David Pocock (ACT, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to thank Senator Lambie for highlighting this important issue for our defence community and for all Australians.

Of course there is a sizeable defence community here in Canberra, and we know that the demands on our defence community are increasing. We face uncertain times when it comes to geopolitics, and we face uncertain times when it comes to the impacts of climate change. This has meant that we've seen the ADF called up more and more frequently to assist with natural disasters. As a recent Defence Subcommittee report found, since 2019 the ADF has committed over 35,000 personnel from a workforce of approximately 62,000 in support of domestic disaster relief tasks. This is a huge effort, and we thank them for the work that they do in communities across the country. But in return, we need to look after Defence.

We know that Defence has an ambitious plan to grow its military and civilian permanent workforce to over 101,000 by 2040. How they will achieve this in the face of the current trend, where recruitment isn't keeping pace with separations, is a massive challenge, with no obvious answers. Army reported a separation rate of 13.2 per cent in 2021-22, with the rates for Navy and Air Force hovering under 10 per cent—as Senator Lambie has noted. So how do we keep them?

The bill that Senator Lambie and I introduced today seeks to reverse the onus of proof for first responders when it comes to PTSD. It is just one example; a similar presumption doesn't exist for veterans either. Wait times for veterans seeking support from DVA are, at times, frankly, ridiculous, given what we're asking veterans to do and then asking them to sit and wait. As at 30 September 2023, DVA was working on 53,601 claims, and had 21,915 active claims not yet allocated to an officer for processing. These have been lodged by some 14,369 veterans. This is unacceptable; we have to do better than this. You can't tell me that this is not a deterrent to people looking to enlist or to continue their service.

Things like retention bonuses, as most recently announced in the last federal budget, aren't enough to solve the retention and recruitment crisis that we're facing. We have to do better to both value and recognise and then truly look after Defence personnel. They put their lives on the line at times, but most of the time they're putting their bodies on the line, training and staying ready. When they have injuries, both physical and mental, our part of the bargain should be that we'll look after them and we won't make them argue, even though they've been at war, that their PTSD comes from that. We need to do better as a country.

If Defence want to be an employer of choice, there is significant cultural change that will have to occur, and our response as a nation to things like climate change will have to be so much better to lessen the burden and challenge on the ADF. We're relying on them more and more. In a time when we're seeing instability and the breaking down of the rules based order in some instances, we cannot allow them to be spending too much time away from core Defence business.