David Shoebridge (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Let's have a look at the former coalition leadership team wrapped in khaki, sitting on tanks, hanging around with Defence Force personnel and saying how much they care about the military, and then let's look at what they provided for veterans: falling payments and endemic poverty.

At least we've got some movement from this government, and I'm going to give the minister and his office credit for that. But you couldn't have a better definition of 'modest' than $2.75 a day. That is like the Oxford dictionary definition of 'bugger all'. That's what this bill delivers.

The inquiry said: increase the payment. The problem, of course, is that the inquiry was in 2021. We've had more than a year of veterans struggling to get by on a payment that pretty much the entire committee recognised was inadequate in 2021, and now the increase is only $2.75 a day. And that's being generous—that's rounding it up, by the way. That's the increase they get from the government. I can understand why veterans are saying: 'What about us? When is our turn really going to come?'

We saw the federal government, under the coalition's watch, spend $4 billion not getting French submarines. In the military space, the ADF space, the former coalition government spent $4,000 million to not get French submarines, and then 27,000 veterans on TPI got nothing—not one red cent. I think that really shows the priorities of the former coalition government.

What veterans get under the new Albanese Labor government is nothing like $4 billion; it may be $20 million a year for the next four years. They get $2.75 a day. They know, because they've seen it, that the same Commonwealth government has dropped $4 billion not getting French submarines, and they say: 'Hang on. Where's the priorities? Do we matter?'

We think that veterans should matter and we think that they should get a payment that is substantially more. I want to credit the veterans who have contacted my office and pointed out how they deserve better. In particular, communications with my office from the TPI Federation of Australia have shown us clearly how there has been that real decline in veterans' payments—over decades in fact. I will just quote from the correspondence that our office got: 'Recent increases of 30 per cent for petrol, 30 per cent for food, 38 per cent for insurance—house and car—will be greatly addressed by the two per cent this bill offers to TPIs. There are many TPIs who must now decide whether to buy their medication or food. If they choose their medication, they need to approach community food pantries to obtain their meagre food supplies.' That's what we're saying to veterans: choose food or medication.

This bill is not going to fix that choice. I know that veterans wanted us to move amendments to double it, and we were close to moving amendments to double it. But we were advised by the government that if we did that it would basically kill the bill, and veterans would have got nothing. Veterans should get at least double, but the reason we're going to support this bill is so that they end this year knowing they're going to get a tiny, modest increase starting on 1 January. We want that to happen and we're not going to delay that. But let's commit collectively to coming back next year and start by doubling it, and then to having a really serious look at the level of payment that veterans deserve and need in order not to have that lifetime of poverty. They served the country and it's about time that we returned that service with respect.