Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

In one of life's strange coincidences, after sailing in the Sydney to Hobart last Christmas, I was down at the docks buying a coffee and I got chatting to a guy at the bar, who wanted to buy me a drink. He then insisted that I come and sit with his group. After a few minutes, I realised that this group of people I was sitting with had sailed also from Sydney to Hobart. They were a group of veterans called Mates4Mates, a support network for veterans. They had actually sailed a boat down and had trained—and they work with philanthropists. To cut a long story short, as we parted ways after one or two rum-and-cokes, they made me swear that I would try and do something about support for veterans.

I am pleased today to have Labor's support and support from the crossbench to get the Senate to look at something that was raised very recently by Four Corners: the dire situation for veterans in this country with regard to suicide, homelessness and mental health issues. I thank the Labor Party and the crossbenchers for their support.