MOTIONS

Mr THOMPSON (Herbert) (11:16): It is really telling that government ministers and members are coming in today and talking about the $5,000 cap on allied health for veterans and saying, 'We listen and we change.' They argued for it time and time again in the parliament. When veterans came to meet with the minister, he was too busy. So, the 'listen, work and deliver' that we've just heard in that speech is wrong.

The Prime Minister had to step in and get involved because the minister wasn't doing his job—wouldn't meet with veterans. There was no consultation done before this announcement. No veteran asked for it, and it was not in the royal commission.

This was a cost-saving measure that was placed on veterans. There was money to be saved on their allied health care. We heard from veterans around the country time and time again: 'We didn't ask for this.

We don't want this. The minister's not listening. We need to scrap the cap and scrap the minister.' They said this, even yesterday, at the Australian War Memorial commemoration of 25 years since we've been in Afghanistan—a place where we lost people and where people were wounded in combat, including myself.

Veterans from around the country had travelled, and they said to me time and time again: 'Thank you for standing up and fighting for us. Thank you for being in the fight to scrap the cap, because the government didn't listen.' The next words out of their mouths were: 'Do you think the minister will change? He didn't listen to us then, and he won't listen to us again.' I think he should.

I think the minister should change. On the $5,000 cap on allied health care for veterans, Labor members were up I think about 15 times trying to debate it here and in the Federation Chamber. They kept saying: 'It's not a cap.

It's great. It's not a cap. It should stay.' But now, because of political pressure and pressure from veterans around the country, they've decided to quickly shuffle the deck and say, 'Alright, we'll get rid of it.' Why did it have to take this long?

Why did veterans have to be placed in mental health facilities because of the stress this was placing on their families? Why did veterans have to contact my office and the member for Dawson's office and say things like, 'I will not be a burden on my family'? Do you know what that means?

They were talking about suicide, once the $5,000 cap runs out, which will be in about two months. This is the reality that veterans and their families go through every day, without more of the complexity and failures placed on them by a government that doesn't care. I am glad that we've scrapped the cap.

I am glad that this happened. But it didn't happen because the government wanted it. It didn't happen because the government reflected on their bad policy.

It happened because of political pressure, because bark got taken off the minister and the Prime Minister, because veterans had to fund themselves to travel from around the country to come here and pick a fight with the minister and the Prime Minister to get change. That shouldn't have to happen. Our veterans have already paid enough on the battlefield and in training.

Their families have already done enough. They shouldn't have to then try and find funding. They shouldn't have to come to Canberra to look a minister in the eye—if they can get a meeting—and say: 'We really don't want this.

This will hurt us.' Yet it's been argued that it should be kept. It's been argued for, and it continues to be spoken about. But it's really disappointing that when you hear government members say, 'Oh, we've listened.' Well, you didn't even have enough consultation.

You didn't travel anywhere. It was very rushed through, because you needed to change it. We wonder why the general public has lost faith in politicians.

It's because they don't trust them, because, when it comes to it, they don't tell you the truth. Right now, every government member should stand up here and say: 'I thought it was a good idea. The government thought it was a good idea.

We were trying to make cost savings on the back of veterans. We made a mistake, we got politically beaten up and, now, we've changed it because of that.' That's what should be said. The people in the gallery and around the country would say, 'You know what?

That's some truth coming out of a politician's mouth today.' Instead you'll hear, time and time again today, the government members say, 'I listened to you.' It's rubbish. You can go through Hansardand see where they stood up and fought for this. They patted Minister Keogh, the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, on the back and said, 'You're doing a good job.' He didn't do a good job.

He hasn't done a good job. And the one thing that I and the coalition will continue to do is fight for our veterans. I'll fight every day for them, because I'm one of them.