MOTIONS

Mr McCORMACK (Riverina) (15:25): I second the motion. And it is with a heavy heart, because the once-great Labor Party once would have actually been here for a suspension of standing and sessional orders. But do you know what this mean-spirited Labor Party will do this week?

They'll shut down this debate as soon as I finish speaking, in 4½ minutes time. What do you think previous Labor veterans' affairs ministers—such as Warren Snowdon, Con Sciacca and John Faulkner—would have done? They would have been in here, sitting at the chair, and champing at the bit to defend their position, to defend their honour, to defend veterans—because they stood up for veterans.

They stood up for what is right. They stood up for those men and women who put a military uniform on when this parliament told them to go and fight for this country, to deploy to peacekeeping missions. And when those people came back, those ministers defended their rights; they stood up for them.

Yet this government turns its back on those men and women who have worn a military uniform, who have done the right thing by this country, who have served, who have sacrificed and whose memories we should uphold, whose service we should respect. And respect is earned. This minister has not earned the respect of veterans, who have bombarded my office with complaints.

They feel let down. They feel disappointed. I bet that those three Labor veterans' affairs ministers I mentioned never got those calls, because they did the right thing.

They knew that when veterans needed the help, the care, the support, the wraparound services and the love it was there, because this is generally a bipartisan thing. Generally, the House of Representatives, members of parliament, stand alongside our veterans and are proud to do so and give them the support and the backing they need. Not all our veterans are broken.

Not all our veterans need support. But those who do need it need a minister who cares. They need a minister who stands up in the Expenditure Review Committee and in cabinet—if he were in cabinet, but when he's seconded to cabinet—to say: 'I'm not going to stand for a $5,000 cap on allied health services.

I'm not going to tolerate it when the Prime Minister or indeed the Treasury officials say we can make a saving here because there is a saving.' When there's a saving, you know there are going to be cuts. You know there are going to be fewer services available for our veterans—less physiotherapy, less physical help, less psychology. Our veterans need those services, and they feel so let down.

And all they asked for, those veterans who came here on Monday, was 15 to 20 minutes, and the minister had to be dragged kicking and screaming to a meeting with them. Then, when they got that meeting, he rolled his eyes, he folded his arms, he threw his hands back; he wasn't interested at all. All he was interested in was the pate and the bubbly out at Yarralumla; that's all he cared about—and he told them.

I mean, it's all well and good to think that, but don't tell those veterans that you just want to get out to Government House. Don't make them feel less worthy. And they are worthy.

I had those Veterans' Voices in my office, and they were outstanding people. They were fine people, and all they wanted was help. The opposition leader had them, too, and the Leader of the Nationals.

Many members met them. Labor members met them; they gave them the time. But would the minister give them the time?

Finally he did. And when he gave them the time, he showed them contempt. This is simply not good enough.

The Prime Minister needs to do two things today. First of all, he has to scrap this insidious cap—this dreadful insult to our veterans. He needs to get rid of it.

He could do it easily. He could find savings elsewhere in the budget. Second, he needs to get rid of the minister.

He needs to replace the minister with someone who cares—someone who won't show contempt for our veterans. Labor should also take this suspension motion on: Speak to it. Defend your minister.

If he's worth defending, then speak to this motion before the House on why standing and sessional orders need to be suspended. Man up!