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

Mr Temporary Chairman, I was going to see if the minister wanted to respond to Senator Lambie with that confirmation. Perhaps you could get her to do that in a second. I will just say a few quick words. The Greens have been working constructively with all parties, especially in recent days, on this legislation. We have met with stakeholders. It does concern me how much influence a couple of legal firms have had in what we are discussing here today. There are other stakeholders, and the Greens have not been lobbied by any veterans' groups around this legislation, which I find quite interesting. Nevertheless, I think there seems to be a unity ticket on the fact that we need a simplified single pathway for veterans' review. That seems to be acceptable to all stakeholders. However, we are not going to be voting on that tonight, I understand. That will come back next year. It has been sent off to committee. I have read those reports. I think it is time to be constructive and actually get an outcome for veterans, rather than just attacking the government, which I see all the time.

We do understand that this is complicated, that there is history and a lot of individual cases, but I do believe the intent of this was to actually make this easier for veterans groups. I am glad that Senator Lambie insisted this went away to committee. The committee certainly made some constructive recommendations, including, as was mentioned earlier, the potential to award legal costs through the AAT stage. That is something the Greens actually approached the government with during the week, about an amendment. I think the government had already prepared amendments to that particular aspect of this bill, but that will be dealt with at some stage in the future. The Greens are quite happy to vote for amendment (3), opposing schedule 2, and to support amendments (1) and (2).