Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I confirm that the opposition does not oppose the Veterans’ Affairs Legislation Amendment (International Agreements and Other Measures) Bill 2008. It is a bill that makes amendments to the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986. It gives effect to revised arrangements for entering into agreements with the governments of other countries in relation to payments of pensions and provision of assistance and benefits to eligible persons residing in Australia. It will authorise the use of funds from the CRF for payments to eligible persons. It will enable the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs to enter into agreements with foreign governments of other relevant countries—currently a duty performed by the Governor-General. It extends the period for which the Commonwealth or Australian Federal Police may be considered to be a nuclear test participant for the purpose of the Australian Participants in British Nuclear Tests (Treatment) Act 2006. Finally, the bill amends the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act to correct minor errors and anomalies in the act.

Therefore, we do not oppose the bill or the measures contained therein, and in particular we welcome schedule 2, dealing with Commonwealth or Federal Police who served at Maralinga, in my state of South Australia. Overall, the bill contains relatively minor amendments, and the EM reports that they have negligible financial impact. But I do want to take this opportunity to echo the comments of the shadow veterans’ affairs minister, Bronwyn Bishop, in the Main Committee that we are concerned by evidence of the government’s attempts to undermine veterans entitlements. On the surface this bill would seem to be non-controversial, but Mrs Bishop, as she said, received a caucus-in-confidence note that talked about the impact of these changes on veterans in relation to schedule 3, part 2, the effect of days worked on compensation. The minister was silent on the anticipated impact of these changes, and this potential savings measure is not stated in the EM, but caucus was duly alerted to the potential negative impact of these measures on veterans entitlements under changes to section 196(3)(c). We do express our concern about that and other evidence of the extent to which the government is placing restraints on veterans entitlements. So, while we do not oppose this bill, we do place on record our concerns with evidence of Labor’s policy in relation to veterans and we, the opposition, put the government on notice that we will be closely monitoring these and future amendments to ensure that veterans do not have their entitlements undermined.

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As the shadow minister has indicated, this legislation is non-controversial. The Veterans’ Affairs Legislation Amendment (International Agreements and Other Measures) Bill 2008 contains minor amendments that will further align the veterans entitlements means test with the social security means test, provide greater flexibility in arrangements with other countries, correct a number of minor errors in the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act and extend the eligibility period for Commonwealth Police or Australian Federal Police under the Australian Participants in British Nuclear Tests (Treatment) Act 2006.

There are further technical consequential amendments of the Veterans’ Entitlements Act and military rehabilitation matters. Minor changes to the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act will ensure that widowed partners and incapacitated members receive correct compensation payments to which they are entitled under the MRCA and, in particular, the amendment in relation to the incapacity payments will ensure that a person’s compensation is commensurate with his or her loss of earnings during a part week of incapacity. The Labor government was elected with a commitment to provide robust service assistance support to Australia’s ex-service community, and that commitment includes continuing to review the operation of Australia’s repatriation and military compensation rehabilitation schemes. This legislation will strengthen support in a number of areas to ensure that assistance available through the Veterans’ Affairs portfolio is efficient, effective, equitable and fair.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.