Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

There is no greater constitutional responsibility for any federal government or any federal MP, including those of us in this chamber today, than the defence and the security of our nation, and also the support for all of those who have served in uniform on behalf of all of us. In Australia, we therefore owe our sincere and immense gratitude and respect for the service made by all members of the ADF in all conflicts.

Today I rise to commend the government and the minister on the Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment (Omnibus) Bill 2017, which recognises the importance of the service of our current serving ADF members and also veterans. I would acknowledge that this does have bipartisan support, and for that I thank those of the opposition. I would also like to thank Senator Kitching for her comments on the Battle of Beersheba. I had the pleasure and the honour of attending that ceremony and also strategic dialogues after it, and I will address those particular incidents, episodes and celebrations later on in this place.

While some might say that these amendments are relatively modest and minor, it certainly does not mean that their benefit and outcome are modest or minor. They are part of a much longer term journey to reform the way in which we support our veterans. This omnibus bill provides amendments that are absolutely necessary to assist our veterans and afford them the dignity, respect, recognition and support they so rightly deserve. As Australians, we must all recognise not only the service of our veterans but also the challenges they and their families and friends endure and suffer as a consequence of their service. Every veteran who has served our nation has their own personal story. Some are told and remembered through families; others are captured in history and in documentation. But what is not always remembered is that their stories and experience are also the shared experience of their families, who have, in effect, served alongside them.

Australians are rightly proud of the service of ADF members. I, like other members of this chamber and of the other place, have served in the Australian Defence Force, and I remain just as proud of that service and the service of all others in uniform as I was the day that I enlisted. However, what I would like to do now is share with you the story of one particular person, a family member, and record his story in this place. Unlike many others, who don't have access to the stories of family members who served in the past, I do have that access. I would like to share with you the story of my grandfather Alfred George Reynolds. My grandfather was a brave and courageous man who, like many others of his generation in World War I, selflessly volunteered and signed up to serve his country so that today we could have the freedoms and opportunities that we do, those of living in a society of free speech and other democratic freedoms.

On 1 November 1914, Alfred George Reynolds was one of the young soldiers who departed Albany in the first convoy. He was a 3rd Australian Field Ambulance medic who, against all the odds, served not only throughout Gallipoli but all throughout the Western Front, at Fromelles, the Somme, Pozieres, Ypres and Amiens. One can't imagine the horror that he and his mates went through, year after year. Unlike so many of his friends over those four years, he returned alive. While he may have returned home in reasonably good health, mentally he had changed. He was terribly scarred. My grandfather, throughout his life, rarely talked about his experiences, and he neither valued nor kept reminders of the war. My dad, as a young boy, was often totally bewildered by my grandfather's behaviour. He could not understand his rages, his moods and his depression, because he could not possibly understand what my grandfather had been through on the Western Front and at Gallipoli. Like many others, after the war my grandfather didn't talk about it; he just got on with life as best he could. He raised his six children and continued to do many things in his life, including, I must say, becoming a Labor MP in the WA state parliament. In Western Australia he went on, as I said, to do many things. He had been a wool classer, and he was a wheat and sheep farmer in Mukinbudin, in the Western Australian sheep belt. He was an accountant in Albany and even, as I said, a Labor politician. Nonetheless, throughout his life my grandfather maintained a selfless sense of sacrifice and service to his country.

His story is like so many of those shared now in the Anzac Centre in Albany. But the story that is untold, the story of each of these veterans, is that of the impact their service in our name has had on the rest of their lives and the lives of their families. None of us can truly understand or appreciate what our returned servicemen and servicewomen experience on operations and in war. That is a right that is reserved solely for those who have served in war and in operations. Like my grandfather and like those veterans subsequently, many do return changed. They find it difficult to reintegrate back into society and into their families. And, tragically, between 2001 and 2005 there were 325 suicides amongst people who had served in the ADF since 2001. Alarmingly, this represents a figure of 23 veteran suicides a year, which is incredibly sad and impacts on all in this chamber.

We as a government, working with those on all sides of this chamber, must do what we can do and always support our service men and women and their families, regardless of whether they are veterans or currently serving, to ensure that we provide them at all stages of their career with the appropriate levels of individualised support. Currently the Department of Veterans' Affairs supports about 291,000 Australians. Just over half of this figure are veterans or current serving members of the ADF. The department provides more than $11 billion annually. Around $6.2 billion is spent on income support and compensation, and around $5 billion is provided to veterans for health care and other rehabilitation services.

I know this government understands and recognises the immense gratitude we all have for our current serving ADF members and for our veterans. It has provided an additional $350 million for veterans in this year's budget. There is an additional $58.6 million in funding for much-needed and very welcome mental health initiatives. In addition to this, this government has provided $38 million in the 2016-17 budget to cover PTSD, anxiety, depression, alcohol and substance abuse and other mental illnesses which have resulted from service. This bill, and the additional funding, will mean that anyone who has served full time in the ADF can access free treatment for any mental health condition. That is such an important development, and it is wonderful to see that it has bipartisan support. This is a huge leap forward in the provision of mental health support and the ongoing destigmatisation of this issue. Not only can anybody who's served full time in the ADF access this free treatment, but it is fully funded and also uncapped.

As I have said, we can't comprehend the circumstances that our men and women face on operations, and never can we truly financially compensate them for what they and their families have given and sacrificed for our nation. But what we can do is to strive to continue to provide better and more targeted services and support. So, in addition, $166.6 million has also been dedicated to implement the first stage of the Veteran Centric Reform program, which will ensure, one would hope, that the department's transformational journey continues to provide the absolute best possible and tailored services to support our veterans.

We are all indebted to our current ADF members and returned service men and women for their sacrifice and their dedication. This is why the bill, while perhaps modest in size, is certainly not modest in impact. I'd like to go through some of the reforms that are introduced in this legislation. First of all, schedule 1 amends the Veterans' Entitlements Act to modernise and improve the operation by aligning provisions with similar provisions in the AAT Act. It sounds a bit bureaucratic, but, for those navigating the system themselves, it's a very important change. Schedule 2 modernises and streamlines the Veterans' Entitlements Act to improve the specialist Medical Review Council by simplifying the appointment processes for councillors and also progressing whole-of-government requirements for digital transformation. It removes red tape in commencing reviews and provides for reimbursement of certain travel expenses. I'm sure everybody in this chamber engages regularly with veterans, so we know that the simplification of a bewilderingly and unnecessarily complex process is another very welcome step forward.

Schedule 3 of the bill ensures that arrangements with foreign governments can be made to ensure that benefits and payments can be made to our veterans—another relatively minor but very important change for veterans. Schedule 4 strengthens the foundation for providing rehabilitation assistance and support to current ADF members and veterans. Schedule 5 allows for the facilitation of information sharing to assist with the efficiency of compensation claims—a procedural amendment but, for those of you who know veterans who struggle with this system and this process, another welcome streamlining of the process. Schedule 5 also ensures that those veterans who are entitled for discounted pharmaceuticals are afforded with access to these services, giving them greater access to pharmaceuticals than they currently have—an overwhelmingly good thing.

Schedule 6 inserts minor procedural amendments to allow for the delegation of ministerial powers and functions—an administrative process but, again, one designed to speed up the process and make it easier for veterans. Schedules 7 and 8 will implement minor technical amendments and remove from the respective acts several parts that are no longer relevant. These schedules will provide extra clarity and a little more certainty for veterans. Again, while technical in nature, this is all about making the acts easier to read, getting rid of things that should no longer be in them and making it easier for veterans, their families and their advocates to access the services and support they are entitled to receive.

The Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee was until recently chaired by my great friend and colleague from Western Australia the now retired Senator Chris Back. He had a great passion for, and interest in, veterans' support and veterans' entitlements. He was a great advocate for veterans and acknowledged their service. In particular, he was an advocate for getting rid of really dumb red tape that made their lives even more challenging. So the then Senator Back inquired into this omnibus bill and the committee recommended that the Senate pass this bill. I'd like to share with you some of the things that Senator Back, as chair, and the committee observed in relation to this bill. Unsurprisingly, the committee found that witnesses were supportive of the bill's intent to improve services and supported this extra support to veterans. This is how the report concluded:

While the committee acknowledges submitters' concerns regarding Schedules 1 and 5 of the bill, it has been reassured by evidence received from the Principal Member of the Veterans' Review Board, and from officers of the Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation and the Department of Veterans' Affairs in response to those concerns.

The committee indicated in its report that many of the concerns raised by witnesses had been sufficiently and adequately addressed and explained that any misunderstanding of the applications of sections introduced in this bill were nullified. Further to this, those opposite, in their additional comments, have also stated that the majority of concerns in relation to this bill had been addressed.

This is a bill that needs to be passed in the Senate. It reflects, and is indicative and respectful of, our men and women whose selfless sacrifice, determination and service allows us to have the freedoms that we enjoy here today. As I've said, none of us can truly understand what our returned service men and women have experienced in war. And I know from my own personal family experience that we can never truly understand the impact it has on their immediate and extended family and friends. Therefore, it is incumbent on all of us in this place, as all of us acknowledge here, to keep meeting the ongoing challenge to update the legislation to make sure that our veterans—of all ages, of all generations and of all conflicts—are provided with all possible support we can provide them. I commend the government and the minister on this omnibus bill and support its passage. I also thank those opposite for their engagement and support on this important bill.