Phillip Thompson (Herbert, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) recognises the service and sacrifice of those who have served in the Australian Defence Force, along with that of their families;

(2) notes:

(a) the Government's 2019 election commitment to establish a network of Veteran Wellbeing Centres in Townsville, Perth, Wodonga, Darwin, Adelaide and Nowra;

(b) that these centres, which are being developed in partnership with the ex-service community and state governments, will bring together a range of critical services relied upon by veterans and their families, including the health treatment, mental health support, employment and transition assistance and advocacy support; and

(c) that the Government committed an additional $10.7 million in the 2021-22 Budget towards expansion of the wellbeing centre network into south-east Queensland and Tasmania; and

(3) acknowledges the critical importance of such partnerships between governments and the ex-service community in supporting the health and wellbeing of Australia's veterans and their families.

First and foremost, I believe that it's bipartisan to acknowledge the service of our ADF—the men and women who put on the uniform every day—and veterans and their families. I am very humbled to be able to move this motion today because I want to highlight the work that is being done in my community of Townsville but also around the country around Veteran Wellbeing Centres.

Last time we were in here, I was speaking to the member for Braddon, Gavin Pearce, and congratulating him on being soon to be a father again—for the third time, I believe—and now I can let everyone know that he has had his child. And I'm very happy that his daughter has taken her mother's looks! I wish them the best and look forward to him coming back to this place, because he is a passionate advocate for his electorate and the veteran community.

Townsville is the largest garrison city in the nation. We have tens of thousands of defence personnel, veterans and their families. So it was only right that we were fortunate enough to be one of the first to receive a wellbeing centre. In the last budget, we got an additional $10.7 million to expand them further across the country.

As someone who deployed, and like many people on both sides of this place, I know serving and transitioning can be challenging. You can find yourself looking for the supports that should be readily available. These veteran wellbeing hubs will be that one-stop shop where we and our people can go get the support that we need. I know that, when I transitioned out, I slipped away quickly into a very dark place, and, like many people, made some horrendous life choices. I think that these Veteran Wellbeing Centres, these hubs across the country, will be that linkage from serving to making the transition out and having that soft landing where you can look for meaningful engagement, meaningful employment and purpose. Having your family—your defence family—wrapping around you, I think, is a step in the right direction to preventive measures, when that transition can sometimes be absolutely devastating.

I know that, with a lot of ADF people, like me, when you're in, you don't even have a Medicare card. So, when you're out, how are you supposed to find the services that are there to best support you? You might find them on social media. But not all ESOs link closely together. Sometimes it can be quite difficult to find what actually fits with you, whether it's going through Mates4Mates or Soldier On, or getting an assistance dog—whatever the case may be. Not all ESOs are a fit for all people. But having a one-stop shop that can be that linkage I think is very important.

That one-stop shop in Townsville is the Oasis. We opened it just a couple of weeks ago, and you'll hear it here first—and I know the member for Blair will like this: I had the Premier in Townsville, and it was good, because we could stand there and open a centre for veterans, and take the politics out of it, and put the people that we should be representing every single day at the forefront of our minds. And we did that. The three local state MPs—anyone who knows me knows that we don't always see eye to eye and that we can be challenging to each other, but they were there, and it was great, because the people were put before politics. At the Oasis centre there's a drop-in place where you can go just to get a coffee. You don't even have to be talking to anyone. That's important for being connected to our community, because not everyone wants to walk in a door and have white walls and feel as though you're in a clinic; you want to go somewhere where you feel comfortable, get a brew, sit down, link in with your colleagues who you used to serve with or just have a chat.

I note that veterans aren't just in Townsville; they're all around the country. They're in places that will be getting veterans' wellbeing centres. I had a really good chat with the Premier of Queensland, and she said that we should be looking for other places, throughout Queensland, that can get wellbeing centres. I think we should be working more closely together, because our brave men and women who put on the uniform every day deserve our support.

David Gillespie (Lyne, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Defence Personnel) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and thank the member for Herbert for putting it forward. I'm pleased for him that the Oasis is up and running. I've been to Townsville a number of times since the last federal election and have met with the people associated with the Oasis. They are good people with very committed hearts and are very determined to make sure that veterans are cared for in Townsville. I thank the Queensland government for the leadership they've shown in this space as well.

At the outset, I also want to say that Labor recognises the services and the sacrifices of those men and women in the ADF, along with their families, and we strongly support the concept of veterans' wellbeing centres. In fact, we announced three veterans' support centres—in Darwin, Townsville and, in my electorate, Ipswich—in the lead-up to the 2019 federal election, well before the government pledged its six veterans' wellbeing centres. In the end, Labor committed to seven veterans' hubs around the country, one more than the Liberals and Nationals.

The idea of these centres is that they are being developed in partnership with ex-service organisations, state governments and other organisations to act as a hub, or a one-stop shop, for wraparound services and the referrals for veterans and families when it comes to health, mental health, employment and other transition assistance, advocacy, wellbeing, and support. They also provide a space for community organisations and are a place to meet for friendship and fellowship, post service, by ADF personnel.

I'd like to remind the member for Herbert, however, and the parliament, that the government committed to having all six of these centres up and running by last year. It's now 2021, and only half of the centres have been completed: the Perth centre last year, the Adelaide centre earlier this year and the Townsville centre just recently. The remaining centres—Nowra, Wodonga and Darwin—are still yet to find permanent sites and are expected to open only in 2022, a full two years behind schedule. This blowout is looking more and more like just another broken promise from the Liberals and the Nationals. There's nothing in the May budget to fast-track the delivery of these centres, and they're well behind schedule. It goes to show that this is a government which likes to make announcements but never delivers and never follows through.

I note that there is some money in the 2021-22 budget—$10.7 million—to establish two new veterans' wellbeing centres, in Tasmania and South-East Queensland. We call on the government to announce precisely where they're going to be. In consideration in detail last week, the member for Herbert let the cat out of the bag by revealing that the Tasmanian centre will be located in the marginal Liberal-held seat of Braddon. I congratulate the member for Braddon on his recent arrival. There's something else that's going to arrive in his electorate, according to the member for Herbert: a veterans' hub. We've heard reports that the Tasmanian veterans' hub will be rolled out in Burnie, in Braddon. I saw that the Minister for Veterans' Affairs was down there recently with the member for Braddon, meeting with local veterans to talk about this issue.

The local organisation may well be a good organisation, but it's important that the minister comes out and tells us, and the Tasmanian veterans, precisely where this will be. I note that the government and the Department of Veterans' Affairs are working with the state government in Tasmania on a feasibility study. That concluded in January this year, so the minister needs to reveal the findings of the study and the consultations. It would be much, much better.

He also needs to tell us where the South-East Queensland veteran wellbeing centre will be located. I notice the minister issued a joint media release with the Minister for Defence following the budget, so I'm guessing this veterans hub will be plonked in the member for Dickson's electorate. I remind the member for Dickson that his colleague the member for Ryan, whose electorate takes in the Enoggera army base, also wants a veterans hub. The minister will need to work through all of that to work out whether it's Ryan or Dickson. We'll see which one is most likely to be in debate at the next election. He owes it to veterans in South-East Queensland to say where the wellbeing centre will be.

It's worth reminding the chamber that in 2016 the then Liberal candidate in my electorate announced an unfunded commitment for a veterans recovery centre in Ipswich. I called it out as a cynical election bribe at the time, and sure enough the government never delivered on it. Despite my written request to the then Minister for Veterans' Affairs that it be honoured, the initiative was quietly dropped from LNP policy in 2019. Ipswich has the largest veteran population in South-East Queensland and it's home to RAAF Base Amberley, the biggest air base in the country, so it makes perfect sense for the government to deliver a veterans hub in Ipswich. The government needs to do the right thing and honour its original 2016 election promise. But the government has a bit of form when it comes to not honouring election promises and doing certain things—we note the sports rorts, regional rorts and the colour-coded spreadsheets.

I acknowledge the member for Herbert and thank him for this motion, but the government needs to do much better in the area of veterans hubs. I call on the government to announce one in my electorate and honour their previous commitment.

Bridget Archer (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Formed in June 1916 by troops returning from World War I, the Returned and Services League was created with the purpose of preserving the spirit of mateship formed on the battlefield, to honour the memory of the fallen and to help each other when required. With no formal government welfare services for veterans at this time, the RSL committed itself to provide for the wounded and needy among those who had served, including their dependants. Today RSLs and sub-branches across the country are filled with members and volunteers committed to helping their fellow veterans.

I was fortunate to introduce the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Darren Chester, to a few Northern Tasmanian sub-branches during his visit last month. It was part of Minister Chester's visit to the region to encourage veterans and their families to make submissions to the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, but the visit was also an opportunity to meet with local branches and their members to discuss the needs of the veteran community on the ground and how existing programs might fit within the framework of the proposed wellbeing centres. At the last election the government committed $30 million to develop a network of six veteran wellbeing centres across Australia, which once established will deliver integrated support to veterans and their families from government, business and community partnerships. I was very pleased when extra funding was announced in the last budget for the network to extend to Tasmania, and I thank my colleague and veteran of the ADF, member for Braddon, Gavin Pearce for working with me to secure this funding.

In addition to meeting with the Bridport and George Town RSLs, it was a privilege to take the minister to meet with the Launceston RSL sub-branch. As the oldest existing sub-branch in Australia, the Launceston RSL is growing from strength to strength. At its core it is still providing essential services to veterans and their families. Led by Graeme Barnett as president and Peter Williams as secretary, the sub-branch is a leader in the programs that are executed from its Wellington Street premises in Launceston. They reach and assist veterans and their families not only in the immediate area but also across the wider community, including the east coast of Tasmania. I know that the minister was very impressed with the work that they do and viewed the branch and their work as a gold standard. It is not just a sub-branch; it is also already a hub for the Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia, Vietnam Veterans and Veterans Motorcycle Club, the NAA Launceston South subsection, the RAAF Association, the TPI Association, the Veterans Support Group, the RSL Women's Auxiliary, the Royal United Services Institute, veterans advocates, Mates4Mates and the ADF Welfare Team.

I would like to highlight the work of the ADF Welfare Team, which was created just over four years ago after it was identified that for many reasons a number of veterans were hitting a crisis point. A major focus of the welfare team is to prevent veteran suicides and reduce the number of homeless veterans. Run entirely by a team of eight volunteers, the team's efforts were recognised with a Tasmanian volunteer of the year award in 2018, and the DVA considers the ADF Welfare Team model to be one of the best in Australia. The sub-branch is also the central location for a number of other community groups, hosting meetings and training sessions, and with a fully functioning kitchen they've also got the capacity to host functions. They have the goal of heading towards complete self-sufficiency with the operating model, which can be achieved through some additional funding to undertake some upgrades to the building, a tired and somewhat outdated home, which would allow the sub-branch to expand and improve their veteran support facilities as well as their volunteer capacity.

The Georgetown RSL, which also runs outreach programs, are seeking to enhance their services by increasing accessibility for all of those who come through the door, and are looking to add gym equipment as part of their wellbeing programs. Since the minister's visit, I've had many constructive meetings to further advocate for additional funding to address the needs of the Launceston RSL and Georgetown RSL, and I have no doubt that the new minister will work with me to achieve a positive outcome.

To close, I'd like to pay tribute to Launceston World War II veteran Dr Ray Leonard, who passed away just a few days ago. Dr Leonard was the last surviving crew member of the HMAS Armidale, and was just 19 years old when the ship came under Japanese attack and was sunk on 1 December 1942. Dr Leonard lobbied for a number of years to see fellow Tasmanian Ordinary Seaman Edward 'Teddy' Sheean recognised with a Victoria Cross for his courageous actions on board the Armidale. I'm so pleased that he lived to see Teddy's bravery recognised. Vale Ray Leonard.

Fiona Phillips (Gilmore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to thank the member for Herbert for this private member's motion today, because I had the absolute pleasure a couple of weeks ago of attending the interim Nowra Veteran Wellbeing Centre, which is now up and running and providing support to veterans and their families. In fact, this centre was a bipartisan commitment before the last federal election. I'm delighted to see this centre up and running in an interim form.

The Nowra Veteran Wellbeing Centre will provide support to veterans and their families on the New South Wales South Coast and south-east New South Wales. That's a very big area, and we have a lot of very much loved veterans. We have a strong Navy presence at Nowra and Jervis Bay. We are home to HMAS Albatross, the only Navy aviation base in Australia. The squadrons and support staff provide a vital role around Australia and overseas. HMAS Creswell is Australia's only Navy officer training school, and just last week we saw the latest graduates from the new entry officers' course. I'm proud to say that both HMAS Albatross and HMAS Creswell are fully embedded in our community. Defence families play a significant role. Defence children go to our local schools and join our sporting and community groups, and defence partners work in our local community.

The new Nowra Veteran Wellbeing Centre is run by RSL LifeCare. The plans have been drawn up and it will eventually be located alongside RSL LifeCare's Dumaresq retirement village. But in the meantime a temporary premise has been set up in Nowra. I called in a couple of weeks ago to catch up with the centre manager, Marcus; the veteran support coordinator, Kane; and Gracie, the most adorable, well trained black Labrador. Marcus ably explained the services that will be run from the centre. Soldier On will have an important role to play as well, enabling veterans and their families to thrive. The services will be able to work together in an integrated way to service the best needs of our community. A trained psychologist is available for veterans and their families.

Kane had been very busy networking within the community—remember, it's a very large area—talking with RSL clubs and veterans organisations about the services. There are both networking and making good links within the community to get the word out there that the Nowra Veteran Wellbeing Centre is open. Indeed, when I was there, a veteran popped into the centre, so I think they are going great. I am a mom of a new army soldier, and, when I mentioned that, I could see Marcus and Kane's eyes light up. They said, 'This service is for you, too.' I was able to ask all sorts of very basic questions, and they knew exactly how to answer and put me at ease. Yes, Gracie was pretty reassuring, too! It got me thinking: this is exactly what the service is about. No question is too small, no issue too large. Whatever the issue, Marcus and Kane and the services are there to help guide and provide links to further help for veterans and their families if need be.

As the federal member for Gilmore, I've had an enormous opportunity to meet serving defence personnel and veterans, for whom I will be forever grateful because of their service and sacrifice to our nation. There are some things that stick in my mind, and they're not really formal things—in fact, they just happened—but they left a huge imprint on me. I was at the Nowra Show and a young defence veteran and his wife, who was about to give birth any day, approached me. He had recently discharged from the Navy. He had done his trade but needed to go back to TAFE to upgrade his skills. He was telling me the enormous fee that had to be paid. Another time I was doorknocking and I happened to meet another young man who had also recently discharged and was also contemplating his work options. He too had a family. I don't know these veterans' names, but I do know that they would be a fairly typical example of the enormous change in life on becoming a veteran and needing support.

When I think of the Nowra Veteran Wellbeing Centre I think of all of our veterans and their families. This is of course a wonderful centre. I congratulate everyone involved in the establishment of this centre. I look forward to the official opening of the permanent Nowra wellbeing centre in the not too distant future.

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Herbert for bringing this very important motion forward. Estimating the number of veterans on the Sunshine Coast is difficult. The Morrison government's decision to include a question regarding veterans' status on this year's census will be a critical step forward in this regard. However, in the meantime the Queensland RSL has estimated that there are as many as 15,000 veterans living on the Sunshine Coast. Since my election in 2016 I've been committed to listening to them and ensuring that their voice gets heard in this government. I've held three separate veterans forums in Fisher, inviting local veterans and ex-service organisations to have their say on a wide variety of issues. I've hosted the Minister for Defence, the Minister for Veterans' Affairs and the Assistant Minister for Defence in Fisher to speak to veterans. As well I brought Senator Molan to my community. I want to give Jim a big shout-out. I hope his treatment is going well.

Veterans in Fisher tell me they want the services they need to be accessible quickly and easily from the Department of Veterans' Affairs. They are not asking for more than they are due; they are simply asking that their services and support, which are at the heart of the covenant between Australia and its serving men and women, are as easy to access as possible. I know that many in my community would acknowledge that the government has already made important strides forward in this regard.

The government has instituted a policy of no discharge without documentation and ensured that the DVA is informed when a serving man or woman leaves the ADF. We've introduced the universal veterans card and the veterans lapel pin to give existing veterans other incentives to register with the DVA. Importantly, the government has invested more than $500 million in improving the DVA. In the recent budget we've gone further, with another $55 million to make it quicker and easier for veterans and their families to access the support that they need. It's important to recognise that that's on top of the $11.5 billion that this government spends on veterans every year. In the year ahead another 440 staff will be taken on to more quickly and efficiently process the claims that are made to the DVA.

However, all of this is only one side of the story. Dealing with the department can be challenging. Even when registered, getting access to the services and practitioners that veterans need, especially in regional areas like the Sunshine Coast, can be a mission in itself. In regional areas medical specialists, occupational therapists, employment consultants and mental health practitioners can be few and far between and those that are there can be scattered across multiple townships. For older veterans or those with significant impairments, sourcing a long list of practitioners and travelling hundreds of kilometres to visit each of them in turn is hard to sustain. Some, overwhelmed, give up. That is the challenge that the Morrison government is now helping to meet with the new network of eight veterans wellbeing centres across the country.

The government is investing some $40.7 million to get these centres going. There are already three open now, with two more operating from interim locations. The centres bring together in the one place transition and employment support, advocacy services, physical and mental health practitioners, and client engagement. They are a one-stop shop to put an end to the long trails that veterans in these regions must follow to get access to all of the services they need. This year, in the federal budget the Morrison government has acknowledged the importance of South-East Queensland, including, I hope, the Sunshine Coast, which has a major concentration of ADF veterans. Our populous but decentralised region needs a veterans' wellbeing centre and, thanks to this year's federal budget, South-East Queensland will be getting one.

Only one question remains to be resolved: where will it be located? For my money, one region stands out, and it won't surprise you to know that that is the Sunshine Coast. I will be encouraging the minister to make our region its permanent home. I would urge all veterans in my community to write to me, to write to their federal member for Fairfax or Wide Bay, to express their support for putting a facility on the coast so that I can pass their views on to the minister and make their views known.

Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I always welcome the opportunity to speak on veterans' affairs in this place. It's an issue that's very close to my heart and in fact was a significant reason that I put my hand up for political service. Our veterans definitely deserve a much better deal and obviously welcome the long-fought-for royal commission that's very much required. I'd like to thank and acknowledge the member for Herbert for raising this motion. Like me and others in this place, he is a veteran, so he understands from his own lived experience how important these wellbeing centres are. While we might be on the opposite side of politics, I would like to acknowledge the member for Herbert's ongoing service to our nation.

The motion put forward talks about veteran wellbeing centres, and of course the concept is a fantastic one. To have centres in our communities, particularly those with large concentrations of veterans, like my electorate in Darwin, and the families there, they need support. One of the many complaints I've heard for many years is that services aren't integrated, they're too segmented and there is seldom enough follow-up. Follow-up is important. I caught up with Heston Russell, a veteran, a former commando, this week. His consultation process for the terms of reference for the royal commission had 861 submissions. That is a huge amount of feedback from veterans. Six hundred and fifty-four responses to an optional question on that consultation process were about veteran experiences.

Out of the responses there were 117 veterans who had attempted suicide and 328 who had contemplated suicide or had suicidal ideation. Of those submissions, 190 had been admitted for mental health issues. That is why, with the member for Kingston, Labor committed to a veterans' wellbeing centre in Darwin in my electorate well before the last federal election. Later on, we saw from the federal government announcements about a range of wellbeing centres, and obviously I welcomed that; despite the lack of detail, at least they were seeing what we were announcing and seeing that it was a good thing. They promised $5 million for a veterans' wellbeing centre in Darwin.

Of course on budget night I looked with great interest to see where the $5 million was in the budget over the forward estimates for the establishment of a veterans' wellbeing centre in Darwin in my electorate; but, unfortunately, there was a grand total of zero dollars in the federal budget. There was no $5 million in the federal budget for a wellbeing centre in Darwin. Mates4Mates is rolling out an interim site. It's been a very long and slow process. But it's very concerning to me, obviously, that there's no $5 million in the federal budget for a wellbeing centre for our veterans and for our families in my electorate. Obviously, to whoever is the veterans' affairs minister after the National Party go through their reshuffle: I really hope that that money is put in there, because that's what was promised to the veterans and families of my electorate. It is very difficult to provide a veterans wellbeing centre without any money—and then it obviously has to be effective.

I want to reflect on the need to treat our veterans and their families with respect. It took years of lobbying for them to get to the point of a royal commission. The failure to put the money in the budget for the veterans wellbeing centre in Darwin is another example of how those opposite are letting down veterans in my electorate. It needs to be funded. In the time remaining, I want to acknowledge the establishment of the Council of Australian Veterans NT and I want to acknowledge the work of the ESOs that are going to be part of that Council of Australian Veterans. They are sick of the delays and they want some action. Veterans are standing up, and they will get that action with federal Labor.

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.