Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

That is not illumination. That is just casting a shroud over things, honestly. As for the notion of $15,600 a year for four years for 2,000 participants, there is no such notion here. Guess what? These people are dying off. In four years time there will not be 2,000 veterans who survived the British nuclear tests here in Australia. Who knows what the number will be, but we know that the rate of death, the rate of these people not being with us on this earth anymore, is increasing. This is simply to say that, in the same way that others who have served in warlike service get a gold card, this is warlike service and this is something they should be entitled to. This issue will not go away. I will pursue it in estimates. I will pursue it with the government. I urge my colleagues in the coalition and the government, particularly my backbench colleagues—including Senators Sterle and Bishop, for whom I have high regard—to take this matter up.