PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS

Mr THOMPSON (Herbert) (17:35): I still, after all the Labor members' speeches, haven't heard them talk in detail about the $5,000 cap. The member for Solomon spoke about the royal commission—and rightly so, as he was here through the whole process—but he didn't talk about the substance of this motion, which is the $5,000 cap. The member for Petrie said that the facts around this are about service fees, which were in the recommendations of the royal commission, but none of the recommendations of the royal commission spoke about a $5,000 cap—nowhere, nothing.

Having a cap is not going to give you ease of access. I'll give the former speaker some credit for saying that, if someone's going to exceed it, or if they regularly exceed it, then they should get the support that they deserve. I agree.

But how? Do you have to go to your GP and pre-empt an injury or illness? Do you have to wait till you're in a very dark place and then somehow find the magic number to call to get it extended?

There is no detail here. Veterans around the country are rightly questioning this Labor government about what the cap is, how to do it and what happens if it runs out. What happens if you're in a dark place?

You're going through something tough and you've fallen over—it's happening. You've hit your $5,000 target, and the only light at the end of the tunnel was the services that you were getting to get yourself back together. What happens when you get the letter or the phone call to say the appointment's cancelled because you've reached the limit?

What happens then? How does this person get the support and services that they need? What do they do?

They may not be in the frame of mind to be able to navigate the hours and hours of wait times when calling the Department of Veterans' Affairs. Then what do you do? Mr Gosling interjecting— Mr THOMPSON: Well, right now, if you call DVA, you would wait for about 52 minutes.

The member for Solomon is rightly concerned about this, and I take his concerns, but the problem here is this is going to cause more harm. A $5,000 cap is not what the royal commission said. It is not what veterans want.

There is nowhere that I have been or spoken where a veteran has organisation has said, 'We're extremely happy about this.' I was at the Cameron Baird Foundation launch today, and all the veterans there were rightly concerned. To gaslight them, to stand up in the chamber and say, 'Everything's fine. It's everyone else's fault.

Everyone's just whipping up concern'—it's just simply not true. It is not good enough that this Labor government has this cap that is going to make veterans worse off. It's simply mind boggling how you can somehow quantify this as the right thing to do.

I would challenge any member in this place that says they haven't received messages on their social media about this cap. I got one just the other day, and it reads: 'I spend $336 on psychology every two to three weeks. Sometimes it's a double session, which is $672, for EMDR treatment for PTSD, as one hour isn't enough for those sessions.

I've got physio twice a week at $110 per session—so that's $220 a week. I see a chiropractor once a week at $75 a session. The $5,000 cap will last me three months.' Another person said that they have psychology treatment, they have physio, they have chiropractic—'What happens when this runs out?

I don't want to be a burden on my family.' That is terrifying, and it's terrifying because the government isn't giving answers to the questions that veterans have. No speaker has said, 'This is how the $5,000 cap will work.' No speaker from the government has stood up in parliament, and the minister really should—it's his responsibility—stand up and outline it all.

But, once again, veterans are left to try and decipher it, to try and understand it. Most fear it because it hasn't been clearly communicated. The tens of thousands of those that reach out to me and to other offices have been asking questions.

No-one has told them how it will work. I did expect better from the member for Solomon. A veteran himself, he once again just gets up and gaslights the world.

He should be asking these hard questions.