Perin Davey (NSW, National Party, Shadow Minister for Water) Share this | Hansard source

Our veterans are important. Their service was important, and parliamentarians in both houses in this place and on both sides recognise the contribution they have made. That is why the Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment (Budget Measures) Bill 2022 is important and that is why the opposition will be supporting this bill.

This bill provides an increase to the totally and permanently incapacitated payment that is given to our veterans by $38.46, which will increase it to $1,595.66 per fortnight. That provides an annual increase of around $1,000, which is not much in the scheme of things and not much when you consider the service our veterans have provided. The bill achieves this by amending the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 to increase the rate of pension payable to TPI veterans. It will make the payment comparable to the national minimum wage and make it only just greater than the after-tax payment of the minimum wage that an earner would receive.

As we know, the TPI is a payment that is provided to veterans for life, unless their circumstances are deemed to have changed. It is not taxable and it is not included in a means test for other income support payments. It was formally called the disability compensation payment at the special rate and is offered when a veteran's injuries from war or service are assessed under the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 as preventing them from having a normal work life. And it's the least we can afford these people, who put their hand up to serve in the defence of our nation and our way of life. It is paid to those who have been injured through that service, and, as I said, it's the least we can do.

When you consider an extra $1,000 a year, given the current cost-of-living increases and the pressures that people are facing, the rises in grocery bills, rents, mortgages and, as we have all seen, power prices—and the absolute disbandment of the new government to deliver on their $275 decrease to those power bills. As soon as they got into government, they ran away from that as fast as Usain Bolt runs. They disbanded that promise and walked away from it.

So this $1,000 increase to the TPI payments will barely touch the sides. Hopefully it will help our veterans meet rising daily living costs. TPI veterans also receive the veteran gold card, which provides cover for all their clinically required treatment of medical conditions, and this increase to the TPI payments will not impact on that at all. While we know that the wheels of government can turn slowly, I thank the government for bringing this bill into this place in time so that the legislation can be enacted to start the payments from 1 January 2023. It is an important process.

There are around 27,000 TPI recipients across Australia. While we're moving this bill today, we know there is so much more we can and need to do to assist our whole veteran community. Over the years there have been many inquiries and reports. Most recently, we've had the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, and they recently delivered an interim report which went through all of those past inquiries. They noted the considerable number of reports and the multiple recommendations that have been made across several governments—from both sides. The commissioners identified over 50 reports, with more than 750 recommendations. While they acknowledge that many of the reports and inquiries were about discreet topics, they were dismayed to learn the limited ways that governments from all sides have responded to the recommendations of these inquiries. So we know we have to do better, and, when the veterans royal commission currently underway reports, I hope that all sides look at those recommendations very seriously to consider how best to implement the recommendations to ensure we do better by our veterans.

We know that when our veterans transition out of the Defence Force they often feel isolated. They often feel that they've lost their purpose. There are bodies and agencies out there for support—the Returned & Services League and Soldier On, amongst others—and I met with another organisation the other day, which is quite a young organisation in the scheme of things: Disaster Relief Australia, founded in 2016. It's very topical at this point in time as we're seeing such devastating flood crises across the eastern seaboard, particularly in New South Wales. Disaster Relief Australia works with veterans who volunteer their time to be deployed, to use the military term, into a disaster-hit area, where they use the skills that they learnt through the Defence Force and help coordinate relief and response, working with communities, bringing everyone together and managing logistics.

Disaster Relief Australia have found that, for many of the veterans they work with, this is giving them back that sense of purpose. It is having a really good outcome amongst the veteran population that they work with, not because they're going out and saying to veterans, 'How can we help you?' but because they're going to veterans and saying, 'How can you help others?' That is what our Defence Force personnel are so good at doing. They sign up not to get something for themselves but to do something for others. That is why it is such an important thing. And we need to look at other ways we can support our veterans to give them back that sense of purpose and to give them back that sense of community that we provide.

We know that veterans who've been medically discharged, who've been found to be totally and permanently incapacitated, often struggle the most because they entered the Defence Force fit, healthy and robust—you've got to pass a medical the enter the Defence Force—and they came out the other side with a TPI label. For many of them, that's devastating. Many of them depend on these payments to put food on the table and to meet the costs of their daily living expenses. We do need to ensure that those payments keep up with the cost of living. We need to ensure that our TPI veterans are not left behind and that they know that we in this parliament and in this chamber value their service. On average one Australian veteran commits suicide every two weeks, and that is a statistic that should not be happening in a country that claims to value the contribution and sacrifice made by defence members and veterans and the sacrifice their families have made.

As I said, this bill will deliver an annual $1,000 extra to our TPI recipients, but that is only a tiny gesture in recognition of the value of those veterans. It is a small step in showing that they are valued and that they will not be forgotten. The opposition supported this bill through the House of Representatives and we support it in this chamber. I thank the government for ensuring this bill will be passed in time to start these payments from January 2023 to give our TPI veterans recognition and some financial security and certainty moving forward.