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

My question is to the Minister for Veterans' Affairs. What steps is the Albanese Labor government taking to improve services and supports for veterans in the Northern Territory?

Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Solomon for this important question and I thank him also for his ongoing advocacy and support of veterans not just in the electorate of Solomon, which he represents, but across the entire Top End. It was my great pleasure to be able to join the member for Solomon on Monday of this week at the opening of the Mates4Mates Veteran & Family Wellbeing Centre, a family and veterans hub put together with a $5 million contribution from the federal government. This hub will be able to service not just the 7½ thousand veterans across the Darwin region but the 10,000 veterans across the Northern Territory. We're doing this because we have a commitment to making sure that we are best coordinating the services made available to our veterans and their families—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Gippsland is now officially warned.

Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

in the places that we see the greatest concentration of those veterans. We're going to see the Mates4Mates Veteran & Family Wellbeing Centre offering supports in transition, in employment, in education and training, in advocacy services, in mental health and physical health. It will also provide a place for people to come together, share a brew, have a barbecue, connections and provide peer support to each other as veterans in the community, and that is critically important. In addition, this hub joins our Veterans' and Families' Hub network, which we have funded to see the hubs learn from each other about what's working and what's not working so that we can take the best of these hubs as we roll them out across the country with the further hubs that we will be establishing in the areas of highest need across Australia, which is an excellent contribution.

But, of course, this hub doesn't just stand on its own. This hub joins a suite of services that are being made available, including our contribution to fund the Scott Palmer Services Centre in Darwin—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Nationals and the members for Riverina and Page are now all warned.

Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

which is a veterans homelessness service which will see them supported there. Of course, I might point out that what we really need as well is for the Liberals, the Nationals and the Greens to support our Housing Australia Future Fund so that we can support even more veterans who are homeless across the country with the support and services that they need.

Meanwhile, we've also been fixing the backlog that we were left with by the other side, which has declined now under our watch by 20 per cent from the peak. We are getting through that backlog. It's continuing to go down. We've been taking action on the recommendations from the Defence and veteran suicide royal commission and, of course, we're working on reforming over a century of legislation for veterans' entitlements.

Can I say also that it was great to sit down for an informal chat with the veterans at Mad Snake Cafe and with the member for Solomon to hear from the front line about their experiences as veterans and about the services they need and how we can continue to deliver a better future for veterans and their families in Australia.