MATTERS OF URGENCY
Senator COLLINS (New South Wales—Deputy Opposition Whip in the Senate) (16:29): I feel really sorry for those on the other side. They have to get up and back in this minister, and the words that they are saying are cheap. The talk is cheap.
At its core, it's just gaslighting of the Australian people. What matters most is how we treat our individuals, how we treat our veterans and how we treat the families of those veterans. What we saw from our Minister for Veterans' Affairs this week was an absolute disgrace.
It was a spit in the face of all veterans and serving members—an absolute spit in the face. I tell you what: the veterans don't get upset easily, but they are absolutely fuming. They are hurt.
They have no longer any trust in this government and no confidence in this Minister for Veterans' Affairs. I'll tell you why they don't. Let me tell you what he has done to this veteran community over the last six months.
First he tried to take away their appeals for medals and honours. He tried to put time limits on all of that and make them pay for their appeals. Then he tried to take away the funding for Invictus, an important institution for the mental health of our veterans.
Then, and probably the most egregious part of all, he tried to take away the funding for the parents of VC winner and national hero Corporal Cameron Baird. He backflipped on all of that because he realised he got it wrong. The veterans were disappointed.
They were outraged. Quite frankly, they were insulted. The Coalition of Veterans' Voices came to Canberra to share a warning for the Minister for Veterans' Affairs that his cuts to allied health funding meant that some veterans are on suicide watch, and he didn't even take a meeting.
He didn't even take a meeting. I don't know if anyone here had the privilege of listening to Senator Lambie's speech last night about the lifelong trauma that people can carry with them after having served our country and being prepared to lay down their lives for us and our children and their children. He goes and takes their funding.
This is the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, let's not forget. We have bipartisan support for the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. There is absolutely no doubt about that.
But what this minister is doing to the veteran community right now is nothing short of a disgrace, and we must hold him to account on this. Quite frankly, after this pattern of behaviour and the impact on the mental health of our veterans that this minister is causing, this minister must resign. I can't for the life of me understand why the Prime Minister continues to back him in.
Why won't he stand him down? He refused to shake the hands of the veterans when they finally got a meeting with him. He sat there and crossed his arms.
He rolled his eyes. It's an embarrassment for one, and absolutely not becoming of the man who is meant to represent them. Now he has an opportunity to do the right thing.
We in the opposition, the coalition, believe that his position is untenable and he should stand aside and make amends. If the Prime Minister had a backbone, he'd sack him today. Minister Keogh has lost the confidence and the trust of veterans right across the country—the veterans that he is supposed to be serving.
Veterans should not have to put up with this minister for one more day. The Prime Minister should show some leadership and sack him. (Time expired) The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator O'Neill ): The question is that the motion moved by Senator Cash be agreed to.