MOTIONS
Mr McCORMACK (Riverina) (12:19): I second the motion. The standing and sessional orders need to be suspended. I'm not sure whether the minister is here deliberately or whether he actually has table duty, but I'm very pleased also that the Treasurer is here, because I'd really like to know what the Treasurer is going to do with the $748 million that has been banked as the savings.
Dr Chalmers: There's been an extra $16 billion in the budget for veterans since 2022. Mr McCORMACK: Tell that to veterans. At the moment, they can see there's a $748 million cut.
You do not point your finger at me when we've got veterans out there hurting. You can cut pointing your finger at me, because there are veterans out there who are absolutely hurting. There are veterans out there who do not know that they're going to have a future.
You can actually keep pointing a finger, and you can keep interjecting. But there are veterans out there— Dr Chalmers: You left them on a waitlist! Mr McCORMACK: We did not leave veterans behind.
I tell you who is leaving veterans behind. It's this minister. This minister is leaving veterans behind right across the country.
But don't take my word for it. Get out to your electorate. You get out to your electorate, and you listen to your veterans because at the moment they are hurting.
I spoke to a veteran in your home city who'd been on two tours of duty to Afghanistan. Are you going to continue to let him yell at me, Deputy Speaker? He can be quiet.
He is interjecting on me. The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mr Georganas ): There are far too many interjections from both sides. I will not take any more interjections.
Mr McCORMACK: There is $748 million that is going to be banked as savings, and they shouldn't be savings out of the veteran community. And it's not just veterans— Dr Chalmers: There's $15.9 billion extra. An honourable member: There he goes again.
Can you control the treasurer? The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I didn't hear what the Treasurer said, but the member for Riverina has the call. He'll continue his speech.
There are too many interjections from both sides. The Treasurer will cease interjecting. Mr McCORMACK: It's half a million veterans.
It's their families. And, at the moment, they are hurting. I spoke to an Afghanistan veteran in Brisbane at a forum, and he couldn't understand why his service had been insulted in this way.
He couldn't understand why the medals that he so proudly wore and both the mental and physical scars had been rejected in this way by this government, which has turned its back on our veterans and has absolutely insulted and betrayed our veterans. Our veterans deserve better than this—$748 million over three years. That, from 1 July next year, is what our veteran community is faced with.
They need the allied health. They need the physical help. They need the psychological help.
It's all well and good to say, 'We're working on the referrals process,' but if you're a veteran and you live—like our veteran friend did at this Brisbane forum—live remotely or if you live regionally, it is so hard to get a GP at the best of times, let alone a specialist. How are they going to after that $5,000 cap—and you can shake your head all you like, Minister.
You can roll your eyes because you did that at the veterans, but you're not going to do it in the parliament when I tell you our veterans are watching. They're watching right across the country, and they know that this cap has to be scrapped. They know that this cap is so unnecessary, because it wasn't a recommendation of the 122 recommendations handed down after the royal commission.
It was not one of those recommendations. What we've seen here this morning is Labor once again kicking this into the never-never, Labor kicking what was a Senate bill passed, an amendment to the legislation that is going to be put through this place—35 to 20. It was rejected.
Every non-government member voted against it—35 voted in favour of this amendment. What we've got is a Labor Party, a government, that is hurtling well and truly over $1 trillion looking to make cuts from veteran spending. Shame on them!
Yet they won't listen to the veteran community. They won't even listen to the Senate. The amendments come back here into the House and get kicked into the long grass, never to be seen again.
I hope you speak to this motion, Minister. I sincerely hope you do, because there are people out there who are absolutely hurting. As the member for Herbert, a veteran himself, has just said, unfortunately, there are going to be people who have really bad outcomes from this particular cap.
Scrap the cap! (Time expired)