MATTERS OF URGENCY
Senator DAVID POCOCK (Australian Capital Territory—Independent ACT Whip) (17:05): I rise to support Senator Lambie's urgency motion today. In doing so, I thank Senator Lambie for her leadership on this issue and on all the issues, big and small, that affect veterans. At the Australian War Memorial, there is a truly haunting exhibit called 'Deathmin' by Kat Rae.
I encourage all senators to have a look at it next time they're at the War Memorial. It shows a stack of DVA paperwork over 1½ metres high received by Ms Rae following her husband's death by suicide. Rather than describe it for the Senate, I thought I'd read Ms Rae's description of this exhibit and what it represents: After my veteran husband Andrew suicided in 2017, I inherited a stack of post-death admin.
This "deathmin" contains thousands of pages in which Andrew requests support for his broken body. Eventually, DVA paid $7 fortnightly, later reduced to $5. Three months before Andrew died, payments ceased. … … … In the army, you are taught that no matter how tired you are, you cannot lean against walls.
Heavy with fatigue and leaning precariously like the fate of so many, Deathmin is weary and wants to rest. Deathmin is a counter-monument to the strong, upright imagery often conveyed in the Australian War Memorial. At my height and Andrew's weight, Deathmin embodies the burden placed on veterans and their families.
It asks bureaucratic institutions to care for the people they say they will. This is the lived reality of many veterans and their families across the country, and many I speak with here in the ACT, of battling with the DVA at every turn just to get the care they need. Now we have this—a cap on the amount of allied health services a veteran can access each year.
Yet more bureaucracy that a veteran has to engage with to receive health care—another form, another appointment. It might not seem like a lot to people who make these rules and introduce these caps, but it all goes on the stack. It's on the shoulders of veterans and their families.
It's another doctor's appointment. For those who don't live in Canberra, it is pretty hard to get in to see a GP. We know that the vast majority of GPs don't even accept a white card here in Canberra.
In introducing this cap, the government is saying, 'If you sustain an injury in service to this country, then we're only going to pay to fix some of it.' As I understand it, this is the first cap that we have ever, in the history of our country, put on veterans' health care. Truthfully, I find it offensive. People have talked about the kind of contract we have with veterans.
If you're willing to serve our country and put your life on the line, and, in many instances, put your family through it—they're there with you. They're the ones moving around the country. They're the ones worrying about you when you are deployed or doing exercises off the coast or up north.
We say we will look after you when you break your body, when you have mental injuries or when you suffer trauma, and, as has been well ventilated, my understanding is that the minister didn't even consult with veterans on this. Surely, we can do better than that—an arbitrary cut without consultation and an unprecedented cap to go after a few shonky operators.
Let's go after the operators. Send the cops. I'm sure the AFP would love to go after operators who are screwing over veterans.
Why don't we do that? Surely, that's the starting point rather than putting another burden on veterans. I know the government will say, 'Well, they can go to the GP, and they can work around it, and we can extend their cap'—but why?
What are we doing this for? Surely, we can do better than this. Again, thank you, Senator Lambie, for your work on this.
How much you have their back is often commented on by veterans in the ACT. The PRESIDENT: The question is that the urgency motion moved by Senator Lambie be agreed to.