Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

With your leave, Mr President, I notice that we have various members of the ADF parliamentary program in the chamber today, and on behalf of the Senate I thank you for your service, as the Senate does thank those within the Senate, like Senator Reynolds, who have served.

Today, I was joined by Senator Conroy at the Australian War Memorial. It is Battle for Australia Day today—the seventh anniversary. It is also Merchant Navy Day and Australian National Flag Day. I also note that today is the 75th anniversary of the start of the Second World War. The commemorations that I was talking about are very important to this nation, but the future mental health of our serving men and women is equally important. This government and my department are determined to ensure that we respond to the changing face of the veteran community in this nature, which Senator Reynolds would be acutely aware of. It is important to remember that all mental health services provided by my department are not capped; they are uncapped. They are there to meet demand. At the moment, it costs about $166 million per year. We have recently expanded access arrangements so that the DVA will pay for mental health treatment for veterans without the need for it to be related to service. We also provide online mental health information and support, including GP services, psychologists, social work services, special psychiatric services, pharmaceuticals, trauma and recovery programs, and more. We have also just increased access to the Veterans and Veterans Families Counselling Service and introduced a post-discharge health assessment for all former ADF members. We have also— (Time expired)