Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure to be able to speak on this very, very important bill, the Veterans' Entitlements, Treatment and Support (Simplification and Harmonisation) Bill 2024. I think it's really important that as a House and as a parliament we can come together to make sure that we're doing everything we can in an ongoing manner to be able to look after our veterans.

This bill deals with one of the trickiest issues that has been facing governments for decades now, and that is that there are three different bills that deal in three different ways with the entitlements for veterans. It seeks to harmonise those bills in a way which doesn't disadvantage veterans. This is something that I think both sides of the parliament have been looking to achieve for some time, because it has always been a source of angst in the veterans community. Following the royal commission, the fact that we are here now, working through this in a way which is showing bipartisanship, is really important. If we can't do these types of reforms together, then it always makes it very difficult to do very, very important reform.

Currently, there are three separate acts that operate to provide entitlements, compensation, rehabilitation and support to veterans. There's the Veterans' Entitlement Act 1986, or VEA, the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Defence-related Claims) Act 1988, which is called the DRCA. Don't ask me why, but it's called the DRCA. Then there is the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004, which is called MRCA. The three acts are over 2,000 pages long and include more than 850 legislative instruments. As a former veterans' affairs minister, can I tell you that these three pieces of legislation are extraordinarily complex.

The act that applies to a veteran is primarily determined by the period of service which is related to the claimed injury, disease or death, as well as the nature of that service. The three acts provide different types of compensation, including pensions, lump sums and periodic compensation payments, health care and rehabilitation. In some cases, veterans can have claims under all three acts.

This bill will amend the MRCA to be a single act for veterans rehabilitation and compensation from 1 July 2026, so there will be a period of time for implementation. While we all would have preferred it if this had been done quicker, I think the most important thing is that we get it right. The DRCA and the VEA will be closed to new liability and compensation claims from 1 July 2026. The MRCA will be open to claims arising from service which would previously have been determined under either the DRCA or the VEA.

The bill does not deliver true harmonisation due to the preservation of disparities between the VEA, the DRCA and the MRCA. The bill simply harmonises entitlements for new claims from 1 July 2026. This is an important point, because it would have been incredibly complex to try and do that. In a way, what is being done is a grandfathering process to make sure that we're looking after those who are under these existing acts and, in some instances, are getting compensation under existing acts. This is quite a sophisticated way to harmonise the entitlements going forward, by making sure that those who are already on existing acts aren't disadvantaged. Veterans receiving benefits immediately prior to the commencement of the new arrangements will continue to do so under the grandfathering arrangement without any reductions in their payments, because it would have been simply intolerable for that to have occurred.

This bill also proposes a range of enhancements for various entitlements, including the introduction of a new additional disablement amount similar to the extreme disablement adjustment available under the VEA. We're seeing some of the benefits and entitlements from the various acts, especially those benefits which are working well for our veterans, being shifted over to make sure that they continue. The introduction of presumptive liability, consolidation of household and attendant care, an increase to $3,000 for funeral allowances and the availability of reimbursement for funeral expenses of up to $14,062 for all service related deaths, higher reimbursement amounts for travel when a private vehicle is used to travel for treatment, standardisation of allowances and other payments, and the introduction of an instrument enabling the Repatriation Commission to determine circumstances where a veteran must receive financial advice before receiving a lump sum payment—these are all things which, for a long period of time, veterans have sought in one form or another. It depends on which act or acts they've been getting their compensation from, but often there have been discrepancies as to why one veteran is getting a payment and another veteran is missing out. So harmonising all this and bringing it together is something which is definitely a significant step forward.

Where did this bill come from? The bill addresses recommendation 1 from the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide's interim report, and the recommendation was 'simplify and harmonise veteran compensation and rehabilitation legislation'. The royal commission recommended:

The Australian Government should develop and implement legislation to simplify and harmonise the framework for veterans' compensation, rehabilitation and other entitlements.

…   …   …

(3) By no later than early 2024, the Australian Government should present to the Parliament, and seek passage of, its Bill for the proposed framework.

(4) If the legislation is passed, the Australian Government should, by no later than 1 July 2024, begin the process of implementing and transitioning to the new legislative framework.

(5) If the legislation is passed, the Australian Government should ensure that, by no later than 1 July 2025, the new legislation has fully commenced and is fully operational.

We have slipped on that timeframe, but, as I've said before, making sure we get these things right is of critical importance. While we all had hoped that this would have been done by 1 July 2024, the fact that we're here is something that I welcome.

What we also need to ensure is that we not only implement these changes but also continue to review the changes that are being made to make sure that they continue to deliver what we all want from this parliament and from this House, and that is that our veterans get the support and the care that they need once they exit the military or if, sadly, there is a fatality, that their families get the support that they need.

As a previous veterans' affairs minister, the issue in particular of veteran suicide is something that is very dear to my heart, because when I became minister it became very apparent to me that we had no idea as to the extent of veteran suicide. We put in place the first register to try and get a sense of what was occurring, and by providing the facts we were able to say, 'Yes, this is a significant issue that we do need to address.' There were measures that were taken to try and address this issue and make sure that the support and services that our veterans need was provided. There was a wide variety of changes which were made to the department.

One of the big challenges was ensuring that that support was there in a very holistic way. We started veteran-centric support and saw a significant investment of hundreds of millions of dollars into the Department of Veterans' Affairs to try and ensure that that support was there for our veterans. One of the real challenges—and this became very apparent in the royal commission—was making sure that both Defence and Veterans' Affairs were talking to each other in the right way, that there was proper exiting taking place and that proper coordination was taking place. It has taken the royal commission to bring all this together in a, largely, very coherent manner—in particular, bringing these three acts together and moving forward in a way which hasn't disadvantaged our veterans.

But this doesn't mean that we can think that the job is done. This is going to take all of us, working together, to make sure we continue to monitor and make sure that the royal commission recommendations are implemented and that every 12 months we ensure that we're checking on the progress that is made. One of the challenges that any government or any parliament faces is making sure that, once you pass legislation, once you take action, there is continual follow-up. When I was minister, we put in place changes. We put in place monitoring. We put in place yearly reviews to try and ensure that this would continue to happen. We have to make sure that continues to be the process that we follow, because we have to ensure that those who are prepared to serve on our behalf, those who are prepared to put their lives on the line so that we can live in a safe and secure country, in the best country in the world because our freedoms have been preserved because people are willing to sacrifice on our behalf, then we have to make sure as a parliament we are there for those people.

There is no more important test for any parliament than to do that on behalf of those who serve us. There are many ways we can do it. We can make sure there are very good employment pathways for our veterans when they exit. We can make sure there is consistency in the support and the payments our veterans receive once they exit. We can make sure that as a nation we support everything that those who serve on our behalf are doing on our behalf. We can have great pride in our Armed Forces and make sure we are there for them so that they know this nation has their backs and is supporting them the whole way. These are all the things we need to be doing to make sure that we are looking after those who serve us, because there is no more important job for us as a parliament than looking after our veterans.

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