MATTERS OF URGENCY
Senator GROGAN (South Australia—Deputy Government Whip in the Senate) (16:08): Before I start, let's just be really clear. Every single veteran and every single serving member and every bereaved family member who comes to this parliament deserves to be treated with respect and deserves to be heard. Above all, they deserve a government that will invest.
They deserve a government that puts actions behind the words. It's all very well to have a lot of words and a lot of hot air, but it's the actions that are going to significantly impact their lives as well. I will say that Minister Keogh has said that he made an incorrect call in not meeting with those veterans, and he has put his apologies forward, and I'm not going to go into that.
But what I am going to go into is the fact that, when we came to office, the Department of Veterans' Affairs had been underfunded and underresourced for years and years. Almost 42,000 new claims were sitting in a backlog when we came to government. That's 42,000 veterans who were languishing with no care or respect by those opposite when they were in government.
Forty-two thousand—just let that sink in for a minute. Those people were ignored and neglected by those opposite. The government, our government, the Albanese Labor government, funded additional departmental staff and cleared that inherited backlog, but it has taken time.
We couldn't get through that in no time at all. We couldn't look at such neglect from those opposite to our veterans. We couldn't get through that in no period of time.
We have continued to invest. Not only have we invested to clear that backlog, but in looking at the system, it was not working. It was not working for those veterans who have fought for our country, who have stood there in their uniform, prepared to defend the rest of us.
We will respect them. We do respect them. And that respect comes with significant action.
There have been a lot of very emotional stories this week about situations of health care, situations of abuse—all sorts of really horrible, horrible situations. The royal commission made a series of recommendations, and those recommendations are the ones that we are rolling out. That royal commission was what gave us the blueprint for what veterans, their families and their communities need.
Not only are we processing claims more quickly, not only are we putting forward better health care and compensation to support veterans when they need it, but we're working to fix this system so it's less complex. That work has begun. That work is on foot.
From 1 July this year, we began implementing the most significant reform that Australia's veterans support system has seen in generations. Just to be clear, we had the royal commission and 1 July brought significant change. We're now seven weeks on from that.
We should start to see significant improvements as this system is now rolling out. The new arrangements simplify the compensation system. It makes it easier for veterans and their families to understand their entitlements and access them.
It also allows claims to be processed much quicker. These reforms were shaped through consultation with veterans and their families because that's how we do things. Also on 1 July we opened the new Veteran and Family Wellbeing Agency.
That is about helping veterans find their way through quite complex systems, and it's a system that we have seen rolled out in South Australia. The Northern Adelaide Veterans' and Families' Wellbeing Hub at Elizabeth Vale is now supporting our community of more than 11,000 veterans and family members. That's on-ground actual assistance helping veterans.
It's helping them look to what they need, how to get there and how to have that support at their hand. Support for mental health issues, physical health issues, employment support, access to housing, financial advocacy, transitions assistance—these are all of the things that they desperately need. We are providing them because we respect those veterans and every last one of them deserves our gratitude and our respect.
And they have it.