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

Like the previous amendment bill, the Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures No. 2) Bill 2023 is supported by the coalition. It covers issues in four schedules, all very important in their impact on our veterans communities.

The first section aligns the entitlements for firefighters employed by the Australian Defence Force with those for civil firefighters in relation to oesophageal cancer and other cancers, and it moves the qualifying period for entitlements from 25 years down to 15 years. We know that civilian firefighters have had health complications often related to the use of firefighting foam and other chemicals, and this will ensure that the same protections they get are available to ADF firefighters.

Secondly, the payments from the specified Commonwealth, state and territory employment programs will be exempt from a veteran's income in respect of means testing. This brings veterans in line with other social security requirements and makes sure that, if a veteran chooses to seek employment after their service, it doesn't unduly impact them.

Thirdly, the bill gives discretion to provide rent assistance beyond 26 weeks for veterans who are overseas and who, for unforeseen circumstances, cannot return home when they intended to. Fourthly, and very importantly, the bill allows grandparents to work in loco parentis to support a child of a Defence Force member.

While some of these amendments seem minor, they will have very important benefits for our veterans. We in the coalition support this bill.

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

The Greens support the Veterans’ Affairs Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures No. 2) Bill 2023. I will just deal briefly with the four schedules. Schedule 1 is the firefighter's alignment provision. It will amend the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act to reduce the qualifying period of employment for Australian Defence Force firefighters in relation to compensation for primary site oesophageal cancer from 25 years to 15 years. It will also change the requirement for firefighting to have been a 'substantial proportion' of their duties to a 'not insubstantial proportion of their duties'. This aligns the entitlements of defence firefighters with the entitlements of other firefighters under Commonwealth legislation. I want to note the consistent work of my colleague Adam Bandt for Victorian firefighters that led to this presumption, which I'm glad to see has also found its way into the Commonwealth more broadly. This, the Greens hope, will finally bring that last tranche of Commonwealth firefighters—being ADF firefighters—within the presumption and provide them the protection they deserve for the work they've done for the people of Australia.

Schedule 2 is the employment program. That amends the VEA to allow for a determination to be made so that amounts received from specified Commonwealth, state and territory programs are not considered as income for income support means-testing purposes. There are some technical amendments to the Social Security Act to enable that to happen. This is an important provision which will allow for veterans not to have their Commonwealth payments docked because they are receiving often very modest payments at a state level. We support that amendment.

Schedule 3 of the bill amends the VEA to include a permanent discretion to provide Commonwealth rental assistance beyond 26 weeks for eligible recipients who are temporarily absent from Australia and unable to return due to what's called a prescribed event occurring. This is one of those provisions that will stop veterans returning and potentially being homeless. We support the amendment, and we appreciate the minister bringing it forward.

Schedule 4 amends the VEA, DRCA and the MRCA to extend eligibility for the defence, veterans and families acute support package to grandparents who are full-time carers of the children of a veteran. Existing provisions within these acts can be utilised for some grandparents, and this bill adds additional provisions to ensure that further grandparents may be eligible and have access to the acute support package. I note that this is implementing a commitment made in the budget where the government committed to providing half a million dollars over four years, commencing next financial year, and then $0.2 million per year ongoing to expand the support under the defence, veterans and families acute support package to grandparents who are full-time carers of grandchildren who are children of a veteran. This extension of benefits is a matter that my office advocated to the minister on. We heard from a number of veterans that often the only real care they can get is from their parents looking after their kids, picking them up after school and being there when they can't be there, often because the veterans are attending medical appointments or otherwise are unable to attend. Without these amendments there would be no way of fairly compensating those grandparents for often quite substantial travel costs and other out-of-pocket expenses. I want to put on record our gratitude to the minister for listening to calls from veterans and those submissions from our office, and actually responding. While we think that the numbers could be bigger, and we hope that, as the benefits of this small extension become apparent, those numbers can grow over time, it is an example of the minister listening and responding to calls from veterans and their supporters in this place.

Finally, while it is not specifically attached to this bill, I do want to note the good work of Wounded Heroes Australia and the positive engagement they have had with the minister. We made two separate submissions to the minister for that really important organisation to be funded, and the good news is that it is in the early stages of moving through a positive funding result with the department. Again, I commend the minister for good-faith engagement. For those who don't know, Wounded Heroes Australia provides essential short-term cash payments for veterans who are homeless or facing homelessness, the $500 that means that they can keep their rental rather than losing their home, the $300 or $400 that means they and their families can stay in a motel for a couple of nights so that they're not thrown out on the streets. Wounded Heroes Australia has been self-funded and doing all of this work up to now. It is an extraordinary performance, and, with a bit of additional government support to get them security going forward, we really hope that the grant process comes through, and that Wounded Heroes Australia get the support to do the work they do for veterans.

Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

First, I would like to thank Senator Davey and Senator Shoebridge for their contributions to the debate on the Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures No. 2) Bill 2023. I again acknowledge the continuing tradition of bipartisan support for veterans, and I thank the Senate for this important amendment bill. This legislation will enhance the support and services available to veterans and their families. Supporting veterans and their families is one of our key priorities, and that is why the recent budget had such a significant focus on rebuilding the Department of Veterans' Affairs in order to ensure the foundations are laid to improve access to services and support for veterans and their families. This bill also enhances support for ADF firefighters who served prior to 2004. It also extends the treatment of certain income from specified employment programs as exempt income for income support means testing, and it extends the availability of rent assistance for veterans and their partners who are overseas but unable to return to Australia due to exceptional circumstances, such as those experienced in recent years with COVID-19. Additionally, this bill expands eligibility for access to services under the Defence, Veterans' and Families' Acute Support Package, which is available to families in crisis. We expanded this package through legislation last year to a much wider cohort of veterans and families. Now it will also pick up grandcarer families, a gap we identified and funded in the May budget.

The Albanese Labor government is committed to establishing the strongest foundations to support our service personnel, veterans and their families, and I commend the bill to the Senate.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.