling over onto the place where we actually play football. That's how many Australians died for this nation.

Right now, we have an almost full MCG of full-time Defence Force members, just under 90,000. That includes almost 20,000 members of the Navy, almost 50,000 members of the Army and just over 20,000 members of the Air Force. More than 6,000 Australians enlist in the ADF on average every year. I mention those numbers in speaking on this bill because, when parents are thinking of where their children might go and if they might serve our nation, they want to know that we will care for them on the other side. It is part of the contract that we have with those who serve. If you seek to sacrifice your life, all of your tomorrows, for us, the very least we can do is to look after you on the other side.

It is important that the title of this bill says 'veterans' entitlements, treatment and support simplification and harmonisation'. That is an important attribute of the rule of law. If you go to the Law Council's webpage they have a document on how to promote the rule of law and the very first principle they have is that the law must be known, it must be available, it must be certain and it must be clear. For too long, for veterans to seek the support that they needed, they needed to engage someone who not just was qualified as a lawyer but knew every in and out of this process. In fact, Vietnam veterans found it so hard that they developed a system where they became advocates. Advocates, you might think, are paid and get a cut of the benefit. But they are not paid. They are volunteers. They were people who recognised that the system was so complex that other veterans needed help. I am a qualified lawyer, I was admitted as a barrister and practised for 10 years. But, when I looked at the old act, I didn't understand it. It was so complex that I wouldn't know where to fill in the form. So I spoke to other veterans that I'd served with who had gone through the process, and each of them said they could not have done it without an advocate. That was a broken system.

That's why the royal commission into veteran suicide had as its first recommendation to simplify and harmonise veteran compensation and rehabilitation legislation. The law should be simple, clear, available and easily understood. You should not have to engage an advocate. You certainly should not have to engage a lawyer. So it is important that this reform happens, and I commend the government for bringing it forward. I wish they'd brought it forward a year earlier, but here we are. It has been brought forward now.

Currently, there are three acts. We know from various speakers before me what they are. Depending upon when your service was or when your injury occurred, you are covered by one or more of those acts. I have on many other occasions held up the pages of bills and acts in this place, from the Fair Work Act to the Corporations Act and the tax act, and they are complex enough. But, when you look at the veteran scheme, it came to over 2,000 pages, with more than 850 legislative instruments. That is an unworkable system on any definition.

This bill will amend that system, and it will close the loop for those who were in a period of uncertainty—they didn't know which act they were covered by. Then, if they filled in the form, assuming they were covered by one and not the other, it delayed the time in which they got compensated or the treatment that they desperately needed.

The bill proposes a range of enhancements for various entitlements. I do want to list some of these, because veterans do watch question time and they sometimes watch speeches like this. So they include the introduction of a new—

See this speech in context