Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's been a big week for current and former soldiers, sailors and aviators, but it's been made worse by this government reminding our veterans that it chooses the top brass over them. Veterans are sick of being kicked in the guts by governments that are in lockstep with the top brass. Just four days after the royal commission handed down its final report, the Minister for Defence released his response to the Brereton report. What was he thinking? As he always does, Minister Marles has thrown our diggers under the bus once again. This response has been in the works for four years, but he decides today is the right time to release that response. You have to be kidding me. How insensitive.

In his response, he still managed to forget one key thing: the accountability of the top brass. Up to 10 current and former soldiers will be stripped of their medals—surprise, surprise. Apparently, Angus Campbell isn't one of them. He was a commander of Joint Task Force in Afghanistan from 2011 to 2012, and he didn't know what was going on? And he calls himself a leader? You're kidding me! One of the 143 recommendations of the Brereton report was accountability of the top brass. Yet Minister Marles and Minister Keogh resort to their natural instinct—throwing our diggers under the bus.

This government keeps turning its back on diggers. They can't get the mental help they actually need. I want the government to tell me how many mental health beds there are and where they are located by four o'clock this afternoon. As a guess, I reckon they have no idea. This absolutely stacks on diggers while the top brass and generals go without any accountability. It has to stop, and it has to stop today. Just as the top brass need to be held accountable, so do Minister Marles and Minister Keogh. Once again I have to ask: why would the Albanese government release a royal commission report on Monday, in which thousands of soldiers have told their stories, and then throw this in their face today when you've had four years with that report? What were you thinking?