Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. We've found a better way to support the really important work of this valued organisation. In response to the member for Mayo not that long ago, who asked a similar question, the assistant minister to the Treasury and I looked into the matters raised by you and by your colleague next to you. We say the same thing now that we said then. We do our best to make decisions about DGR status, conscious of the budget pressures and all of the other priorities. But, in looking into this for the member for Mayo, as we said that we would, we've discovered that there is another important way that we're helping the organisation do its work.

I want to say that the government is really grateful for the service of our veterans, and we know the important role that government funding plays in creating, preserving and maintaining memorials to their sacrifice. When Assistant Minister Leigh and I looked into this, we discovered that there are multiple ways that we help our veterans honour the graves of our fallen. I acknowledge the veterans affairs minister as well, because the Office of Australian War Graves takes care of war cemeteries and war graves. They work in Australia, as you know, and Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, and they also build and look after official Australian memorials overseas.

In Minister Keogh's portfolio he's got a program called the Marking Private Graves Grants Program. It's a really important program. I acknowledge his work and his commitment to that program. This grants program means that throughout Australia they can commit to individuals and groups working to identify the unmarked graves of First World War—

See this speech in context