Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to rise and speak on the Defence Force Retirement Benefits Legislation Amendment (Fair Indexation) Bill 2014. I am conscious of the long list of speakers who want to speak on this historic night as we pass this bill in the House of Representatives, so I will keep my remarks brief. This bill seeks to implement the coalition's strong commitment to Australia's veteran community that was pledged before the last election to those who served. This strong commitment was borne out of our recognition of the unique nature of military service and Australia's service personnel past and present. After giving so much to their nation, they deserve to live their lives out in the knowledge that they have financial security.

I note that, consistently with this belief, I and a long list of my coalition colleagues voted in favour of a similar bill in the last parliament, which unfortunately was not supported by the then Labor government. I spoke with many veterans, veterans groups and RSL sub-branches all across my electorate, and the reason that they were so disappointed with the Rudd and then Gillard and Greens government was not just their broken promises on the carbon tax; the one that really hurt them was their broken promise on giving them fair indexation on their veterans pensions.

I am proud to stand here tonight because this bill delivers on the coalition's commitment to our veterans community. We are here in this chamber tonight doing exactly what we said before the election that we would do, which is a very refreshing change from the previous six years. This government's commitment to this policy was so strong at the last election that the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, when he was in opposition, organised for the coalition MPs and candidates to sign a pledge that we would stick with this commitment. This pledge was first signed on 5 March 2012 in Bendigo by our now Prime Minister and our now Minister for Veterans' Affairs.

I was pleased to sign this coalition's pledge on 3 December 2013. I signed the pledge in the presence of the president and the vice president of the Australian Commando Association of New South Wales, the President of the Woronora River RSL, the President of the Sutherland and Districts Sub Branch of the National Servicemen's Association and the president of the Sutherland United Services Club, along with veterans from across the seat of Hughes. I am proud to stand here tonight. We are delivering on that pledge and that promise we signed.

Why is this commitment so important? I was at a memorial service on Sunday to rededicate a monument honouring the thousands of national servicemen who were conscripted between the years of 1951 and 1959. I must admit that I was not aware of the number. There were actually 287,000 Australians who were compulsorily called up for the Navy, Army and Air Force during the National Service Scheme we had between those years. It was their sacrifice and it was their commitment to their nation that gave us the freedom that allowed this economy to progress and allowed our society to progress as we have. The indexation to the CPI was not enough. It is because of the sacrifices that they made and the freedoms that we have today that, during the years of the Howard government, the Howard government increased real wages by 21½ per cent. That is the pay-off that these people deserve to get in their annual pensions.

That is what we are delivering tonight. We are delivering fair indexation. I am very pleased to speak on this bill. I commend it to the House. I look forward to the contributions of my many colleagues who wish to speak on this bill tonight.

See this speech in context