BUSINESS

Mr McCORMACK (Riverina) (12:42): The motion is certainly seconded, and standing and sessional orders do need to be suspended. The vote that was taken yesterday on this very important amendment, which came from the Senate—it needs to be brought back into the House and it needs to be ratified. It needs to be put in place because our veterans deserve better.

Last Thursday in the Senate, every non-government member voted in favour of scrapping the cap—35-20, a resounding result. And yet, when that amendment came to the House of Representatives yesterday, it was roundly defeated. I say shame on the government.

Today is the International Day of Democracy. Yesterday was a day of infamy, and I'm not overegging it. It was absolute treachery.

It was a day of shame, and we have trashed democracy by making sure that that amendment yesterday was kicked into the long grass, as the member for Herbert has just said—kicked into the long grass. Our veterans deserve better. When you have veterans of Australia with wall-to-wall opposition, when you have the Senate, the upper house of the Australian parliament, voting resoundingly to scrap the cap, why is it that the government—and government is formed in the House of Representatives—votes to have that particular amendment kicked into the never-never?

We've got our public gallery full of young people. Thank you for coming to Canberra. Thank you for coming to parliament.

Now, if those young people should one day decide to serve our nation, I hope the government of the day in the future looks after them when they give up that uniform—when they leave the Australian Defence Force and they return to civilian life. As it stands, on 15 September 2026, the government has put in place a policy that, from 1 July next year, there's going to be an arbitrary dollar figure placed on that service, on that noble duty that our veterans have performed.

They have served. They have done what this nation asked them to do. That is simply not good enough.

Tomorrow, the government, by the sounds of things, is going to go on this divestment crusade where they sell off 68 defence properties. On one hand, they're selling up defence properties, and, on the other hand, they're selling out our veterans. It's simply not good enough.

When you actually look at the properties, we've got HMAS Cerberus. We've got Swan Island in Victoria, and we've got Fairbairn Golf Course in the ACT. What do you think they have in common?

They've got golf courses. Those bases, those defence properties, have got golf courses. If it was Royal Marrickville, it'd be a different story, wouldn't it!

It would actually be funded. It'd be preserved. It'd be protected.

No, they're being sold off. They're being sold off because defence properties of heritage value—of defence tradition—are being sold off, and our veterans are being sold out by this government. It's simply not right.

Yesterday—when the vote took place, the suspension of standing orders was moved and seconded, and passionate debates were brought forward—what do you think happened when the Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Defence Personnel was sitting in that seat that the member for Watson currently occupies? There were back slaps. I've not seen that since the carbon tax of 2011, the live sheep trade ban of 2024 and this year's budget.

There were back slaps then too because this Labor government likes to congratulate itself when it does the wrong thing, and this is doing the wrong thing. It's doing the wrong thing not just by our veterans but by their families, and it's doing the wrong thing by our nation. Our nation deserves better.

Our veterans certainly deserve better. A former Labor prime minister, Billy Hughes, said this. An honourable member interjecting— Mr McCORMACK: He wasn't Prime Minister at the time.

I agree with that, but he was a Labor prime minister and let's not disparage him. He said: When you come back, we will look after you. That's what he said back in 1917, and it rings true today, whether it's World War I or the Afghanistan war.

Mr Burke: He wasn't always with us. Mr McCORMACK: It rings true today whether he was a Labor prime minister or he was a National Labor Prime Minister. It matters not.

We should—as a nation, as a Commonwealth and as a parliament—look after our veterans, and we're not doing it unless we scrap the cap. (Time expired)