Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise this afternoon to briefly support this movement by the government. It is minor change and, as such, we need not delay the House. The purpose of the Veterans’ Affairs Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2023 is to deliver minor and uncontroversial amendments, ensuring consistency of veterans' entitlements across acts. It facilities and makes compulsory an annual report, which, by the way, we've being doing since 1994—the annual report of the Repatriation Medical Authority. It modernises some language and updates references to some superseded acts. We are just sweeping up.

The coalition government invested $11.5 billion each year to support the wellbeing of around 340,000 veterans and families. This bill makes minor technical amendments to four acts governing veteran affairs legislation: the Veterans' Entitlement Act 1986, otherwise known as the VEA; the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004, known as MRCA; the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Defence-related Claims) Act 1988, known as DRCA; and there is also the Defence Service Homes Act, known as DSHA.

This amendment cements what has been an ongoing practice and legislatively requires the Repatriation Medical Authority, the RMA, to provide an annual report on its activities to the minister at the end of the financial year for tabling in parliament. The amendment, supported by the previous coalition government, delivers on previous recommendations of the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation committee. This will align with the requirement on both the Repatriation Commission and the Veterans' Review Board. In practice the RMA has been publishing annual reports since 1994, as I stated earlier. The RMA was established in 1994 as an independent authority reporting to the minister. It consists of five practitioners who set statements of principle for disease, injury or death that could relate to military service, based on medical or scientific evidence.

In schedule 2, consideration of claims under the Military Rehabilitation Compensation Act and the Defence-related claims act, the amendment substitutes the words 'refuse to deal with claim' in the MRCA and the DRCA with 'defer further investigation of the claim' until a claimant gives the commission or relevant authority the requested information or a copy of the document.

Schedule 3 corrects references to the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999 in the Veterans' Entitlement Act and other acts. The references are to outdated clauses. In each case the amendments reflect correct or updated clauses in the respective acts.

In schedule 4 in relation to the risk against the government to do with insurance it says:

The Statement of Conditions is a legislative instrument that sets out the risks against which the Commonwealth will undertake insurance under the relevant part of the DSHA …

…   …   …

The new provisions continue to ensure that any revocation or variation of the Statement of Conditions must not remove the right of a person to receive a payment to which the person had become entitled before the revocation or variation took effect.

Schedule 5 is to do with compensation for journey costs, making sure everybody receives the same rate per kilometre.

I won't delay the House. It's substantially sweeping up and making sure the act is updated. Its purpose of course is to support our veterans, which is so vitally important. We will see with the conclusion of the royal commission a more fulsome discussion about issues pertinent to how we better deal with veterans. I've always said one thing the government can do is put their minister onto the front bench and not have them in the outer cabinet. I think that's a poor reflection on the work of our veterans and the service our veterans give. I commend the bill to the House.

Debate adjourned.