MATTERS OF URGENCY
Senator ROBERTS (Queensland) (17:00): One Nation supports Senator Lambie's matter of urgency. The Albanese Labor government is again denigrating and mistreating our honourable and deserving Australian veterans, the people we rely on to keep us safe; who put country first, ahead of their own lives and safety; and to whom every Australian owes a huge debt. These are our finest—decent, caring, disciplined, noble—and, in serving Australia, some have been injured or damaged.
This government is now treating these women and men with a contempt that should be called out for the shame that it brings on all Australians. I recently met with yet another group of veterans, the Coalition of Veterans Voices, concerned about Labor's interventions into veterans rights and care. These men and women are genuine, sensible and intelligent Australians alarmed at Labor's imminent curbing of veterans rights to essential allied health care needed as a result of their services to Australia.
They said the minister, the Hon. Matt Keogh, who begrudgingly met with the veterans, declined to even shake their hands. What's wrong with Labor politicians?
The group told me of the broken DVA claims processing—the uncaring system that hinders rather than helps—that seems not to have performance standards—and if it does, it rarely meet those standards. I was told that veterans are being denied their choice of provider. They're funnelled to a single provider contracted to the Department of Veterans' Affairs, where claims are then underestimated and delayed.
DVA's own figures reveal that last year the average time to determine an initial claim took 364 days—virtually a year!—of wait time. As at 30 June 2026, the department had 103 outstanding claims. This system is clearly broken and needs to be reviewed and rebuilt.
By the way, Senator Grogan mentioned that when her government came into office the backlog was 42,000. It's now 103,000. The changes will not assist veterans.
They callously short-change veterans. Labor now has an upper limit cap of $5,000 on allied health services and treatment for conditions and injuries that occurred because of defence service. Doctors and our veterans are worried, and have every right to be worried.
Labor claims that this cap won't hurt veterans with complex cases, and yet admits that a system to apply the funding has not even been designed. The cap is contrary to recommendations by the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. It's callous disregard for the health and wellbeing of veterans and is highly disrespectful.
Physiotherapy, occupational therapy, psychological services and other rehabilitation services are not discretionary needs—they're vital means to support vets to regain their health—and they need to be continuous, not capped and then having six months of no care before they're renewed. Veterans should be able to choose a practitioner who knows their care needs.
A $5,000 cap is not a budget efficiency; it's a barrier to treatment. The cap must go. Scrap the cap.
In sync with this is the need for Labor to restore a veteran's right to choose their assessor and not be restricted to a government paid contractor likely to want to cut corners. Our relatively small Defence Force plays a vital role in defending the security of 28 million Australians, yet Labor fails to support vets under attack. When the ABC grossly misrepresented and harmed distinguished veteran Heston Russell, Labor did nothing despite the ABCs use of taxpayer funds.
ABC lost a court case and failed repeatedly to apologise to Heston. And former commissioner Paul Brereton undermined accused veterans, including our most decorated soldier, Ben Roberts-Smith. Brereton's inaction reflected Labor's failure to assist and support veterans.
Diggers went to Iraq on the basis of weapons of mass destruction and then, two years later, we found there were no weapons of mass destruction. That was a lie, but no-one apologised. Why would anyone seriously wish to join the military if they knew that they would be thrown on the scrapheap or ignored and disrespected if they left the service through service related injury or conditions?
Are Labor's imminent caps on care the result of Labor's wasteful spending in other areas that's sending our country broke? Is this the Albanese government's trademark deceit and hypocrisy? Three words frame Labor: waste, hypocrisy and deceit.
This inept Albanese government tries to look good, not do good—words, no substance. Yet, despite Labor's hype, misinformation and propaganda, Australians are waking up. One Nation and I completely support this matter of urgency.