MOTIONS

Mr McCORMACK (Riverina) (15:25): I certainly second the motion. Standing and sessional orders must be suspended for this most important motion. Up in the gallery is Julie-Ann Finney; she's the mum of a veteran who took his own life.

We also had amongst us this morning—amongst those heroes, amongst those veterans, amongst those who served our nation—Andrew 'Horse' Hudson, a decorated former SAS operator and canine handler who served for 22 years. He deployed in Afghanistan many, many times. We had Dr Tim Nelson, a former RAAF fighter pilot, who's now actually a GP, helping veterans.

Our veterans need help. What they don't need is cuts. What they don't need is a $5,000 allied health services cap.

The cap is insidious. It is cruel. It is unnecessary.

This government, this Australian Labor Party, that came to office in May 2022 saying it would not leave anyone behind has deserted our veterans and has turned its back on our veterans, who deserve better. This parliament sends our men and our women to war, and those men and women have our backs when we most need it—when the Australian people most need it. Yet, when they come back and they return to civilian life, some of them are broken.

Many are not, but some of them need help—psychological help, mental help, physical assistance. What happens is you get a budget like we had in May. The government turned its back on our veterans with this $5,000 cap.

Shame on Labor! Labor said, 'Well, it's not just all about a cut or a cap or anything like that.' But I tell you what, in the budget papers there was a $748 million save—a $748 million cut to veterans. It is $748 million of valuable and valued assistance that is now not going to our veterans.

I have a veteran in Wagga Wagga who ultimately lost his leg because it hit a bolt on the other side of a wall in the obstacle course at the home of the soldier, Blamey Barracks. He is now an amputee. He has mental health problems, and he has, obviously, physical problems, with the loss of a leg.

How can he be expected to reduce that service that he needs from his country, our country, to just $5,000 when he's lost his leg for his country? It is simply not good enough. You've got heroes in the gallery today—20 of them—who came to parliament from right across this nation and who just want a meeting with the minister, and the minister is too tied up—too busy.

I've been in those meetings, as has shadow minister Thompson. I've been in those meetings where, yes, it is difficult to listen. Yes, they are not on your side.

But you owe it to the veterans, you owe it to the constituents and you owe it to taxpayers to meet them, to look them in the eye, to listen to them and to do what's dignified—to give them respect. And our veterans deserve respect. They put on a military uniform, and they are the best of the best in this nation.

And then you get a mum who lost her son. All she wants is 15 minutes with the minister—to sit beside those other heroes, those veterans, and tell the minister why they think he should go back to the drawing board on this cruel $5,000 cap. There was no consultation on this cap prior to the budget, and Labor says, 'Well, we'll consult after.' Well, it's not good enough afterwards.

It should have been done before the budget, and it wasn't. I don't know why it wasn't, but I tell you what: our veterans are angry. There is white-hot anger out there, and they have every reason to be angry, because they fought hard for this country.

They deserve better from this country. And they deserve better from this minister, who's still got time to meet them today.