MATTERS OF URGENCY

Senator COLLINS (New South Wales—Deputy Opposition Whip in the Senate) (16:43): Yes, this moment won't be forgotten. This week will never be forgotten—those decorated veterans, as you said, Senator Whitten, laying down their medals in front of Parliament House, giving them back to this government that has abandoned them, the government that has betrayed our veterans.

We have had to put this urgency motion forward because it is urgent, quite frankly, to the point of life or death for some of these people. I heard directly from veterans yesterday that there are people out there that can't manage. They can't battle the system any longer.

They can't go through it anymore. They feel that their only choice is to end their own life. This is why this is so urgent.

This is why everybody is so up in arms and desperately pleading with the government to remove this cap. It is not a threshold. It will make it even more difficult for these veterans to get the health care that they need.

Let me go through one example that I heard yesterday from a veteran who came and shared his story with me. His initial liability claim was 534 days in the system to then get a letter saying that they had accepted the liability. Bear in mind that the KPI of this government is 100 days.

That's five times over what their KPI is. After 663 days, it's still not finalised. Can you imagine the impact that that would have on someone's mental health, battling the government that they prepared to lay down their lives for?

We have a situation where the overcentralisation of the DVA claims process is slowing things down to the point that it is affecting the mental and physical health of our veterans. Claims are being kicked down the road. It's actually costing the government more money through the centralised process, the government's hand-picked medical assessor, and veteran health clinics in the meantime are closing down.

They have been forced through this system they don't want to be in, it's costing the government more money, and it's making it more difficult for them. This is why it's so urgent today that we call on this government to scrap this cap. The government says that they're going to make a $748 million saving off this cap.

But it's not a cap, is it? It's a threshold. We heard from the government just now that they were investing resources.

Money is not the answer to everything. You've got to sort all the problems around this. You've got to help our veterans—back in our veterans that did everything they could, put their lives on the line to only have this cruel government slap them in the face, quite frankly.

We also heard from Andy. I know the story has been shared a bit today, but we heard from Andy, a fourth generation soldier who feels betrayed and disappointed by the government that he fought for, and he's discouraging his 18-year-old son from enlisting. I think that's an absolute tragedy.

I heard from Chris, a veteran who suffered a traumatic brain injury while serving our country. He has been rejected on his claim too. He's not getting the help that he needs after he waited.

The system is broken, and I call on the government. Remove this cap at the very, very least, and back in our veterans. The PRESIDENT: The question is that the urgency motion as moved by Senator Cadell be agreed to.