Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

ELL (—) (): Today I rise to condemn this government for its continual and abysmal treatment of veterans. A government that has fought tooth and nail against a royal commission to support veterans is now making veterans wait over 500 days to have their claims heard. It is an absolute national disgrace. These veterans have fought hard for our country, given their service, and they deserve that the right thing be done. The MRCA legislates that veterans' claims to get that support be answered within 90 days. The government has stretched it out to over 120 days with COVID-19; alright, you accept that—but, Jesus, 500 days of not getting an answer, not actually getting support? And the minister refuses to answer any questions that are asked of him. In fact, he refuses to answer even our questions.

We need to know why the government thinks so little of veterans that it has decided that two years is okay. Unless it's life threatening or you're homeless, they've said, 'Bad luck; wait your turn.' We've seen the way that this government disgracefully treated Julie-Ann Finney and the work that she did to get a royal commission going.

But this minister is unbelievably lazy and doing nothing. The first thing he should do is get off his backside and respond to veterans. The RSL are at their wits' end trying to get support, and you can't get an answer out of this government. I was happily turfed out of here last week for asking this question, but it would be nice if the minister actually responded for once, like his predecessor used to do. He would talk to us and actually help veterans. This bloke is doing absolutely nothing, and it's outrageous.