Albanese Government

Phillip Thompson

I move:

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the Member for Herbert from moving the following motion immediately

That this House censures the Government for ripping $748 million from veterans' healthcare through a $5,000 cut on allied health services, forcing veterans to fight bureaucracy to access treatment, betraying the covenant owed to those who served Australia, and balancing the Government's budget on the back of veterans and their families.

'Without DVA, I'd be stuffed. I have 22 scars on my body from various operations and metal in my body. I have PTSD, depression and anxiety, amongst others.' 'In the last four years, I lost my health, my mental health and my 24-year career and now I'm going through a separation from my family, all from military service.' 'These people want to reduce treatment. They are going to have a massive veteran health crisis on their hands.' 'It is just a slap in the face. We did what we did for our country. Now we have to fight the government for the help we need. It just isn't right.' 'If I lose physio, my injuries will become substantially worse, probably ending in more surgery.' 'I'm currently unable to work with my back injury, and my mental state has continued to crumble since service.' 'I've nearly lost my life due to these issues multiple times. Once again, we were thrown in the dirt.' 'If I lose either of my treatments, I can guarantee I wouldn't be here much longer. The country has truly lost our veterans.' 'I'll not be a burden on my family. I will take my life so my family doesn't see me at my worst. I want them to remember me as the man I am today.'

These are the messages, the heartbreaking messages, that I receive every day from veterans who are struggling, from veterans who have asked this government to get rid of this $5,000 cap on their allied health care. These veterans are talking about suicide. They're talking about not being here much longer because of this government's cap. It's simply not good enough. We look veterans in the eye on Anzac Day and Remembrance Day. We say, 'Thank you for your service.' We say, 'Lest we forget.' To me that's a commitment, a commitment that this parliament and their leaders have to veterans. But now it doesn't feel like a commitment. It feels like this government is betraying them. It feels like this government is letting them down. It's because we have an incompetent minister for veterans' affairs, and we have a prime minister who isn't strong enough to make the right choice to sack his veterans' affairs minister and scrap this $5,000 cap on allied health care.

I can't understand why, for any bit of legislation where they've had such pushback and been told that this is not what the veteran community want, they double down. Just before, a motion came back from the Senate to the House of Representatives where the majority of the Senate voted to scrap this $5,000 cap, and the government didn't have the spine to debate it, to bring it on or to stand up and acknowledge they got it wrong and then scrap it. They pushed it to another sitting day, which means it'll just sit there and nothing will happen. It is not good enough. This Labor government is looking veterans in the eye and saying, 'Your service doesn't matter.'

Now, you don't have to take my word for it. You heard from about nine different veterans just before with their heartbreaking stories. When they put on their uniform, serve on combat operations and humanitarian missions, help out through natural disasters, they expect that, if they become wounded, injured or ill, the government will look after them, because that's the commitment that governments give to our veterans, to our Defence Force. Sadly, once again, we've seen, from this government, our veterans being let down.

It talked about suicide in this message. If we haven't lost too many veterans—the Australian people know that and expect action. Yet we've got a government that is pushing people to start thinking like that again, pushing veterans to think that their service or their life—they don't want to be a burden on their family. That's a plan. I am so terrified that that plan will come to fruition.

There was never a consultation process announced. This is a new thing. The consultation is running for, I don't know, however long. And then, at the end of it, I'm sure that the minister and the government will say, 'Yes, veterans don't want this cap,' and I will stand in here and say, 'I know, genius, because they came to Parliament House, they've emailed our offices, they've met with everyone that they can'. They've tried to meet with the minister that didn't want to. You don't need a consultation process. You know that veterans don't want this cap.

This is a cost-saving measure that is placed on the shoulders of veterans—$748 million. That is disgraceful. A government should not ever, ever use veterans' health to prop up or fix their broken budget. That is something that I wouldn't have thought that any government would do. Yet here we are today, not being able to debate a motion coming back from the Senate. We had Senator Babet sitting on the same side as the Greens. No-one would have thought that would occur. But they all know that this is wrong. They know that this cap is going to hurt our veterans.

All this prime minister and the Minister for Veterans' Affairs have to do today is stand up and say, 'We'll scrap the cap. We'll get rid of it, and it's not because of the coalition; it's because the veterans don't want it.' Veterans have asked. Veterans have told. Veterans have demanded. I've had backbenchers on the Labor side come over to me and say, 'Yes, we want to get rid of it,' or, 'Please, don't come to my electorate and mention it.' The member for Isaacs doesn't agree. He thinks that we should keep it. He mentioned that before. I'm happy to go to his electorate and to meet with any ex-service organisation that told him and any other Labor member that this cap should stay, because I'm telling you no-one has.

We've got veterans' families, spouses and children contacting members of parliaments' offices going, 'I'm terrified of what this will do to my mum,' or their dad. If this is occurring, and you know it's wrong, then why wouldn't you just scrap it? Why won't you scrap the cap? You have to do the right thing. This is the time when the Minister for Veterans' Affairs can. He can say, 'It won't happen. We won't have a cap,' because we shouldn't, because, if a veteran's doing it tough, they're in a dark hole, things aren't going well—like I've heard from one of those veterans. He's just had a separation and he's got post-traumatic stress disorder. He has 22 scars on his body and has had multiple surgeries, and he's looking up and he can't see any light because the only light that he had, the treatment that he was getting, is being taken away because of this cut.

We've had the Department of Veterans' Affairs tell people that it'll be several months before they may get a review to be able to get any extra money. You shouldn't have to fight for that. I know what happens next. We go to funerals. I've carried too many coffins to sit in this place and allow incompetence to potentially make our veterans, myself or others that serve attend another funeral—because that's what my fear is.

We don't have to do this. It wasn't in the recommendation. I'm unsure; this could be recommendation 123—the Keogh recommendation, I'm not sure. But I can tell you that no-one, even people that don't vote this way and don't vote that way—this is a bipartisan position. You're either going to do the right thing and scrap the cap, or you're going to dig in. I can tell you now, I wouldn't want to be rocking up on any Anzac days or remembrance days or going to any of your veterans groups, because they are rightly angry. They will be furious.

Tony Pasin

November's coming up.

Phillip Thompson

Yes, we have days coming up where we say, 'Lest we forget.' We say, 'We will remember.' I can tell you now it means nothing coming from this government side. 'Lest we forget' is something that we all have a commitment to do. We go to the War Memorial and we see the names etched on the walls. We see their families. We see people crying. They're asking you to be a leader today and scrap this cap.

There is nothing worse than this cap being placed on our veterans. These people who put on the uniform deserve much more respect than you're giving them. Minister, you're sitting here today. I hope that you stand up here right now and agree that this cap shouldn't be there. We should scrap the cap. If not, I hope you stand up and resign.

Steve Georganas

Is there a seconder for the motion?

Michael McCormack

I second the motion. The standing and sessional orders need to be suspended. I'm not sure whether the minister is here deliberately or whether he actually has table duty, but I'm very pleased also that the Treasurer is here, because I'd really like to know what the Treasurer is going to do with the $748 million that has been banked as the savings.

Jim Chalmers

There's been an extra $16 billion in the budget for veterans since 2022.

Michael McCormack

Tell that to veterans. At the moment, they can see there's a $748 million cut. You do not point your finger at me when we've got veterans out there hurting. You can cut pointing your finger at me, because there are veterans out there who are absolutely hurting. There are veterans out there who do not know that they're going to have a future. You can actually keep pointing a finger, and you can keep interjecting. But there are veterans out there—

Jim Chalmers

You left them on a waitlist!

Michael McCormack

We did not leave veterans behind. I tell you who is leaving veterans behind. It's this minister. This minister is leaving veterans behind right across the country. But don't take my word for it. Get out to your electorate. You get out to your electorate, and you listen to your veterans because at the moment they are hurting. I spoke to a veteran in your home city who'd been on two tours of duty to Afghanistan. Are you going to continue to let him yell at me, Deputy Speaker? He can be quiet. He is interjecting on me.

Steve Georganas

There are far too many interjections from both sides. I will not take any more interjections.

Michael McCormack

There is $748 million that is going to be banked as savings, and they shouldn't be savings out of the veteran community. And it's not just veterans—

Jim Chalmers

There's $15.9 billion extra.

An honourable member: There he goes again. Can you control the treasurer?

Steve Georganas

I didn't hear what the Treasurer said, but the member for Riverina has the call. He'll continue his speech. There are too many interjections from both sides. The Treasurer will cease interjecting.

Michael McCormack

It's half a million veterans. It's their families. And, at the moment, they are hurting. I spoke to an Afghanistan veteran in Brisbane at a forum, and he couldn't understand why his service had been insulted in this way. He couldn't understand why the medals that he so proudly wore and both the mental and physical scars had been rejected in this way by this government, which has turned its back on our veterans and has absolutely insulted and betrayed our veterans. Our veterans deserve better than this—$748 million over three years. That, from 1 July next year, is what our veteran community is faced with.

They need the allied health. They need the physical help. They need the psychological help. It's all well and good to say, 'We're working on the referrals process,' but if you're a veteran and you live—like our veteran friend did at this Brisbane forum—live remotely or if you live regionally, it is so hard to get a GP at the best of times, let alone a specialist. How are they going to after that $5,000 cap—and you can shake your head all you like, Minister. You can roll your eyes because you did that at the veterans, but you're not going to do it in the parliament when I tell you our veterans are watching. They're watching right across the country, and they know that this cap has to be scrapped.

They know that this cap is so unnecessary, because it wasn't a recommendation of the 122 recommendations handed down after the royal commission. It was not one of those recommendations. What we've seen here this morning is Labor once again kicking this into the never-never, Labor kicking what was a Senate bill passed, an amendment to the legislation that is going to be put through this place—35 to 20. It was rejected. Every non-government member voted against it—35 voted in favour of this amendment. What we've got is a Labor Party, a government, that is hurtling well and truly over $1 trillion looking to make cuts from veteran spending. Shame on them!

Yet they won't listen to the veteran community. They won't even listen to the Senate. The amendments come back here into the House and get kicked into the long grass, never to be seen again. I hope you speak to this motion, Minister. I sincerely hope you do, because there are people out there who are absolutely hurting. As the member for Herbert, a veteran himself, has just said, unfortunately, there are going to be people who have really bad outcomes from this particular cap. Scrap the cap! (Time expired)

Long debate text truncated.