Scott Ludlam (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Defence representing the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs. While the amount of compensation allocated in the budget is clearly insufficient, the Greens join others in welcoming the long overdue recognition of severe health impacts on Australian Defence personnel who were exposed to ionising radiation from nuclear tests. Beyond the compensation measures announced in the budget, veterans are also calling for full comprehensive health care in particular at a gold card standard. Is the government considering this and is the government aware of those calls? Will you consider payment of compensation as a lump sum, as is occurring overseas in other countries’ compensation for nuclear veterans? In particular, with the evidence of genetic effects of nuclear tests on children and grandchildren—the families and children of nuclear veterans—what will the government do for the second and third generations affected by their parents’ or grandparents’ exposure to this radiation?