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

Which act determines a veteran's entitlements depends on when the veteran served and which periods of service caused or contributed to the condition being claimed. When the interim report of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide recommended that the legislative regime supporting veteran entitlements be simplified and harmonised, guided by recommendations of the 2019 Productivity Commission report A better way to support veterans, that's what the Albanese government set out to do, and that is what it is doing with this legislation. In handing down its report, the royal commission observed that the current system of veterans' entitlements is so complicated as to adversely affect the mental health of some veterans and their families. Calls to address this complexity have been longstanding, and the Veterans' Entitlements, Treatment and Support (Simplification and Harmonisation) Bill 2024 represents the most significant commitment from government to simplifying veterans legislation since the introduction of the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 20 years ago. The system is overly complex and difficult to understand.

In 2019, the Productivity Commission recommended that the current three acts be streamlined into two. The Albanese government has taken that a step further. The bill streamlines the number of acts the Department of Veterans' Affairs currently administers from three to one, which will greatly simplify claims processing and give veterans and families the support they need faster. The new regime will mean it is easier for veterans and families to understand what they are entitled to and make it easier for veteran advocates to assist veterans and families with their DVA claims and simpler and quicker for DVA to process veteran and family claims so veterans and families receive the benefits and supports they need and deserve more quickly.

It is important to note the consultation with stakeholders that has occurred with regard to the development of this bill. I note that RSL Australia have welcomed the government's proposed legislation to simplify veteran entitlements legislation. The DVA ESO Roundtable, the main dialogue forum between the Department of Veterans' Affairs and the leadership of ESOs and Defence communities has also supported the proposed legislation.

It's important to note from the outset that no veteran will be worse off under this legislation and nobody will receive lower benefits than they are already receiving. Under revised arrangements, the VEA and the DRCA will continue in a limited form, grandparented to support the single-act model, but will be closed to new claims for compensation and rehabilitation from 1 July 2026. The bill also introduces a range of enhancements to the MRCA that will make access to entitlements easier and fairer for veterans. Many of the enhancements have been shaped by feedback provided from the community across two separate consultation periods in 2023 and 2024.

To conclude, we all come to this place in a position to do good for people that we represent in our communities. For me, that always means trying to understand my constituents as best as I can. I have taken very seriously understanding my local bases at HMAS Albatross and HMAS Creswell and, importantly, the fine Defence members and veterans that support our bases' capability and community. I have emersed myself at every opportunity to understand our local defence environment and that of our nation, from parachuting with the ADF Parachuting School at Nowra to flying in a Romeo helicopter simulator and doing damage control exercises off our south coast in the Collins class submarine HMAS Rankin. I am listening and I will always continue to listen to defence members and veterans. I hope this legislation goes some way to supporting veterans and their families, those same defence members and veterans that have put their lives on the line to protect us all. I commend the bill to the House.

Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have great pleasure in joining today's debate. From the outset, I want to recognise the members in this place who've served in uniform and anyone who may be listening to the broadcast today. I say to them, 'Thank you for your service to our nation and thank you to your families and loved ones who have supported you in that service,' because there is no greater service any Australian can give than to put on the uniform of the Navy, the Army or the Air Force and potentially place themselves in harm's way to help people who can't necessarily help themselves in a time of conflict, peacekeeping or humanitarian aid and disaster relief initiatives. Thank you for your service to our country.

At the outset also, I want to refer to one veteran in particular. His name is Colin William Hannah, a proud Queenslander who was a patriotic Australian who served for more than 20 years in the Royal Australian Air Force. Col served in Amberley, Townsville, Malaysia and as part of a UN peacekeeping mission in the Sinai. He served in Sale. It was when he was based in Sale that I met Col's daughter, and we've been married for 32 years. The posting to Sale was much to my benefit at the time and for the last three decades. Col transitioned out of the Air Force after more than 20 years of service. He established a small farm out from Gympie. He worked in a small business in Gympie as well. He transitioned well.

At a later stage, Col and Lyn moved from their farm in Gympie to be closer to their grandkids in Gippsland. It was there that Col, although he's a proud Queenslander, protested a great deal about the cold in Victoria. He established himself in a new community as a lifeguard at the local pool and also in the ocean rescue squad, where, not unlike a lot of Defence Force personnel I've met over the years, he was quickly in control of the situation. Col became one of the key office bearers of the Lakes Entrance ocean rescue and went on to become a life member of that organisation. He was a man who served his nation well, continued to serve the community and transitioned well.

Throughout his time in retirement, Col was the beneficiary of the Department of Veterans' Affairs' services. They almost turned him into the $6 million man with a new shoulder and a couple of new knees—injuries related to Col's service in the Air Force and also his participation in sporting events where he represented the RAAF at the highest levels in volleyball. He was also a keen sportsman in other areas, keeping fit to do his job in uniform. Col passed away two weeks ago.

I tell this story because, while he is one individual, it is typical of the vast majority of Australian service men and women that I had the pleasure of meeting in my role as veterans affairs minister but also prior to that as the parliamentary secretary for defence. I tell his story because it's very easy in this place and in the community to misunderstand the nature of military service and misunderstand the importance of the transition and misunderstand the fact that, again, the vast majority of men and women who serve in uniform will train well, serve well, transition well and represent our community and serve our community later in life in a whole range of other roles.

For those who have issues, whether they're physical or mental health issues, absolutely as a grateful nation we have an obligation to support them in their time of need. Australians can be proud of this simple fact. We provide enormous support for our veterans and their families. In fact, it is amongst the best in the world. But—and this is a big caveat—it is not perfect. We know it's not perfect. We know we can do better. It is the role of this place in a very bipartisan way to ensure that people like Col and people who have transitioned to become veterans and have issues that need resolving are well supported in a timely manner. Australians, though, should be proud of the fact that in excess of $12 billion per year is provided to our veterans and their families to support them in their life after their role in the Australian Defence Force.

I've been very privileged in this place to work in roles related to the Australian Defence Force. There would be very few members of the Australian community who have not served in uniform who have had as much exposure to the Australian Defence Force as I have. It's been my great good fortune. I spent a lot of time as a parliamentary secretary but also as a veterans and defence personnel minister in the company of the men and women in uniform. I can say without any risk of contradiction or correction from anyone in this place that they are the most patriotic, professional, determined, mission focused people I've ever met. There is no question that you can have all the fancy equipment in the world, but our greatest capability in the Australian Defence Force is our people. Our challenge in Australia, in this place, is to ensure that we continue to recruit our share of the best and brightest young Australians to serve in uniform, and in doing so we have to reassure them and their families that they will be well looked after no matter the circumstances they may face.

As I said, we can be proud of the fact that the veteran community in Australia is a beneficiary of up to $12 billion in support per year, but it's not a perfect system. So I do commend those opposite and those on this side of the House who have worked constructively to try to find ways to improve the system. As I said at the time of announcing the royal commission in April 2021, the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide was an opportunity for our nation to reset the agenda and to try to unite our veteran community as much as possible in what has been a very difficult, sensitive and incredibly complex issue for our veterans over a long period of time. The complexity of dealing with multiple acts—and my great friend beside me is a veteran who has qualifying service for all three acts—is confusing. It is complex. The attempts to harmonise and simplify the acts applying to our veterans going forward are commendable. I don't for a second suggest that it's an easy process for the minister to deal with, but we need to make sure that no veterans will be worse off as a result of the decisions we're making here today.

I agree with the broad themes in the royal commission's report that additional efforts are required to harmonise that legislation, but I also totally reject any suggestions in this place or in the broader community that the previous governments, the Morrison and Turnbull governments, failed to act to improve the system for Defence Force personnel, veterans and their families. I said many times when I stood at the dispatch box as minister that the only acceptable number of deaths from suicide for me as the minister was zero, and that has to be and must continue to be our goal going forward—to eliminate death by suicide amongst our Defence Force personnel and our veteran community. To do that, we have to provide the practical support and the ongoing measures to keep ensuring that we drive the agenda, drive the hope for the future and let our veteran community know that they will be supported when they need it.

From my experience, the Department of Veterans' Affairs itself is overwhelmingly a positive force for good in this space. The DVA does cop a pretty poor rap across some sections of the veterans community, and I think, in many cases, it's quite unjustified. Again, from my experience dealing with, particularly, our older veterans—I'm talking about our World War II cohort, the greatest generation of Australians, and the Korean War veterans and Vietnam War veterans—once their claims have been resolved, the benefits that flow to them are quite seamless and the DVA does a very good job.

The area where DVA has always struggled—during my time in office and, I think, still today—has been in reducing the time taken to process a claim. Some of the things we did in government to try and address that were, first of all, to employ more staff and make more contractors available to try and speed up that processing of claims. We also introduced what we call a statement of principles, where some claims which were blatantly obvious and clearly a part of doing a certain job in the Defence Force would pass through seamlessly. So the statement of principles did speed up the process as well.

We also introduced a system of free mental health care for all veterans and their families regardless of whether it was associated with their military service, the feeling being that the support in terms of mental health care for veterans and their families was a practical measure and could be introduced immediately to ensure that people got support when they needed it, rather than having to wait to go through a time of assessment of whether they could prove that actual injury was associated with their service in the Defence Force.

As a government, we introduced the first of the wellbeing centres across the nation. There were eight wellbeing centres—in Darwin, Perth, Adelaide, Albury-Wodonga, Nowra, Tasmania, South-East Queensland and Townsville. We introduced for the first time a psychiatric assistance dogs programs for veterans with mental health issues, an incredibly successful program that I continue to receive emails and messages from veterans about today, thanking me for working with the department to introduce that service to our veterans. We appointed the Defence Families Advocate, we introduced the veterans covenant and veterans recognition package and we overhauled Open Arms and made it more fit for purpose, with more peers available to support our veterans in their recovery. We also introduced the Veterans Employment Awards. I make this point about the awards, and I'm proud to say it continues today.

We have to be very careful in the public narrative in this place that we don't perpetuate a myth that every veteran is broken or busted, because, if we perpetuate that myth—that every one of them has an ailment that renders them unable to take on a future role—it's very hard for me then to argue that you should employ a veteran. It's very important that we do not overinvest in the mythology and feed our veterans a diet of helplessness and hopelessness when in fact the reverse is true.

As I outlined from the outset, my father-in-law, Col, and many other veterans I've met do serve well and they do train well. They do great things in their time in uniform, and then they transition well and make an incredible contribution, some in this place and some in business and in other areas. So the Veterans Employment Awards is about recognising the great training our Defence Force personnel receive. It is very transferable to a civilian role, and they become the leaders in our community when they transfer out. The Veterans Employment Awards are an important part of the package of measures to support our veterans going forward.

Commencing the establishment of the Joint Transition Authority, which I know was subject to a fair bit of debate during the royal commission, is a process that needs to continue because we need to ensure and recognise that that transition time is a sensitive time. It is when things can go wrong. If someone is transitioning pre-emptively and didn't expect to be moving out of our Defence Force, through injury or whatever it might be, they need support at the time.

We also funded the redevelopment of the Australian War Memorial, which is ongoing today—a major redevelopment which is allowing for the service and sacrifice of the most recent generation of Australian veterans to be appropriately recognised in that most hallowed building in the country. So I think that redevelopment, which is proceeding at pace, will be something that will be well received by the younger generation of veterans in our community.

Another thing we did which is pivotal to the conversation we're having today is we actually asked the question in the 2021 census: did you ever serve in the Australian Defence Force? Until then we didn't know how many veterans we had. Now we know how many we have—about 600,000—and we actually know which electorates they live in, which will inform future decisions on wellbeing centres and other services that the government needs to provide in partnership with ex-service organisations. So a lot of things have happened in this place to support our veterans and their families in the last few years, and more is required to be done.

One thing we did do which I think will stand the test of time and will result in a new appointment in the near future is we installed a National Commissioner for Defence and Veteran Suicide with the powers of a royal commission. I think that an enduring national commissioner is a reform we should pursue and we should return to that policy position sooner rather than later.

I commend the current minister for his work in this area. I commend the Department of Veterans' Affairs for the efforts of their staff in trying to provide support for our veterans in a timely manner. I commend the ex-service organisations for the work they do in supporting our veterans and their families on a voluntary basis.

In conclusion, I'll finish perhaps where I started. The vast majority of Australian Defence Force personnel will train well, they will serve well, they'll transition well and they'll make an incredible contribution to Australia in the next stage of their lives, but, for those veterans who experience difficulties for any reason, we must give them and their families the support they need in a timely manner. Naturally, like everyone in this place, I am extremely sorry about and distressed by those who have been failed in the past. I worked every day as a minister and will continue to work in this place to ensure that we recognise and support those who put on our uniform.

There are literally thousands of Australians, both volunteers and paid staff members, who are working today to support our veterans and their families. Their contributions are already saving lives, and they deserve to be properly acknowledged as we continue to work constructively on a bipartisan basis to support our Defence Force personnel, veterans and their families. (Time expired)

Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm pleased to speak on the Veterans' Entitlements, Treatment and Support (Simplification and Harmonisation) Bill 2024. This legislation represents the most significant structural reform to veterans compensation and rehabilitation laws in a generation. The current tri-act framework, commonly known as VEA, DRCA and MRCA, is an historical legacy of decades of piecemeal change on top of a century of various veterans entitlements legislation. Veterans' claims for benefits and support are assessed under three pieces of legislation. Often veterans have claims under all three acts. Typically many Vietnam veterans are covered by VEA and DRCA, while more recent Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have come under MRCA. This makes the current compensation system convoluted, complicated and difficult to understand and leads to inequities between the various acts.

Naturally, legislative reform and simplification has been long talked about. Those opposite refused to do this when they were last in government, during nine years. As the former shadow minister for veterans' affairs, I asked the member for Gippsland when he was the minister to do this. We took this policy to the last election, not matched by those opposite. It takes a bit of chutzpah to talk about this and speak on this bill when he refused to do this when he was the minister and I asked him to do it. We took this policy to the last election. We said that we would put this legislation before the chamber. It is before the chamber because of a Labor government when, after nine years, the coalition refused to do it. They just plain outright refused to do it. So I'm pleased to see that this Labor government is doing it. We saw the need to streamline and consolidate the legislation. We saw this as a high priority for a Labor government.

I recall the issue gaining traction with the release of the 2019 Productivity Commission report A better way to support veterans not long after the 2019 election, when I became the shadow minister. This report found the veterans compensation and rehabilitation system was complicated, hard to navigate, inequitable and poorly administered. Basically, the system was broken, not fit for purpose and in need of fundamental reform. For three years, whilst they had two ministers, the member for Calare and the member for Gippsland, the coalition did absolutely nothing to fix this problem. Then more research studies on the mental health impacts of the system began to emerge, along with, tragically, reports of veterans committing suicide after battling that same system. I could name them, but I've talked about them publicly many times before. Mothers are still dealing with this issue, people like Julie-Ann Finney, Karen Bird and others, who courageously fought for a royal commission when those opposite had to be dragged kicking and screaming to do it. They did everything they could to stop a royal commission but eventually had to do it after the outcry from advocates like Julie-Ann, Karen and others, when even their own backbench was supporting it.

The first recommendation made by the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide in its 2022 interim report was for urgent action to simplify and harmonise veteran compensation and rehabilitation legislation. The royal commission said the current system is 'so complicated that it adversely affects the mental health of some veterans and can be a contributing factor to suicidality'. This complexity has also directly contributed to delays, inconsistent processing, uncertain outcomes and backlogs in claims. For nine years those opposite sat there and did nothing on this area. They mouthed platitudes and on it went to Anzac Day, where they laid wreaths and did nothing but allow it to continue.

The complexity and underresourcing saw the Albanese government inherit a backlog of 42,000 veterans claims that had not even been looked at—not even looked at! That backlog has now been cleared and all new claims have been looked at within 14 days of lodgement. It is now taking on average 55 days to process initial liability claims to decision. There has been a turnaround and a huge improvement. If you don't believe me, look at the evidence given by the member for Calare to the royal commission and at what he said publicly. He threatened to resign as minister before the budget. He sat there and threatened to resign the weekend before the budget because those opposite had failed to provide enough money to clear the backlog. These are not my words; this was the then Minister for Veterans' Affairs. The system is still too complex and that is why the legislation we are debating today needs to be enacted. The royal commission called on the government to act and, through this legislation, we have. These reforms will deliver systems that will be easier for veterans and families to understand. Importantly, the legislation will enable the Department of Veterans' Affairs to process claims quicker so the veterans' community can receive the assistance they need in a timely matter. No veteran will be worse off as a result of this legislation.

Under the vets bill before the chamber, all new compensation claims from 1 July 2026 will be dealt with under a single piece of legislation, an improved MRCA—if you want to call it that—regardless of where or when the veteran served. Enhancements to the MRCA in the vets' bill will include a new payment for severely impaired veterans of pension age, harmonised support for household and attendant care and improved payments for those travelling for treatment. In addition, the funeral reimbursement amount of about $14,000 will be expanded to all service related deaths, and the funeral allowance for other veterans' deaths will increase to $3,000. This was not done by those opposite when they had the opportunity during nine years.

The bill also opens up gold card eligibility to veterans previously excluded from access, such as some of our national servicemen. I am very pleased to see the critical safeguards in the bill, including grandparenting of existing arrangements so that there will be no change in compensation payments currently being received by veterans, and current payment rates will be maintained and indexed under the current system. Importantly, if a veteran is currently receiving benefits under the existing scheme, that will continue unaffected. This is a key feature of the new model that is designed to provide certainty to veterans and their families. I note that, in this year's federal budget, it is backed up by money—$220 million of veterans and family entitlements across two years from the commencement of this legislation, ensuring veterans and families can better understand and access the support they deserve. The budget showed that our work in properly resourcing DVA to hire more than 500 additional permanent front-line staff to clear the backlog we inherited, which was a key feature of our election commitment—which I announced, by the way—has been done and would see an additional $6.5 billion in delayed benefits and support flowing to veterans and their families over the five-year period. Also, a commencement date of 1 July 2026 will ensure that the veterans community will be well informed of these important changes and what it means for them, and will provide enough time for individuals to consider their circumstances.

I want to thank the commissioners on the royal commission for the thorough and compassionate job they did. I want to praise Julie-Ann Finney, Karen Bird and so many others. I also want to acknowledge another person. Having worked in recent years with a number of veterans who reported experiencing sexual assault or abuse during their service and who had to fight both Defence and DVA for recognition and justice, I know there's a serious issue that needs to be addressed. I want to acknowledge Jennifer Jacomb, the secretary of the Victims of Abuse in the ADF Association, who was a tireless advocate in this area. Jennifer was well known to many people in this place, across the halls of parliament. Sadly, Jennifer lost her battle with cancer on 9 September this year—ironically, on the same day the royal commission's final report was released. Jennifer will be greatly missed, and I'll miss our conversations. Vale, Jennifer.

The royal commission did a thorough investigation. The government is now carefully considering the recommendations of the final report and has undertaken to respond before the end of the year. We've engaged in extensive consultation. The current Minister for Veterans' Affairs held a number of consultation sessions around the country, including earlier this year in my electorate of Blair, in Ipswich, where the future Ipswich Veterans' and Families' Hub was one of the key election commitments we made. It was terrific to welcome him back in March this year to announce more than $5 million going to RSL Queensland to lead the establishment of the hub, in consultation with Mates4Mates and GO2 Health.

He was back in June to consult further, and we visited the Wounded Heroes Australia Veterans Centre in Ipswich to see the outstanding work done on the front line by its CEO, Martin Shaw, and his volunteers. I want to thank them for that. I was delighted that the minister announced late last year that Wounded Heroes Australia would receive a $1.1 million veteran wellbeing grant to update the veterans centre at Bundamba and purchase a new vehicle to transport veterans. Wounded Heroes Australia fills a gap in the veteran support space, providing rapid crisis assistance for the vulnerable veterans and their families who are doing it tough, and its interventions have probably prevented many suicides over the years. So they are really complementing the work that the RSL is doing and the response to the royal commission.

In closing, we promised to act, and we have. This bill is a huge step forward for Australia's veteran community and will benefit our current and serving personnel for generations to come. I commend the bill to the chamber.

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The men and women who serve our country share experiences that are unlikely to be encountered by others in our community. It is therefore not possible for most of us to fully appreciate the difficulties that service men and women have when they return to a post-service life. This is, unfortunately, borne out in the suicide data, which demonstrates an increased risk of self-harm for ex-service men and women.

The current support and compensation mechanisms are complex and fragmented and only add to the frustrations and stress of veterans. Average processing times for compensation claims are slow, exceeding the department's own performance targets across many claim types. The poorest performances in the average number of days to process a compensation claim in the 2023-24 year were as follows: under the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Defence-related Claims) Act, for initial liability, 480 per cent longer than the target processing time, and, for a permanent impairment, 305 per cent longer than the target processing time; under the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004, for initial liability, 408 per cent longer than the target processing time; and, under the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986, for compensation payments, 520 per cent longer than the target processing time. This is simply not good enough.

The Productivity Commission proposed reforms to the compensation framework, which were appropriately considered by the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. The commissioners concluded:

In our view, it is necessary that the legislative framework for veterans' compensation and rehabilitation be reformed to simplify the system and improve consistency and fairness in approach and outcomes for veterans. This would enable efficient and focused service delivery and encourage timely support for, and compensation of, veterans and their families. The outcome for veterans and their families should be the focus.

While the bill does not implement the model proposed by the Productivity Commission, I believe the bill achieves the aims of a more simplified and harmonised framework. I sincerely hope that this proposed structure will reduce processing times and therefore alleviate the stress and anxiety associated with complex applications and waiting times.

Mayo, my electorate, has a long history with the armed services that continues today. It was in 1927 that the Woodside Barracks was established at the Woodside camp on 170 hectares of land for the training of light horse and infantry. It was expanded during World War II to accommodate four infantry battalions and is now home to the 16th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery.

As of March 2024, Mayo is home to 5,285 veterans. This is the largest number of ex-service personnel residing in any South Australian electorate and the 15th highest nationally. So this bill, of course, is very much of relevance to my community.

I'd like to take this opportunity to acknowledge my gratitude—my thanks—to every person in Mayo who wears the uniform or has worn the uniform of our armed services. In fact, I'd like to thank every person in our nation who has worn the uniform and their families too, who have provided love and support around them. Quite simply: thank you for your service; our nation is a better place because of you.

Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is a real landmark piece of legislation that many governments have thought about in the past, but it's the sort of thing that only Labor governments like ours actually do and do the hard yards on. I'm very pleased to be able to speak to this harmonised veteran compensation and rehabilitation legislation, the Veterans' Entitlements, Treatment and Support (Simplification and Harmonisation) Bill 2024.

When the royal commission handed down its report, it made the observation that the current system of veterans entitlements is so complicated that it adversely affects the mental health of some veterans and their families. I have certainly seen, in my own office, instances where people are almost broken by this system and their mental health is really badly affected. Calls to address this complexity have been coming, as I say, for a long time. This is actually the most significant commitment from a government to simplifying veterans legislation since the introduction of the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 20 years ago.

For those who aren't familiar with the current model, it's probably worthwhile for me to explain how veterans entitlements are determined. Under the current model they come under one or more of three primary compensation acts—the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004, which is called the MRCA; the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986, the VEA; and/or the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Defence-related Claims) Act 1988, which is known as the DRCA—depending on when the veterans served and which periods of service caused or contributed to the condition being claimed.

That system is overly complex and very difficult to understand, so in 2019 the Productivity Commission recommended that the three acts be streamlined into two. We've taken that one step further. This bill streamlines the number of acts the Department of Veterans' Affairs currently administers from three to one, which will greatly simplify the claims process and provide veterans and their families with faster support.

Under the revised arrangements the VEA and the DRCA will continue in a limited form. They'll be grandparented to support the single-act model but will be closed to new claims for compensation and rehabilitation from 1 July 2026.

The bill also introduces a range of enhancements to the MRCA that will make access to entitlements easier and fairer for veterans. A lot of those changes and enhancements have been shaped by feedback from veterans. I'm very grateful that there have been so many opportunities for consultation with the people who are most affected by this: the veterans, their families and those who will be veterans in future years.

Some of the enhancements include compensation for funeral expenses being consolidated in the MRCA. The cap on funeral compensation will be moved to the MRCA and increased from $2,000 to $3,000. There's also a legislative basis for benefits like the Acute Support Package, household services, attendant care, a Victoria Cross allowance, ex-gratia payments and recognition of supplements for former prisoners of war. They will all be moved into the MRCA.

A new payment called the additional disablement amount, or ADA, will also be introduced into the MRCA. Similar to the extreme disablement adjustment, this new payment will benefit veterans who are over pension age with significant service-related impairment. Like the extreme disablement adjustment, dependents of deceased ADA veterans will also have access to the gold card and other benefits in the event of their death. Importantly, in these big changes, no individual veteran will suffer a reduction to their existing payments. Compensation previously awarded under the DRCA or VEA will not be disrupted. They will all be grandparented.

The funding for the enhancements that will be delivered through these changes were included in the May 2024 budget, with $222 million additional funding to help ensure veterans are aware of how all this will work and are able to be supported. It's starting on 1 July 2026. That seems like a long way off, but there's a reason for that. It's to ensure the veteran community is well informed of what these changes mean for them and provides enough time for individuals to consider their own circumstances.

The date also allows for adequate training of advocates, the very important advocates who walk side-by-side with veterans as they navigate these challenging things and for DVA staff to be trained in the changes well ahead of commencement. Locally, the new veterans and defence families hub in the Hawkesbury will be a really important part of ensuring there's a good understanding of these changes and well-trained and skilled people to support veterans.

That hub will help people right across Macquarie and was one of my election commitments. I'm looking forward to continuing to work closely with RSL LifeCare as they determine the location of it and the services that will be provided. They're doing that in consultation with and taking advice from people who are currently veterans in our region and the Greater Western Sydney region, but also from defence families who will be using these services in years to come.

The hub is a place that, right now, families of defence personnel or veterans can access information. I think the real difference will be that instead of people having to scramble to find the right support, it will be all there in one place in the Hawkesbury. I was so pleased to be able to catch up with representatives of RSL LifeCare at the recent RAAF Base Richmond open day. I had a long talk to them about the sorts of services that are delivered in other places and the recognition that the Hawkesbury and right across this band, from north-west Sydney to south-west Sydney where there will be another veterans hub, will require particular things that are pertinent to the local community.

It's a really important piece of legislation and our facility, the hub, will be a really significant part of ensuring that, going forward, veterans and their families are able to access the information they need so they're well supported when they leave the Defence Force. I commend this bill to the House.

Jenny Ware (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Veterans' Entitlements, Treatment and Support (Simplification and Harmonisation) Bill 2024. I want to acknowledge I have the Holsworthy military barracks in my electorate. The area of Holsworthy supports many of our current defence personnel and veterans, and also houses many veterans' families.

How we look after those who have put their own lives on the line for our sake and so that we can enjoy those freedoms that we cherish in Australia, how we treat returned veterans, really does determine our soul as a society, and we have never really got it right. The system is often extremely bureaucratic. We have failed many veterans who have returned from overseas duties very different to the way that they left, and we have not properly addressed the areas of not just physical health but mental health, suicidality and, in too many instances, suicide itself.

So we look at what sort of changes we can make to veterans affairs and how we support our veterans. I share in common with the honourable member for Nicholls a love of The West Wing, and there is a part in The West Wing where Toby Ziegler and President Bartlett are speaking about veterans entitlements. At the time, Toby is trying to obtain a wheelchair for a former veteran whose wheelchair is broken. He says to the President, 'Is there somebody I can just speak to that can get this wheelchair problem fixed?' Bartlett says, 'Yes, we have to straighten out the system.' Then he goes on to say: 'After the Civil War, veterans had to come to DC to get their pensions. They had to visit the office personally. They waited for a clerk to look through all of the Civil War papers until these were found. Do you know what the papers were found in, Toby?' Toby says, 'No, Mr President.' The President says, 'Red tape.' The President then says, 'That's where the expression "red tape" comes from.' I'm not sure I agree with President Bartlett on that. Having been a lawyer, I believe that red tape actually originated a lot earlier in England, with legal briefs. But there we have it—there has been far too much red tape in the past applied to veterans' interests and veterans affairs.

This bill addresses recommendation 1 that came from theRoyal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide interim report. That recommendation was to simplify and harmonise veteran compensation and rehabilitation legislation. The recommendation was further particularised to say:

The Australian Government should develop and implement legislation to simplify and harmonise the framework for veterans' compensation, rehabilitation and other entitlements.

…   …   …

(3) By no later than early 2024, the Australian Government should present to the Parliament, and seek passage of, its Bill for the proposed framework.

(4) If the legislation is passed, the Australian Government should, by no later than 1 July 2024, begin the process of implementing and transitioning to the new legislative framework.

The last recommendation around timing was:

(5) If the legislation is passed, the Australian Government should ensure that, by no later than 1 July 2025, the new legislation has fully commenced and is fully operational.

So, although we now have legislation, thankfully, before the House, the government is very late in introducing this bill. If it's unable to implement the first recommendation of the interim report, what guarantee or hope do we have for any of the other recommendations, bearing in mind that this government has now been in power for 2½ years? The proposed commencement date of 1 July 2026 that is in this legislation is a year later than the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide recommended and four years after the royal commission's interim report which recommended this urgent course of action.

The Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia, for example, wants the implementation date to be brought forward to the earliest date practicable. The organisation estimates that at least 2,000 Vietnam veterans will pass, between the passage of the bill and 1 July 2026. While I commend the government for finally bringing this legislation, I say that it has been delayed unreasonably and with no sensible explanation given by the minister or the Prime Minister as to why it has been so delayed.

The former coalition government committed $174 million in the 2021-22 budget for the first two years of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, including $28 million for the Department of Veterans' Affairs to be resourced to respond to information requests from the commission. As I said, the interim report was handed down in August 2022 and included a summary of work undertaken and 13 recommendations to be addressed on an urgent basis, three of which were veteran compensation and rehabilitation, improving claims processing by the DVA, and various procedural matters. What we have found since then has been significant delay on the part of the government, and I want to emphasise to the House the importance of legislating the recommendations.

I want to go through a couple of the facts and figures that came out of the report. There were 1,677 veteran suicides between 1997 and 2021, but it is estimated that the true number of veteran suicides in the same timeframe is more than 3,000. There is more chance of a veteran suiciding than of dying while serving our nation, and, of course, every death is a tragedy. Over the course of the royal commission, there were more than 5,800 submissions received, 12 public hearings and 894 private sessions. The commission heard from very traumatised veterans and their families.

While it is good that this legislation is now before the House, there have been many ways over the past 2½ years that the Albanese Labor government has failed our veterans, and it's simply not good enough. For example, there's no voice for veterans in cabinet. The first decision, when Anthony Albanese became Prime Minister, was to dump the Minister for Veterans' Affairs from cabinet.

Government Members:

Government members interjecting—

Jenny Ware (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I hear some interjections over there, but I don't think that can be denied. There has also been no continuation of the veteran wellbeing centres and the veterans and families hubs that were established under the coalition government.

I think we also need to look at some of the responses to this legislation from industry and from various veterans groups. The member for New England commended the bill but said:

The three acts, as they become more aligned, we hope will remove the confusions and the frustration people have in wanting to get something resolved, dealing with the department and then just waiting in perpetuity for some outcome.

In his speech, the member for New England emphasised the importance of the Senate committee inquiry into the bill and the need for the inquiry to make time to hear from those in regional areas in particular.

If we start to look at some of the positions of other major interest groups, the Department of Veterans' Affairs published a legislation reform process and also anonymised many of its submissions. The Returned & Services League of Australia, the RSL, in their submission to the inquiry, were broadly supportive of the proposed reforms, but they raised some specific issues of concern, such as there being no definition of 'veteran' included, despite the suggestion on the Department of Veterans' Affairs website that it should be included. They also said that there's a lack of clarity as to whether new claims could be made for the veterans home care program by those ineligible for other home and household service programs, and that the way the overall impairments are measured under other legislation seems to make it harder for some veterans currently covered by the legislation, in terms of compensation, following a deterioration of their original condition.

As I said, the Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia agreed with the concept of the bill and its main thrust. However, the submission noted that the association does not agree that there is any significant simplification in the ongoing compensation legislation, so there are concerns around this legislation. The Vietnam Veterans Federation of Australia issued a newsletter in July 2024 and said that, in the federation's submission on the exposure draft of the bill, they were broadly supportive of the proposed reforms but raised some concerns with specific elements of the bill, including how statements of principle are applied.

The Australian Peacekeeper and Peacemaker Veterans Association was critical of the legislation. They said it remains far too complex. Legacy Australia outlined a number of measures it supported but then raised concerns with some aspects and made suggestions for improvements. Particularly, Legacy raised concerns over the use of the term 'wholly dependent partner' and with eligibility for some of the compensation provisions being based on whether a person was economically dependent on the veteran prior to the veteran's death.

The TPI Federation of Australia, which is the organisation for the totally and permanently incapacitated, represents a group of veterans in receipt of the special rate of disability compensation under the Veterans' Entitlement Act and their families. They were very critical of many aspects of the proposed reform, saying:

… the proposed changes to the legislation actually is not intended to alleviate suicidal ideation but rather tries to address issues that the Government and the Bureaucracy has with the legislation. This 'Simplification' is for the purpose of administration and not for the benefit of the Veterans and their families.

Defence Families of Australia said that, while the changes that have been made are late, they may assist in simplifying an unnecessarily complex legislative framework, but they were critical of many of the changes that are supposed to protect and uphold the entitlements and dignity of veterans and their families.

I also want to note the comments of one of my constituents, Gwen Cherne, the Veteran Family Advocate Commissioner. She made a submission to the Senate committee inquiry and raised some concerns with the bill. In relation to use of the term 'wholly dependent partner', she suggested 'bereaved family member' would be clearer and more inclusive. She said the bill didn't completely address funereal inequities, and she was advocating for more support, such as a gold card to carers of veterans, before the veteran dies.

I also want to mention Australian War Widows. I've launched functions for them. They raised a concern about the use of the term 'wholly dependent partner'. And I want to mention one of my other constituents, Bree Till, who has set up a group called the CIPHER Foundation. CIPHER stands for collaborative, integrative, peer-centric healing, education and research. Bree's husband was killed overseas, while she was pregnant with her son, so Bree has been a fierce advocate for veterans' families and particularly for veterans' children in circumstances where those veterans have died in service.

To conclude, the legislation as such is supported. However, there are significant changes that I think the government should take on board. (Time expired)

Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Veterans' Entitlements, Treatment and Support (Simplification and Harmonisation) Bill 2024 is important, long-overdue legislation. Over the years, I have had cause to form friendships with numerous veterans in my community and work closely with them over many years. Through those friendships, I've come to better understand the unique nature of military service and some of the struggles that many of the veterans I talk to endure each and every day. Our service men and women choose a career where their life is on the line, where they are separated from their families for long periods, where they and their families are frequently relocated from one region to another and where discipline and taking orders is ingrained into them. For those who serve in a conflict zone, the experience can be traumatic and life changing. Not surprisingly, many defence personnel leave their service emotionally and physically scarred and in need of support from those around them and from the government and the defence department which they served.

Regrettably, for too long, Australia has failed our veterans. Long delays to assess their claims, inconsistent decision-making and cumbersome claims processes have all left too many veterans frustrated and disillusioned. The after-service treatment very likely adds to their trauma and emotional wellbeing and a feeling of abandonment. All of which, in turn, contribute to family breakdowns, alcoholism, drug abuse, homelessness and, sadly, at times even suicide. All of these outcomes were clearly brought home in the royal commission.

Their plight would be much worse were it not for the various support services that their own defence mates initiate, not government departments or government funded organisations but quite often the very people who are their mates and who served with them in their time of service—people that are associated with, in my region, the RSL clubs, the Vietnam Veterans Association of South Australia northern sub-branch, the Peter Badcoe rehabilitation centre, the National Servicemen's Association Para District Branch in South Australia, and Operation Unity. All of those groups are groups that I have personally had reason to work with, and I understand the terrific work that they do each and every day to help their mates.

The extraordinary length of time taken to process veterans' claims was of itself a major problem with the process. In response to a question in this parliament on 29 May this year from the member for Solomon about veterans' claims, the Minister for Veterans' Affairs provided the following answer. I won't read it out in full, but I want to read a substantial part of it because I think it brings home the frustration that I referred to just a few moments ago. The minister said:

When we came to government, DVA was underresourced, it was underfunded and it was facing a crisis. There was a backlog of some 42,000 claims in the department that had not even been looked at …

The vast majority of claims that are brought are under the MRCA. The first step is establishing initial liability. Back in 2022-23, it took on average 332 days just to allocate a claim to someone for them to look at it. It took a further average of 113 days for that claim to be determined, which meant in 2022-23 the average time to process claims was 441 days. Addressing this crisis is why the government have made the investments that we have. DVA is now better funded than it had been in three decades. We funded 500 additional APS in the October 2022 budget to get about clearing that backlog. We have added funding for 141 permanent staff in the budget this year. The use of labour hire to process claims has fallen from a third to just 10 people. As of right now, it takes 14 days—no more—for that claim I mentioned to be looked at. On average, since 1 December, it takes six days. The average time taken to determine a claim, since 1 December 2023, is now 44 days. That means it is an average of 60 days now to process a MRCA initial liability claim. Of course, there are claims that a more complex and where further medical information might be sought. It does take some time for those claims.

… That's why we've put in the work to get these claims assessed as quickly as possible. It's the processing of this backlog of claims that we inherited that means we are spending an additional $6.5 billion over five years to give veterans the benefits that they deserve.

I think that answer beautifully summarises the backlog of claims and the time taken to process them, which, in turn, was directly contributing, in my view, to the frustration and disappointment of many of the veterans—and certainly many of the veterans that I was speaking to. I'm pleased to see that those processing times have now improved markedly.

This legislation is important. Again, for the benefit of anyone following the debate, I will cover some of the key points about what this legislation actually does. Under the current legislative model, veterans entitlements are determined under one or more of three primary compensation acts. That is the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004, otherwise known as the MRCA, the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986, otherwise known as the VEA, and the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Defence-related Claims) Act 1988, which is the DRCA. It depends on when the veteran served and which period of service caused or contributed to the condition being claimed.

The bill simplifies and harmonises the current tri-act framework of legislation by providing for all claims for compensation and rehabilitation received from 1 July 2026 to be determined under the MRCA. The new regime will mean it is easier for veterans and families to understand what they are entitled to, easier for veterans' advocates to assist veterans and families with their DVA claims and simpler and quicker for DVA to process veterans' and families' claims so that veterans and families will receive the benefits and supports that they need and deserve more quickly. No veteran will be worse off under this legislation, and nobody will receive lower benefits than they are already receiving.

Again, without going through every detail of the legislation, there are some other issues that I will mention in my contribution. Schedule 1 closes the VEA and the DRCA to future grants of compensation and specifies that new claims will be assessed under the MRCA benefit structure. Schedule 2 contains changes which harmonise access to certain allowances and support services under the single ongoing act model. It introduces a new payment, the additional disablement allowance, for veterans who are prevented from accessing the extreme disablement adjustment under the VEA, which, like the EDA, will benefit veterans who are over pension age and who have a high degree of incapacity due to service related conditions.

It introduces presumptive liability, which means the Repatriation Commission will be able to specify injuries and diseases that can be determined on a presumptive basis where they are known to have a common connection with military service. It consolidates household and attendant care, travel for treatment and retention of automatic granting of VEA funeral benefits in the MRCA. It also increases to $3,000 the funeral allowance for previous automatic grant categories under the VEA and the availability of reimbursement of funeral expenses—up to $14,062—for all service related deaths. It goes on. It provides a higher travel reimbursement amount for some applicants. It standardises allowances and other payments. It enhances the commission's ability to grant special assistance to veterans and their dependants and moves some aspects of veteran arrangements from the VEA to the MRCA.

Lastly, in respect of some of the key matters that this legislation addresses, schedule 3 confers jurisdiction on the Veterans Review Board to review original determinations under the DRCA. Previously, these appeals went directly to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. Schedule 4 transfers the powers and functions of the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission to the Repatriation Commission and prescribes a single governance body—that is, the Repatriation Commission—under the MRCA. There are other changes which time does not allow me to go to, but I believe that what I've just outlined gives a fairly good picture of all of the improvements that are related to this legislation.

In closing, giving veterans the recognition they deserve is important to their after-service wellbeing. I therefore take this opportunity to commend the Virtual War Memorial Australia initiative. Virtual War Memorial Australia is a digital commemorative collection purpose-built to honour the service and personal experiences of all those who have served our nation in times of war and armed conflict, from the Boer War through to Afghanistan, including peacekeeping missions. Offering an integrated and verified dataset of over 1.5 million service personnel, it is the only memorial of its kind nationally and internationally. As a national memorial, it honours those who've returned and, notwithstanding all that they endured, continue to contribute to the Australian community in the building of our nation and commemorates the fallen. Most importantly, the Virtual War Memorial Australia initiative invites the nation to participate in this important national storytelling. The stories within the collection will serve as an everlasting reminder of the generations of Australians who chose to serve for a greater cause, a reason bigger than their own comfort and safety. I believe it is a wonderful initiative that acknowledges every veteran—not just those who unfortunately were killed in war but every veteran—and tells their stories and their contributions to the defence of our nation. I commend that initiative to this parliament, as I commend this legislation to the parliament.

Kristy McBain (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm pleased to rise on this very important bill, the Veterans' Entitlements, Treatment and Support (Simplification and Harmonisation) Bill 2024. The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide made it abundantly clear that for decades Australia's defence personnel, veterans and their families have not been treated as they should have been. From opposition we fought for this royal commission and as a government we are taking action to improve outcomes for veterans and for their families.

This is why we took swift action when the royal commission released its interim report in August 2022. It highlighted the veterans entitlement system is so complicated that it adversely affects the mental health of some of our veterans. We have taken action on all the recommendations of the report, and this bill will be implementing its first recommendation, which was to simplify and harmonise the veteran rehabilitation and compensation legislation. This was not a small project. I want to commend the Minister for Veterans' Affairs for undertaking this mammoth task of harmonising decades worth of complex legislation. Thanks to the comprehensive consultation that he undertook, I have no doubt this will benefit our current and former service personnel for generations to come.

My electorate of Eden-Monaro is home to many members of our Defence Force, both currently serving and veterans. I've spoken to many of our community members and they have told me that the current veteran compensation system is unnecessarily complicated and difficult to understand. The same complexity has directly contributed to delays, inconsistent processing, uncertain outcomes and claims backlogs which have had a detrimental impact on their mental health and wellbeing.

These aren't new revelations. Calls to address this complexity have been longstanding. That's why I am proud to be part of the Albanese government, who have taken on the challenge to no longer tinker around the edges but to implement meaningful reform. This bill represents the most significant commitment from a government to simplify veteran legislation since the introduction of the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act nearly 20 years ago. It will drastically reduce the complexity of the system and ultimately give veterans and families the support that they need much faster.

Under the current legislative model, veterans entitlements are determined under one or more of three primary compensation acts depending on when the veteran served and which periods of service caused or contributed to the condition being claimed. As was recommended by the royal commission, the bill streamlines the number of acts that DVA currently administers from three to one. This will greatly simplify claims processing and give veterans and families the support they need faster.

The bill also makes enhancements to the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act, including a new payment for severely impaired veterans of pension age, harmonised support for household and attendant care, and improved payments for those travelling for treatment. In addition, a higher funeral reimbursement amount of just over $14,000 will be expanded to all service related deaths, and the funeral allowance for other veteran deaths will increase to $3,000. This bill will also expand gold card eligibility to veterans previously excluded from access.

Ultimately, this legislation will deliver a system that is easier for veterans and families to understand what they're entitled to and enables the DVA to process claims quicker. To ensure that this transition will be smooth, in our most recent budget we included an additional $222 million in funding for veteran and family entitlements and supports to be made available through this new simplified legislation. This builds on a record investment for veterans and their families whilst we have been in government.

Thanks to our investment, DVA is the highest funded it has been in three decades. After a decade of chronic underresourcing and underfunding, the Albanese government has turned that around to ensure that veterans and their families can access the services and supports they need and deserve. In our first budget, we invested more than $233.9 million to engage 500 frontline staff at DVA to eliminate the veteran compensation claims backlog. Thanks to the hard work of those additional staff, that backlog has now been cleared, delivering on our commitment ahead of the deadline that was recommended by the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.

To ensure we don't see backlogs re-emerge, we also invested an additional $186 million in this year's budget towards the employment of an additional 141 staff. To support these additional staff to process these claims efficiently, we've also budgeted $341.1 million to fund the modernisation and sustainment of the IT systems within the DVA. These investments are making an impact. We've cleared the backlog of claims we inherited from those opposite, and we have significantly reduced the time taken to process claims. Almost all of them are being done within 20 days.

We also committed $46.7 million at the last election to deliver 10 veterans and families hubs across the country so that the thousands of personnel who leave the ADF each year will be able to access support if they need it. The transition to civilian life requires some major readjustments. It's a significant event for defence members and their families, and it can be both a challenging and a traumatic period.

I joined the Minister for Veterans' Affairs at the beginning of the year in my own electorate to announce a $5.4 million grant to develop a new veterans and families hub in Queanbeyan. The hub will be established by RSL LifeCare, working in partnership with RSL New South Wales and other local ex-service organisations to develop the dedicated space to support veterans and their families. With more than 4½ thousand veterans across the Queanbeyan region and more than 22,000 across the ACT region, this hub will be important to ensure veterans and their families across the region can access the services that they need close to home. Doors are expected to open early next year, with RSL LifeCare just last week unveiling the designs for the hub.

As a government, we are committed to continuing to improve the welfare of defence personnel, veterans and their families. The changes proposed by this bill represent the most significant change to the system in decades and represent a once-in-a-generation opportunity to get the system right for veterans. The royal commission's report was also tabled in this place in September, and, since then, the Minister for Veterans' Affairs has been working hard on how those recommendations can be implemented.

I look forward to continuing to work with defence personnel, veterans and their families right across Eden-Monaro to ensure this change is positive, and I am proud to be part of a government that is so committed to delivering better outcomes for this community.

Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The welfare of veterans and defence personnel is of the utmost importance to our Albanese government. In opposition, we fought for the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, and, in government, we have acted on every single recommendation. Current and former ADF members and their families must be supported when they are engaging with the network of government services, local services and advocacy organisations that are available to them, and one of the overriding observations and recommendations out of the royal commission was the system was just far too complicated. I want to personally thank the minister, Matt Keogh, for working on this. It has been an effort to get this system simplified and to take meaningful action for our veterans.

This legislation will simplify our veteran rehabilitation and compensation system. We know the current system is so complicated. The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide found that the current system of veteran benefits and support is 'so complicated it adversely affects the mental health of some veterans and can be a contributing factor to suicidality'. That is shocking. The royal commission received over 5,800 submissions from serving and ex-serving ADF personnel, their families and friends. In fact, the most common themes from the submissions to the royal commission were regarding suicidality—suicidal behaviour, mental illness and the mental health support and response network provided by the ADF.

The final report delivered by the royal commission was a disturbing read to say the least, but we have acted on it. The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide was announced on 19 April 2021 following tireless advocacy from families of military personnel who had taken their own lives. The goal of this royal commission was to reflect on the standards we expect from our military personnel and investigate how we can make it better and move forward—how we could take real action. I am proud to be part of a government that has done such a thing.

Overall, the veterans policies, structures and practices needed to be reformed. This message has been received loud and clear by our government, and we are working on better outcomes,. We are delivering better outcomes for our veterans. A career in the military positions an individual as someone with a unique place in our society. Their service is built on hard work, and they are there to get the job done for all of us. There are currently 89,395 current serving permanent and reserve members of the ADF across the three services, the Navy, the Army and the Royal Australian Air Force, with over 6,000 Australians enlisting every year, and we need more people to be enlisting. We are on a drive to encourage the best and brightest Australians to sign up to serve their country. We have to make it better for them when they finish their service, and that is what our government is seeking to do.

Even during times of peace, conditions for those in service are designed to be high-risk, with Defence stating that almost every aspect of uniform life comes with a risk or cost to the member and/or their families. We recognise this. We know we have to reward them for their service and we absolutely get that we have to look after them as veterans. That risk that our people in uniform take on is not lost to me in a personal or professional capacity, as I acknowledge that today is the eight-month anniversary of the passing of Lance Corporal Jack Fitzgibbon, who was injured and subsequently died on this day eight months ago. I spent the morning with his father, Joel Fitzgibbon, a former defence minister who served his country in this place for 25 years. Today marks eight months since Jack passed, so we understand what it is like to have a child serve in the ADF and lose them. We do not want to lose good, young Australian people because of how they have been treated as veterans. That is the message as well.

We have to acknowledge the strength and selflessness that individuals give in order to protect our nation and highlight the work they do to ensure we all live a free life that we do today, and I thank them for their service. There are so many positives to working in the ADF and that was recognised throughout the findings of the royal commission. People spoke about great friendships, about feeling as though they belonged to something greater than themselves and of course providing service to our nation, and we cannot lose that. Veterans have already been through such unique life experiences that we have to make sure we are looking after them and that is what this government wants to do. It's why we are proposing a new system of process and administration for DVA.

The bill will make it easier for veterans and their families to know what they're entitled to, make it easier for veterans claims advocates to assist veterans and make it easier for those families with claims to be assisted as well. It will make it quicker for DVA to process claims so that veterans and families get the benefits they need and deserve in a timely way. We want it to be easier and fairer for veterans to get the support that they are legally and, quite frankly, morally entitled to.

I also want to send a big warm shout-out to those advocates who work in my electorate of Paterson. They are incredible people who work with our veterans to help them navigate the process, and we want to make it easier for those advocates as well. These reforms are a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We have evidence of a system that has let too many individuals and their families down, and we know that the system has moved people towards taking drastic action. We can't continue that. We need to act. That is what we are doing, and that's why we want to make it easier for veterans and their families to receive the benefits and support that they need.

Under these reforms we are making sure that no veteran will see a reduction in their benefits, whilst also delivering support that provides quicker resolutions for them. Over time the proposed changes will make it easier for veterans and families to understand their entitlements, make it easier for advocates to support DVA claims and make it faster for DVA to process claims so that veterans and families receive the benefits and supports they need and deserve more quickly. That's why we've employed more than 600 people to try and work through those thousands of claims that were backlogged. We have moved through those, and now we want to continue with the progress.

I want to thank the advocates who work at places like East Maitland, in my electorate. We've invested over $40 million across the country to build veterans hubs, and we're getting one in my seat of Paterson, at East Maitland, which I've just mentioned. The hubs are going to be delivered in consultation with veterans communities, and I had the great pleasure of going to an information session about the Paterson hub that will be built in East Maitland. We were able to secure $5 million to build a veteran and family hub in East Maitland. I've seen the plans; they look absolutely magnificent. The hub is going to be on the current site of the East Maitland RSL sub-Branch. They are going to incorporate the history of that magnificent sub-branch whilst also building a brand new pavilion off the sub-branch that is going to incorporate the hub where veterans and serving defence personnel—and their families, importantly—will be able to go and receive an enormous array of supports and services, not only in relation to veterans claims but also in relation to family activities. I know this is going to be a great place not only to honour our veterans but also to support our serving personnel—people that serve at not only RAAF Base Williamtown, in my seat, but also Singleton Army base, which is not very far away at all. It's going to be a real central hub for people to be able to come together. I can't wait for that to open. I've seen the plans; they look gorgeous. It really will be an exciting space for veterans, serving personnel and their families.

Veterans and defence personnel have such a unique set of lifestyle and, quite frankly, work factors at play all the time. We need to make sure that access to rehabilitation and compensation entitlements is clear and that the needs of the veteran community and serving personnel community are met. Support at our local veterans hub will include physical and mental health services, wellbeing support, advocacy, employment and housing advice, and social connection. It's going to be a one-stop shop for local veterans services that will make a clear, definite and immediate impact on these communities and on my community, which I'm so pleased about.

I can officially let you know that earlier this year I was pleased to be joined by the member for Burt and the minister as we announced the Hunter region veterans hub that will now be built in East Maitland. It's a really exciting development. Incidentally, my seat of Paterson is home to 7,200 veterans, one of the highest numbers in New South Wales. I am very much looking forward to seeing them receive the support and services that they need at this hub.

In closing I just want to congratulate RSL LifeCare, who were successful in tendering for our veterans hub. It was wonderful to join with them just last week to look over the architect's designs and the plans and join with veterans in my seat to talk about how the hub would work for them and what they wanted to see in the hub. I think this is one of the most important things. Talking about this legislation, we're talking to veterans about what they need and about how we can serve them better after they've finished serving our nation. Using a hub-and-spoke model, we're going to connect the RSL sub-branches across the region at East Maitland to provide these very important and holistic services to support veterans, serving personnel and their families. Throughout my time working for the people of Paterson, I've had the great honour of meeting many incredible defence personnel and veterans who have dedicated their lives to keeping us safe. It continues to be a major passion of my life to support them. I couldn't be prouder to be part of a government that is taking this issue of supporting our veterans so seriously. I commend this bill wholeheartedly to the House.

Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Immigration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm proud to support and speak on the Veterans' Entitlements, Treatment and Support (Simplification and Harmonisation) Bill 2024. I had the honour of serving as the Assistant Minister for Veterans' Affairs in the government for more than two years, and it was my great privilege to work with veterans and veterans advocacy groups, who sacrifice so much for our nation by putting their lives on the line to protect all of us. Of course, their families deserve recognition as well. The families make a sacrifice in supporting their loved ones to serve as well.

We can't ever fully repay that debt, but we can do our best to make sure that we support our serving Defence Force personnel and veterans as much as we possibly can. That is what this bill is all about. It responds to a recommendation of the royal commission and the needs of veterans to ensure that they get the support that they deserve post-service. When we were in opposition, we campaigned heavily for the establishment of a royal commission into defence and veterans suicide. I want to pay tribute to a number of advocacy organisations, particularly to two mothers, Julie-Ann Finney and Karen Bird, who campaigned across the country and never let up on ensuring that the royal commission was stood up and that we had the opportunity to shine a light on what was actually going on in our defence forces and the veteran community with their mental health challenges.

The final report of the royal commission was delivered to the government in September. That important body of work marked the culmination of the most significant and comprehensive inquiry conducted into suicide and suicidality in our defence and veteran communities. They delivered an interim report in August 2022. As soon as they delivered that report, the government took swift action on those recommendations. The first recommendation of the royal commission in their interim report was to simplify and harmonise the veterans compensation and rehabilitation legislation. The government has been working since that time to make sure that we delivered on that commitment. That is exactly what this bill does. It delivers on the No. 1 recommendation of the royal commission, to ensure that we make the system that is meant to support our veterans, particularly those who've been injured and have continuing ailments, to get the rehabilitation and the compensation that they deserve as quickly and as simply as possible. That is what this bill does.

The calls to address the complexity of our veterans entitlement legislation have been long standing. There have been three acts with different systems that people have had to navigate to try and make sure that they have a claim compensated and access to rehabilitation as quickly as possible. There have been three complicated systems. The system has been so complicated that veterans have had to employ advocates to act on their behalf. The system was so difficult to navigate you basically had to be an expert that worked full-time on understanding the system and how the acts worked to get an outcome. That should not be the case. It shouldn't be the case that our veterans have to employ someone to make an application for compensation due to an injury or an illness related to their service.

This bill simplifies the system. It brings three acts down to one from a future point in time onwards. It represents the most significant commitment from government towards simplifying veterans' legislation since the introduction of the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 20 years ago. As the Assistant Minister for Veterans' Affairs, I worked alongside the minister, Matt Keogh, to conduct extensive consultation and collaboration with the veteran community to formulate this draft legislation. The minister and I met with veterans, advocates and ex-service organisations to understand the needs of veterans. We listened to their calls for legislative change and how this government could maximise outcomes for those who've given so much for our nation—outcomes for the people who've sacrificed themselves to protect and defend our nation, our democratic way of life and our freedom.

Those consultations were conducted in every state and territory. Combined with 323 written submissions we received, they informed the content of this bill and how we can better serve our veteran community. This bill introduces new legislative change that will make it easier for veterans and families to understand what they're entitled to. It's easier for claims to be processed and easier for staff at the Department of Veterans' Affairs to process those claims. Ultimately, it will deliver benefits and supports to veterans and their families that they need and they deserve as quickly and as simply as possible.

When we were elected to office in 2022 there was a backlog of 42,000 unprocessed claims for veterans' compensations and support. That's 42,000 veterans and their families who made a substantial contribution to our nation who were left in limbo. The royal commission findings pointed out that the No. 1 issue that was playing on the mental health of veterans and causing many of the problems associated with suicidality was the delay in the department processing claims. Veterans felt they weren't listened to, their service meant nothing, they weren't getting the treatment and the respect they deserve from the department in processing those claims. That's why, when we were elected to government, one of our first priorities was to allocate additional funding to the Department of Veterans' Affairs to fix the mess that existed under the coalition when they were in government.

The minister allocated $230 million for additional staff in the department and 500 additional staff were employed to help fix the system. Because of our efforts, that backlog has been reduced and veterans have the support and the speedy processing of claims that they deserve. It's worth pointing out that there's an additional $6½ billion that flows to veterans because of that additional support. We're doing all we can to make sure they get the support they deserve through the department.

It's also worth noting that the opposition, led by the opposition leader Peter Dutton, have a policy of cutting back on the Public Service. Cutting numbers from the Public Service will once again result in people who are processing claims in the Department of Veterans' Affairs having their jobs cut and veterans not getting the support they deserve to process their claims in a quick and timely manner, and that is disgraceful! The findings of the royal commission show our veterans have gone through enough with the backlogs that were in place under the previous government. Our defence forces and the veterans' community deserve our utmost support and shame on any government, shame on any opposition that tries to cut back on the number of people who are supporting our veterans in the Department of Veterans' Affairs.

This comes on top of the other changes that this government has made, led by the minister, to support our veterans. There will be 10 new veterans and families hubs across the country to provide those important one-stop shops for veterans services and support, $24 million for the veteran employment program supporting veterans transition into the civilian workforce, an increase in the total and permanently incapacitated pension by $1,000, a tripling of the payments to GPs for servicing veterans, a new defence veterans and families acute support package to provide crisis support to veterans families, and $48.4 million invested to boost veterans home care and community nursing programs to ensure there are no gaps in service delivery. This comes in addition to other cost-of-living relief implemented by the Albanese government to support the Australian Defence Force and our veteran community. The changes to the Defence Home Ownership Assistance Scheme—the $46 million expansion to that scheme—will ensure more serving Defence Force personnel and veterans can their own home is part of that cost-of-living relief package.

I want to emphasise the bill that now rests before the parliament will provide support for veterans at net cost, and that is important, to ensure that veterans get the support that they need. We have set aside an additional $222 million for veteran and family entitlements across the first two years of this legislation, and that is the Albanese government's commitment to ensuring that no veteran will suffer a reduction in their existing entitlements. I pay tribute to the minister for being able to ensure that we give that guarantee to veterans.

This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fix the veterans entitlements system to not only ensure that veterans get the timely support that they need but, most importantly, that they get the compensation for injuries and illness that they deserve and that they get the respect from the Australian government and the Australian people for their service to our nation. I commend this bill to the House.

Andrew Gee (Calare, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the Veterans’ Entitlements, Treatment and Support (Simplification and Harmonisation) Bill 2024. Simplification and harmonisation of the three different veteran entitlements acts is long overdue. As the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide found, the complicated and unwieldly system of veterans entitlements has adversely affected the mental health of veterans. There is no doubt that this has been the case. It contributed to an antiquated and inadequate veterans compensation system that tragically cost lives.

The massive backlog of tens of thousands of unprocessed veteran compensation claims was a national disgrace. Here, you had men and women wearing the uniform of our country, putting their lives on the line for us, and our government failing them. The men and women who serve our country give Australia their best and they deserve nothing less than Australia's best in return. Sadly, this has not always happened. The underfunding of veterans affairs because there was seen to be no political advantage in the lead up to the last election was shocking, and I hope that it never, ever happens again.

I commend the Minister for Veterans' Affairs for his work on this bill and for the diligent way in which he has approached it. It might not be a perfect bill—few bills are—but it does represent a major legislative milestone in the better care and treatment veterans and their families. Those who have worked on it from within the Department of Veterans' Affairs should also be proud of this important work in legislative reform that will make life better for our veterans.

I also commend the minister and Prime Minister for their overhaul of Department of Veterans' Affairs staffing. Hiring more permanent staff to deal with the veteran compensation claim backlog and increasing all-important veterans compensation funding to get billions in delayed benefits flowing to where it is needed should be given the credit that is due.

I wish to acknowledge the enormous contribution that our veterans and ADF personnel have made and continue to make to the security of Australia and the world. Our nation owes you all a great debt of gratitude. I also wish to thank all those who are working so hard around Australia to ensure that our veterans get the care and treatment that they need and deserve. I'm speaking here of the veterans advocates, welfare and support volunteers, and members of veteran support groups who work so hard every day to care for those who do so much for our country.

I make particular mention of two in our area: Marc Mathews of Molong and Ken Atkinson, a Vietnam veteran from Mudgee. Both have dedicated their lives to helping and supporting fellow veterans, and I have the highest regard and respect for them both. I also acknowledge the work of Jennifer Jacomb, a Navy veteran and veterans advocate, who sadly passed away recently. Jennifer was a regular visitor to our office here in Canberra to discuss veterans affairs issues, and she never failed to bring a smile and her signature box of chocolates. She will be greatly missed.

I also extend a heartfelt thank you to all those who gave evidence at the royal commission. I know that, for many, it was an extraordinarily difficult thing to do. I hope that, by this bill being passed into law, you can see that your evidence has made a difference.

I'm going to conclude my remarks with the royal commission's comments on the evidence given to it by Dr Karen Bird: 'Dr Karen Bird, mother of the late Jesse Bird who died by suicide at the age of 32, put it simply, "I just think veterans actually need to be treated like human beings." Dr Bird gave evidence highlighting "the huge potential for DVA administration doing great harm, and that's what happened to Jesse—great harm was done to him."' The royal commission went on to say: 'Across the statements to this royal commission, she highlighted that DVA itself had found its processing of Jesse's claims was inconsistent with legislation, and red flags that should have prompted action were consistently missed. She said she remained "very concerned that, despite all of the review and recommendations to date, there is a continuing failure to acknowledge, address and learn from history".' Let's hope that our country has now finally acknowledged, addressed and learnt. As a nation, we owe our men and women in uniform, veterans and their families nothing less.

I commend this bill to the House.

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

The rate of veteran suicide is a national tragedy, and that is why, in opposition, we called for a royal commission. Since 2021, the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide has been investigating the factors that have contributed to such an appalling loss of life. The very first recommendation made by the royal commission in its interim report was to simplify and harmonise veteran compensation and rehabilitation legislation—a three-act headache of a system. Anyone who has engaged with the veteran compensation system will tell you it is complicated and difficult to understand. This is the result of piecemeal changes of veterans entitlements legislation for over a century.

The royal commission's recommendation to simplify and harmonise veterans compensation legislation was agreed to by the Albanese government, and this legislation implements that commitment. We want to get this once-in-a-generation reform right to make sure those who need it can get the support they need and deserve sooner. This is without a doubt the biggest improvement to the veterans compensation and rehabilitation laws and system in more than a century. We've been consulting widely with the veteran community and making the necessary changes to the drafts of this legislation. After all, it is vital that our veterans and their families have helped guide the decisions that ultimately impact them.

The legislation will see all claims considered under a single act, transforming the veterans entitlements scheme to one solid foundation instead of three separate systems. Moving to a single ongoing act, an improved Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act, the MRCA, will make it easier for veterans and families to understand their entitlements and easier for advocates to support veterans with DVA claims, and it will contribute to streamlining and speeding up claims processing within the Department of Veterans' Affairs. This all means veterans and families will be able to access the benefits and supports that they need and deserve in a more timely way.

The MRCA is a modern 21st century compensation system that recognises both the economic and the non-economic loss components of compensation. It incorporates elements from the repatriation system that recognised the unique nature of military service. It also focuses on wellbeing and building the capacity of veterans to return to employment and participate fully in society.

This bill will ensure that equitable entitlements are available to all veterans, regardless of the timing and the nature of their service. Importantly, this bill recognises the enormous sacrifices and contributions made by the families of veterans. It provides increased access to services such as education schemes, healthcare cards and other financial benefits for the families of veterans who have suffered severe impairment as a result of their service related injuries and conditions. This bill will open up gold card eligibility for some veterans for the very first time. Not only have we expanded the eligibility of many supports, but in doing so we're also safeguarding the entitlements currently being received by veterans. With this bill, I look forward to creating a system that delivers a better future for Australia's veterans and their families and recognises the tremendous sacrifices they have made in the interests of our nation. As a government, we promised to act, and we have.

I note and thank the opposition for their recognition of the importance of this bill and their support of its intent. In particular, I thank the shadow minister for veterans' affairs for his heartfelt speech to this House in August. I want to acknowledge each member of this place who has spoken on this legislation for their consideration of the current three-act compensation system and their acknowledgement that this is simply not fit for purpose. I especially acknowledge the positive contributions of all the former ministers for veterans' affairs who are still in this House.

Thank you, as well, to everyone who has acknowledged the families of veterans in their remarks. They support our personnel and veterans and make sacrifices too. Thank you not only to those of you who have acknowledged that support is available for veterans and families now but also those who highlighted the opportunities this legislation presents to better support those families.

I just want to particularly acknowledge the member for Braddon, who himself is subject to all three acts currently. He knows how rough and complex the current system is. Thank you for sharing your story, and that of the other veterans in your community, with all of us. I hope this legislation will make the lives of veterans like the member for Braddon just a little bit easier in the future. I acknowledge his comments about having a wellness focus through this legislation, and I note that these matters are also the subject of a number of the recommendations of the final report of the royal commission. I see this legislation as an opportunity to simplify the system for veterans so they can focus on their own wellbeing and that of their families rather than getting stuck in the current bureaucratic nightmare of a system. With that in mind, I say to the member for Braddon: thanks for your passion in supporting the hub in Burnie. Now and into the future, I know that, with your guidance, they will have every success.

I note also that the member for Ryan foreshadowed potential amendments from the Greens political party, but, unfortunately, they have not identified these amendments to the government or sought to move them in the House, I make the procedural observation that any amendments made in the Senate may preclude passage of this legislation through the parliament before the end of this year. In any event, to the extent that such foreshadowed amendments may relate to the issue of the peacekeeping nature of service, raised in the additional comments made by the Greens political party to the report of the Senate committee inquiring into this bill, I note that, due to the power of the minister under section 8 of the MRCA to make a determination as to nature of service for veteran benefits purposes, no such amendment to legislation is actually required.

I also thank crossbench members for their detailed engagement with me on this bill and their support for seeing the bill pass the parliament promptly. Thank you to each of you who contributed to the debate highlighting the important work of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. Thank you for taking the time to reflect on their years of work, their reports and the testimony that they were presented with.

I also make mention of the hard work of the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee and their thorough inquiry, and I thank them for the unanimous recommendation to pass this bill. I would also like to thank Senators Shoebridge and Lambie for their additional comments. The government has now provided a considered formal response regarding these matters.

While the government is currently developing our response to the royal commission's final report, I note that we have agreed to the establishment of an independent oversight body. This body is recommended to monitor the implementation of the royal commission's recommendations by the end of September 2025, including the recommendations that led to this bill, and may undertake a review of the new arrangements at the appropriate juncture. However, the main provisions of this bill will not commence until 2026. We will respond to the royal commission's final report before the year is out.

Passage of this bill will be a huge step forward for Australia's veteran community and one that will benefit our current and former serving personnel for generations to come. I'd like to thank all of the ex-service organisations and advocates that work so tirelessly in supporting our veterans and family community, as well as for their detailed engagement in arriving at this bill coming before the parliament right now. I thank the House for its support of the bill and recognition of the sacrifices made by the veteran community on all of our behalves. I look forward to all of your support in passing this bill here and to the support of senators so that we can get on with the job of delivering a better future for defence personnel, veterans and families. I commend the bill to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

Message from the Governor-General recommending appropriation announced.