BUSINESS
Mr McCORMACK (Riverina) (09:11): The motion is seconded. My word, the motion is seconded. Standing and sessional orders have to be suspended.
Every day, our men and women in the Australian Defence Force go to work. They are tested. Whether that is in battlefield combat, whether that is in peacekeeping deployment or whether that is in the canteen at Puckapunyal, they are tested.
Today, there's one particular person in this place, and there's a test upon that person. It's the Prime Minister of this country. The test is: will he maintain the faith in his hapless minister?
Will the Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Minister for Defence Personnel still have his job by the end of today? I have right here what should be the last media release from Minister Matt Keogh. It is a statement on veteran allied health changes dated 17 September 2026.
When you read this, you start to realise how crook this government is when it comes to veterans' care. It says: The Albanese Government has a deep respect for our veterans who have, and who continue to serve our country. Anyone who pulls on our nation's uniform to serve in our name deserves nothing less.
Tell that to the more than half a million veterans who for weeks, for months, have wondered why there needed to be an arbitrary dollar figure placed on their courage, on their duty, on their noble service, on their allied health—a $5,000 cap on their physical health and on their psychological care. It's not good enough, Prime Minister. It's not good enough, Minister.
The media release continues: We have been consulting on this measure, and we have heard from veterans there are concerns about this approach. They have not been consulting. They did not consult prior to the May budget.
They had not consulted until about 31 August, in the second week of the nationwide listening tour that I went on, and I went to every state and every territory. I went to the capital cities, I went to the regional centres, and I listened. That's what consulting is all about.
It's listening to veterans. And there were hundreds upon hundreds of them. This is why standing and sessional orders need to be suspended.
This is why this parliament needs to pause. And this is why this prime minister needs to act. The media release continues: We have been listening carefully and today, the Government is taking the proposed $5,000 threshold off the table.
Mr Pasin: Still won't call it a cap! Mr McCORMACK: It's a cap. It's a threshold.
It's a limit. It doesn't matter what it is. It's an insult to our veterans.
It's a betrayal to their service. It is a disgrace. Then it says: We will engage with the veteran and provider community on how we can continue to deliver on the objective of achieving better veteran wellbeing outcomes while ensuring integrity of the system.
Well, I can tell you how they can continue to deliver on the objective of achieving better veteran wellbeing—it's by sacking the minister! That's what the Prime Minister has to do. He has to get a new veterans' affairs and defence personnel minister, and the new minister must be placed around the cabinet table so that, when Labor decide that they are going to, once again, look at the service and the sacrifice of our veterans, we can have a minister who can bang the table and say: 'No, no, no, Prime Minister, that's not going to happen.
Our veterans deserve better.' Our veterans have deserved better than what they've been served up in recent months and years. There was the limitation on medallic recognition. There was the Invictus Games funding that was taken away.
There was the Doug and Kaye Baird travel—just a few thousand dollars to go around the country and talk about the legacy of Corporal Cameron Baird VC, MG, a posthumously awarded Victoria Cross recipient, one of the bravest of the brave. And this minister couldn't find it in his heart of hearts to give his parents a few thousand dollars so that they could possibly talk to schools and possibly talk to RSL sub-branches about the legacy and about the importance of serving this nation—no more important thing.
The Prime Minister has one important thing to do today. They've scrapped the cap—well and good. He needs to scrap the minister.