Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Centenary of ANZAC) Share this | Hansard source

Saving a little bit of time, but I think I need to put it slightly in some context before you move it so that the chamber understands. There are two amendments. I have spoken to the opposition's amendments already, and it is been indicated that there is a general support for that. But as part of that arrangement, the opposition has agreed to support the government's amendments. We have been working with the government on the rules. The ex-service and veterans' community have continue to raise their concerns on the provisions of the bill. Labor senators raised similar issues in the Senate inquiry, specifically issues around the mistake of fact and misinformation.

Overall, the amount of confusion regarding the rules which accompany the legislation led to emerging community concern. Labor had always said that the rules were a disallowable motion and had reserved to our right to disallow them if we were not happy with them. Labor was continuing to work with the government to strengthen the rules to ensure that veterans were not left any worse off. However, we believe their amendment to remove the entirely is appropriate given the amount of community concern.

Labor believes that this has been the simplest solution to what has proven complex and confusing in the broader veterans' and ex-service community. We believe the removal of the instrument will allay the concerns of Labor and those raised by the crossbench. We are pleased that the government and Minister Tehan have listened to and now acted on our concerns and those of the broader veterans' community in dealing with this legislation to better deliver outcomes. As I have indicated, we will be supporting the amendments.

The TEMPORARY CHAIR: The question is that the amendments (1) to (3) on sheet 8095 be agreed to.

Question agreed to.