Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Treasurer, the refusal to grant deductible gift recipient status to the Headstone Project in South Australia—recognising unmarked graves of World War I soldiers—casts doubt over the existing DGR status in other states. This would be a betrayal of the soldiers and a blow to those who have worked so hard to grow the project. Is it your intention to withdraw DGR status for the project or will you commit to granting it nationwide?

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. We've found a better way to support the really important work of this valued organisation. In response to the member for Mayo not that long ago, who asked a similar question, the assistant minister to the Treasury and I looked into the matters raised by you and by your colleague next to you. We say the same thing now that we said then. We do our best to make decisions about DGR status, conscious of the budget pressures and all of the other priorities. But, in looking into this for the member for Mayo, as we said that we would, we've discovered that there is another important way that we're helping the organisation do its work.

I want to say that the government is really grateful for the service of our veterans, and we know the important role that government funding plays in creating, preserving and maintaining memorials to their sacrifice. When Assistant Minister Leigh and I looked into this, we discovered that there are multiple ways that we help our veterans honour the graves of our fallen. I acknowledge the veterans affairs minister as well, because the Office of Australian War Graves takes care of war cemeteries and war graves. They work in Australia, as you know, and Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, and they also build and look after official Australian memorials overseas.

In Minister Keogh's portfolio he's got a program called the Marking Private Graves Grants Program. It's a really important program. I acknowledge his work and his commitment to that program. This grants program means that throughout Australia they can commit to individuals and groups working to identify the unmarked graves of First World War—

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

Mr Speaker—

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

The Treasurer is answering a question directly, and I'll just ask him to pause. When he's giving this sort of detail, I don't know how you can take a point of order, but—

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

Mr Speaker, it's on relevance. We have a minute to go. The question was: is there going to be DGR—

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

Resume your seat. The member has been here long enough to know that that is not how points of order work. And the member for Clark was entitled to ask his question. If he was so aggrieved, I'm sure he would have taken a point of order. But I can't make any minister—as the member knows, from being here so long—give a yes-or-no answer.

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I don't think the member for New England should try to piggyback on the dedicated work of the member for Clark and the member for Mayo next to him, asking an important question, which I'm answering in a respectful way. And I'd point out that in addition to the consideration we give to the DGR status, Minister Keogh in his portfolio, working closely with all of us, has other ways that we support this really important work.

And I wanted to confirm for the House, having looked into it, that one of the community groups, ex-service organisations and people who can apply for this funding assistance to mark unmarked private graves of First World War veterans is the Headstone Project. I can confirm for the member for Clark, for the member for Mayo next to him and for the parliament that the Headstone Project has been a successful recipient of grants under this program. And I raise it in that fashion because I understand that there is concern around the DGR status and the different state branches of this important organisation, and I think it's really important that we support their work, and I think this is the most appropriate way for us to do it.