QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE: TAKE NOTE OF ANSWERS

Senator McGRATH (Queensland) (15:02): I move: That the Senate take note of the answers given by ministers to questions without notice asked by Opposition senators today. In particular, I want to address the answers that were given to the questions put by Senator Cash concerning the treatment of our veterans and the decision of the Labor Party to place a cap on allied health services.

This morning, I was at the front of Parliament House along with Michael McCormack, the shadow veterans' affairs minister, Senator Collins and Senator Blyth. We were there on behalf of the coalition to meet with veterans who had come to parliament to raise their concerns about the cap being placed on allied health services—an arbitrary cap. These men and women laid down their medals at the front of Parliament House.

Now, these medals are not something you find in a packet of rice bubbles or when you get an ooshie from Woolies; these medals are for honour, they're for service and they're for bravery. There were no Labor Party politicians at the front of Parliament House to meet with the coalition of veterans groups. It was coalition MPs and senators, because we understand the service that these men and women have given to this country.

It is very sad, and it is pathetic. The responses given by ministers in this place in relation to questions put to them by coalition senators, particularly the questions that were put by Senator Cash this week and in the previous sitting week, were answers returned in the form of a word salad, talking about engagement. It was the type of language you would hear from a management consultant rather than from the Leader of the Government in the Senate, representing the Prime Minister.

We have a Prime Minister in this country who cheerfully breaks his promises. He cheerfully, at election time, will say one thing and, as soon as the voters have finished voting, will then change his mind. And we have a Minister for Veterans' Affairs—the worst Minister for Veterans' Affairs since the department was created in the mid 1970s—who clearly does not want to be the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, who clearly does not like veterans, who clearly does not like meeting with veterans or veterans groups.

We only have to look at how he treated the veterans in the previous sitting fortnight, when he sat there rolling his eyes, refusing to shake their hands, folding his arms. He was very annoyed that he was missing out on having coffee at Government House. We have a Minister for Veterans' Affairs who prioritises social engagements over dealing with the fundamental issues that impact veterans and their families.

That is what we have with this veterans minister, with his decision to place a cap on allied health services. And we're talking about health services to help the men and women who put their lives on the line to defend this country. We're talking about providing health services to veterans.

But with this government, 'Computer says no.' This government has no empathy towards these veterans. It comes at them with malice. It comes at them with the demonic look of accountants who are concerned about saving money rather than saving lives.

And I say, shame on this minister. He should resign or be sacked. (Time expired)