TV Interview - Sky Newsday

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
SKY NEWSDAY
WEDNESDAY, 3 JULY 2024

SUBJECTS: War Memorial Vandalism; Veterans Legislation Reform (VETS Bill).

HOST, KIERAN GILBERT: Opposition Defence representatives are persisting in their attack on the vandals responsible for defacing war memorial sites with pro-Palestinian graffiti. Shadow Assistant Defence Minister Phil Thompson said a bit earlier that he feels politicians have not condemned the vandalism strongly enough.

SHADOW ASSISTANT DEFENCE MINISTER, PHIL THOMPSON: Spray painting, desecration of the Australian War Memorial and other war memorial sites is not just a kick in the guts to every veteran. It's a slap in the face to the Australian public who believe in the rule of law. Freedom of speech.

GILBERT: Let's go live now to the Veterans’ Affairs Minister Matt Keogh. He's in the studio with me. Yeah. So Phil Thompson says the condemnation has not been strong enough. What do you say?

MINISTER FOR VETERANS’ AFFAIRS AND DEFENCE PERSONNEL, MATT KEOGH:  Well, I don't know what Phil's been following, but I condemned these actions previous times in the media, as I did in Parliament, just yesterday, the Prime Minister in Question Time yesterday also strongly condemned what we've seen here in terms of vandalism to war memorials and Labor supported a motion in the Senate on Monday, also condemning what has occurred. It's completely abhorrent when we think about what war memorials are there to do. They're commemorating those people that have fought, who have died, or served in our uniform to provide us with our democratic freedoms, including the freedom to protest.

GILBERT: Are you surprised the Greens didn’t support that motion?

MINISTER KEOGH:  I was surprised. And I was really troubled by it actually Kieran, a motion that was put forward condemning these acts was not supported by the Greens. I would have thought this was a nonpartisan issue that everyone in Australia would be behind the sentiment of saying these are sacred areas that should not be attacked in this way. And frankly, I think it undermines the arguments being put by those protesters, and I'm not going to name those protesters or refer to what they've said because I don't want to give them the air play or the time of day what they have been doing.

GILBERT: They lose support during that sort of stuff. No way you win support.

MINISTER KEOGH: I think they certainly do lose support and I think all Australians agree that our war memorials and as I said in Parliament yesterday, whether it's the Australian War Memorial here in Canberra, whether it's national memorials like the Korean or the Vietnam War Memorials, or local memorials like the one made of brick in my local community in Armadale, because we were a brickworks town. They have a very special meaning to local communities and in our national psyche, and they should be off limits.

GILBERT: Do you think that we should be looking at tougher penalties for desecrating a war memorial say, as opposed to just - I mean I’m not endorsing graffiti at a train station but they shouldn't - they're not the same thing are they?

MINISTER KEOGH: Well criminal damages are pretty - there are high penalties for criminal damage under state law. And of course, it's under the responsibility of police forces around the country to enforce those laws and I'm sure if they're able to catch the people that were involved in this that they will feel the full force of the law, because there are serious penalties for criminal damage like what has occurred here –

Do you think there’s an argument though for toughening the penalties on war memorials? For those that have served our country given us the freedom to protest in the first place.

MINISTER KEOGH: I think the key thing is catching who did it and making sure that they're held responsible. I suspect the penalty involved if people feel that they won't get caught won't be the thing that puts them off because let's face it, we're all in agreement this is a terrible thing and they should feel the maximum force of the law. The key thing is being able to also catch these people and hold them accountable.

GILBERT: On another matter and this very important bill going to Parliament today. It's basically, to bring our viewers up to speed with what you're doing, you're bringing three different pieces of legislation, which actually date back to World War One -

MINISTER KEOGH: That's right.

GILBERT: Into one bit of legislation via which veterans can then go and make claims under that one single law.

MINISTER KEOGH: That's right Kieran. So the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, found that the complex nature of this system, three different pieces of law applying was having a negative impact on the mental health of veterans. It was creating anxiety amongst veterans -so complex and so what we're doing here in implementing the first recommendation of the interim report from the Royal Commission, to simplify and harmonise the system will see that all new claims brought from 1 July 2026 will all be dealt with instead under one piece of legislation. It's the 21st century pieces of legislation, the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act, and it will make it easier for veterans to know what they're entitled to easier for advocates to support them and quicker for the Department to make sure that those veterans or families get the benefits they need and deserve.

GILBERT: So this will speed up the processing of claims made by veterans?

MINISTER KEOGH: It will because it'll make it easier for the Department to administer. At the moment, veterans can be covered by all three pieces of legislation which makes it incredibly complex for the veteran, but also for the Department to administer that system by having it all under one piece of –

GILBERT: And as I said as well, legislation that dates back over 100 years.

MINISTER KEOGH: That's right. It's built up over 100 years. So there’s real complexity in this law in the legislation that's existed to date, and the interaction between all three of them. This will make that a lot simpler and harmonises the interaction so it's clear for people to know what’s going on.

GILBERT: And the backlog of those claims, it was in the 10,000’s. If a veteran today goes to make a claim at DVA? How long does it take and where's that backlog at?

MINISTER KEOGH: And so Kieran when we come to government 42,000 claims with DVA, no one had even looked at them, the backlog was that big. They are now all being processed or have been processed, a small proportion that’s still working their way through the system. But there's no backlog. You bring a claim to DVA now, it will be looked at by someone within 14 days and importantly an initial liability claim coming to DVA will be on average being processed within 55 days. That's a really important change so that we're getting the benefits to veterans quickly so that they get the support they need.

GILBERT: Veterans’ Affairs Minister Matt Keogh, thanks appreciate your time.

MINISTER KEOGH: Great to be with you Kieran.

END 

Open Arms – Veterans & Families Counselling provides 24/7 free confidential crisis support for current and ex-serving ADF personnel and their families on 1800 011 046 or the Open Arms website. Safe Zone Support provides anonymous counselling on 1800 142 072. Defence All-Hours Support Line provides support for ADF personnel on 1800 628 036 or the Defence Health Portal. Defence Member and Family Helpline provides support for Defence families on 1800 624 608