Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment (Veterans' Healthcare Without Caps) Bill 2026
Senator COLLINS (New South Wales—Deputy Opposition Whip in the Senate) (09:48): I rise to support this incredible and timely bill, the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment (Veterans' Healthcare Without Caps) Bill 2026, from Senator Lambie and I want to thank Senator Lambie for bringing this to the floor of the chamber. Isn't it absolutely wonderful to see a united Senate—a united parliament—on this?
The coalition, the crossbench and the Greens are all getting behind this, and it's because we all spoke to the veteran community. We heard them and we knew their concerns about this allied health cap and what it would do to the veteran community. We didn't have to hear those concerns, though, because we knew what this would do.
Yet the government made the coalition for veterans come down to Canberra and beg for them to lift this cap. I am pleased to hear that the cap has been removed today, but the damage has been done. Quite frankly, the damage has been done.
People have been hurt. We heard from the coalition for veterans last week that people's mental health has absolutely plummeted from the damaging effects of this allied health cap. So I stand with this bill—no caps, not ever.
It is a very important protection for our veterans, the people who put their hand up to serve this nation, whose families have sacrificed so much and whose health has been sacrificed so much. The very least we can do is provide them the support when they need it most. United we stand against a Labor government that has, frankly, shown a pattern of contempt this year for the defence community and the veterans community.
First, it started on 14 February when the defence minister handed down a shocking defence estate audit report with a predetermined outcome to sell off the foundational estate. It came as a complete surprise to the defence community and the veterans community. That was a big hit on their mental health.
It still is and continues to be, and, if they follow through with this, it will have a devastating impact not just on the veterans community but on the serving community, the cadets, the reserves and all the communities connected with it. And yet they charge on. They charge on with this.
Then they brought to the other house a bill on the Defence Honours and Awards Tribunal which would prevent our veterans from appealing decisions on awards and medals. That received such backlash from the people that we consulted with through an inquiry. Of the 63 submissions to that particular inquiry, 62 said: 'What on earth is this?
Why are you doing this? Why are you doing this to the veteran community and the defence community? We say "no".' Only one submission said that this is a great idea, and guess who submitted that?
The Department of Defence. And so, because of the pressure that we put on and the backlash from the public, the Labor government removed that bill. Then, of course, they went ahead and tried to remove the funding for Corporal Cameron Baird's parents.
He was a recipient of the Victoria Cross, and his parents go around the country sharing his legacy and his story of valour and honour, particularly with school children. They tried to take that away that funding. Shame.
And now, of course, we've had this battle over the allied health cap. And so you can see over time the pattern of contempt that the Labor government has shown towards our defence community and our veteran community, and you can see here today that united we stand against that. The message that we have for the defence and veterans community is that we stand with you and we will not let this happen.
It shows that you simply cannot trust this Labor government. You cannot trust them. They've gone and backflipped again.
They got it wrong. They did the consultations, typical Labor, after making a decision. They go and see the damage that they do, and then they backflip.
We will keep the pressure on. When they come forward with these bad ideas, we will keep the pressure on. So, again, I thank Senator Lambie for this bill.
Senator Lambie is doing great things for the veteran community. She's a fighter. She will always be a fighter.
There are lot of people that count on Senator Lambie. There's a lot of people that count on the rest of us too. But thank you for taking the charge on this.
I want to thank the rest of the Senate chamber, too, for standing with Senator Lambie on this important bill. I commend the bill to the Senate.