ANZAC Day Commemoration (Veterans' Advisory Council) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading (resumed on motion).

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member for Hammond is on his feet and has a maximum of 19 more minutes. You have almost started again, haven’t you?

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (15:41): It's all my time. I rise to continue my remarks in regard to the ANZAC Day Commemoration (Veterans' Advisory Council) Amendment Bill 2017. The ANZAC Day Commemoration Fund has operated since 2005 and provides up to $100,000 annually in grants towards projects that commemorate ANZAC Day. For the ANZAC centenary period 2014-16, the state has increased the fund to $350,000 annually. The fund can also take on gifts and bequests. Since its inception, the fund has been administered by the ANZAC Day Commemoration Council. The council has both received applications for funding and been solely responsible for the allocation of grants with that funding.

There has been no ministerial role in the administration of the fund, including decisions about successful applicants. The ANZAC Day Commemoration Council will be abolished from 30 June 2017, with its functions folded into the Veterans Advisory Council, which has a wider role in providing advice to the government on the welfare of veterans. The commemoration council's abolition has been set in train following the passage of the Statutes Amendment (Boards and Committees—Abolition and Reform) Act 2015.

In the minister's second reading speech, he explained that, following the abolition of the ANZAC Day Commemoration Council, applications for funding will have to be made to the minister, and referred to the Veterans Advisory Council for its consideration and recommendation back to the minister. The minister will then make the final decision. The director of Veterans SA has explained that the Veterans Advisory Council would have to be reconstituted as a statutory authority if it were to be solely responsible for administration of the commemoration fund. He has further advised that the applications for the last funding round for $350,000 have closed, and the commemoration council will determine these applications before its abolition and not the minister, but we certainly need that confirmed in the debate today.

Certainly, we owe a lot to all our past and present service men and women, and I want to reflect on a ceremony I attended the other day. I do not want to cause any distress, but I think we certainly need to further acknowledge Private Miller Mack, who was one of 21 Raukkan Aboriginal Ngarrindjeri community members who served in World War I. He served at a time when he was not even recognised as a citizen, and he served at a time when he could not even vote in elections in this country, so I take my hat off to him and to his brothers.

Private Miller Mack was born at Point McLeay in 1894. He enlisted in 1916 and fought in the First World War, serving in the 50^th Battalion. He took part in the Battle of Messines, which precipitated the detonation of 19 large mines underneath German front lines, and he said that some of these explosions were felt on the English mainland.

Messines is an interesting place. It is one of the places I visited years ago, at the end of 2010. I was fortunate enough to get a guided tour through the battlefields of Belgium and France, and I think it is something that everyone needs to do. Certainly, with most of these battles, where the Australians and allies were attacking, they were literally fighting uphill, and it is fascinating to see. There is one location where there is a farmhouse and barn, with many tonnes of explosives still underneath it, and people just think, 'Well, it hasn't gone off yet, so it probably won't.' These large mines were used to devastating effect.

Something else that was used with devastating effect back in World War I was gas. Miller Mack suffered from tuberculosis, which he contracted during the battle because of a gas attack. He was repatriated to Australia, but he passed away in 1919 and was buried in an unmarked grave in Adelaide's West Terrace Cemetery in 1919. When the military section of that cemetery at West Terrace was created in 1920, Private Mack was not moved from his resting place.

As a local member, I was proud to attend the ceremony along with many brothers, cousins, aunts, uncles, family members and others. Many hundreds of people attended the event of the reinterment of Private Miller Mack's remains at Raukkan on 24 March this year, and I want to congratulate everyone involved because the reinterment would have taken a lot of organisation. I want to congratulate the RSL on their excellent work, and I want to congratulate the soldiers who took part in the ceremony on the day, and it was an extended ceremony.

Miller Mack was only exhumed that morning from West Terrace and brought down to Raukkan by Fulham Funerals, from memory, with an accompanying guard of honour. Those of us on foot met him at the gates of Raukkan, and we had a very nice service for him in the chapel that is on the $50 bill of our Australian currency. When it came time to leave the chapel, he had full gun carriage transportation up to the cemetery at Raukkan, and then Miller Mack was laid to rest between his fellow World War I brothers with whom he had served.

As I said, it was a very moving ceremony 98 years after he died from illness contracted on the battlefield at Messines, and I was very pleased to be part of it, along with the Hon. Terry Stephens and the Hon. Kyam Maher from the other place. It really hit me that he was one of 21 who could not vote yet was prepared to fight and die for his country. As we know, many hundreds of thousands of people from Australia have gone to war for us and, as much as we dislike war, our people have served valiantly.

A great-uncle of mine served in World War I on the Somme, and three uncles served in World War II at Tobruk on Sunderland flying boats or on the Shropshire for the Australian Navy. It is amazing what you learn when you go to a family funeral. I did not realise that one of my uncles served not only with the Navy on the Shropshire but also with the Australian Army in Korea. Sadly, I did not know that until he passed away.

In more recent times, as I have mentioned in this place before, my brother served for 23 years. He was in the infantry, then he joined the engineering section, with service in Rwanda and Iraq. He is very proud and I am very proud of his service for this country, as we all should be of anyone who has served or is serving, and this is so whether or not they have been overseas.

We commemorate terrible battles, such as the ongoing bombing of Darwin, which was kept quiet at the time so that it did not spook the Australian public. Many were killed, not just servicemen and servicewomen but also civilians. The sad thing about sending people away, as has been stated here recently, is not the damage you may be able to see: it is the damage that happens to these people that you cannot see.

I do commend everything our forces do. I hope that they do not have to go to any big escalation anytime soon or in the future, for that matter. They train well and they train hard. A lot of new armaments are being made for them to work with, including ships and submarines, and plans for projects like the LAND 400 for our Army and the F-45 project for the Air Force as well as other improvements are moving ahead to make sure that our defence forces are right up there with any in the world.

We certainly support this legislation. I think it is very important that we make sure that we appropriately commemorate all those who have served or who are serving for us and that we always do so in a very respectful way. Lest we forget.

Honourable members: Hear, hear!

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (15:52): I rise to speak on the ANZAC Day Commemoration (Veterans' Advisory Council) Amendment Bill. The bill has been introduced in the House of Assembly by the Minister for Veterans' Affairs to amend the ANZAC Day Commemoration Act 2005. It proposes to change the arrangements under which funds are allocated to community organisations from the ANZAC Day Commemoration Fund to give the minister a greater role in the administration of the fund and a final approval power for grants.

By way of background, the ANZAC Day Commemoration Fund has operated since 2005, providing up to $100,000 in grant funds annually to projects that commemorate ANZAC Day. For the ANZAC centenary period from 2014-18, the state has increased funds to $350,000 annually. The fund can also receive gifts and bequests. Since its inception, the fund has been administered by the ANZAC Day Commemoration Council. The council has both received applications for funding and been solely responsible for the allocation of grants. There has been no ministerial role in the administration of the fund, including decisions about successful applicants.

The ANZAC Day Commemoration Council will be abolished from 30 June 2017, with its functions folded into the Veterans Advisory Council, which has a wider role in providing advice to the government on the welfare of veterans. The commemoration council's abolition has been set in train following passage of the Statutes Amendment (Boards and Committees—Abolition and Reform) Act 2015.

The minister's second reading explanation states that following the abolition of the ANZAC Day Commemoration Council, applications for funding will have to be made to the minister and referred to the Veterans Advisory Council for its consideration and recommendation back to the minister. The minister then makes the final decision. The Director of Veterans SA has explained that the Veterans Advisory Council would have to be reconstituted as a statutory authority if it were to be solely responsible for the administration of the commemoration fund.

He has further advised that the applications for the last funding round for $350,000 have closed and the commemoration council, not the minister, will determine these applications before its abolition. Obviously there will be some questions around the decision-making process ongoing without the commemoration council. The fund is popular among South Australian schools, community groups, ex-service organisations, local councils and individuals, and it includes a wide range of projects such as restoration and upgrading of memorials, documentaries, musical productions, publications and community events.

Previously, these applications were assessed by the ANZAC Day Commemoration Council, an independent statutory authority consisting of nine members, chaired by former South Australian police commissioner Mr Malcolm Hyde AO, APM. While I will support this bill to ensure we continue to see the community funding awarded to worthy recipients, I am sure questions will be raised about the process going forward. Having the projects assessed through an independent group makes sense to me, but since the first round of the fund in 2007-08, more than 300 South Australian projects have been supported. Highlights include the Bravest of the Brave travelling exhibition, the RSL Virtual War Memorial and The First Anzac Day documentary film.

In the electorate of Chaffey in the Riverland and Mallee, we have had several successful funding projects. They include the $10,000 to the Karoonda East Murray Council for the supply and installation of a combined District of Karoonda East Murray War Memorial Honour Roll located at the Memorial Gates at Karoonda Oval. The honour roll recognises and acknowledges local men and women who have served Australia in a time of war or armed conflict or international peacekeeping operation in which Australia has been involved.

The Loxton Mardi Gras Committee has received funding for the project detailing military based family street names in Loxton, and essentially this involved the installation of a plaque on the World War I Memorial Rotunda and the creation of a self-guided audio tour with access to biographical accounts of military personnel commemorated in the 54 streets of Loxton. The Berri War Memorial Community Centre undertook a project to upgrade the memorial grandstand on the Memorial Oval to include the District Honour Roll. The Pinnaroo Primary School utilised funding to develop an existing war memorial garden on the school grounds, adding a memorial plaque, flagpole and a life-size soldier's silhouette. The Waikerie RSL sub-branch received funding for a project to refurbish and repair their replica cannon field gun on display in the Memorial Garden.

Overall, I support the passage of the bill, and I am sure clarification will be provided on the process of assessing projects going forward. In closing, I look forward to all the ANZAC Day services in the region and the low pass by one of my local constituents in his warbird. He does a low pass over Renmark during the ANZAC Day service. It really is a site to behold.

The Hon. M.L.J. HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite—Minister for Investment and Trade, Minister for Small Business, Minister for Defence Industries, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) (15:58): I thank honourable members for their contributions during this debate. I have listened very carefully to each of them. I thank the deputy leader for her initial contribution and also the members for Hammond, Chaffey and Newland and various other members. Quite a few have contributed. Their contributions are very welcome, not only by the government but I am sure by veterans themselves.

In closing, I will make a couple of points before we go into committee. The Premier announced in July 2014 a review of boards and committees, and the scope of the review included 429 government boards and committees. What came out of that was that we had these two committees, the Veterans Advisory Council and the ANZAC Day Commemoration Council, effectively doing quite similar things.

As the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, on advice from the agency in consultation with the Veterans Advisory Council, we are already dispensing grants to numerous bodies around the state. Of course, the same thing was happening under the statutory arrangements of the ANZAC Day Commemoration Council, so we effectively had two committees, if you like, both dispensing funds to veterans groups. Sometimes there was some doubling up, and I had to institute arrangements to make sure there was no duplication or double dipping, accidental double dipping in most cases, that had not been communicated or coordinated clearly.

It became very clear that we needed to bring these two together, that that would lead to better governance and better services for veterans and the more efficient disbursement of public funds, remembering that this is their money. The ANZAC Day Commemoration Council, since its inaugural meeting in 2007, has distributed about 400 grants to organisations totalling over $1.5 million. These grants have assisted in the education of Australians and ensured that their service and sacrifice has been commemorated now and in the future. Members have poignantly noted the sound impact of that throughout the community, in their electorates and across the state.

The council had these two functions: to administer the ANZAC Day Commemoration Fund and to carry out such other functions as may be assigned to the council by the Minister for Veterans Affairs. So, the ANZAC Day Commemoration Council was, in effect, responsible to the minister anyway. This is another important point, because I know members have raised concerns that this might be some sort of change in arrangements. In effect, both were responsible to the minister, and appropriately so, given that this is ultimately taxpayers' money that is being disbursed.

Essentially, when questions are asked about it they always come to the minister, and if there is any problem with the way funds are being managed the responsible minister is always the one who is held to account. It is always good that ministers require due diligence and sound management of the funds for which they are, obviously, responsible to the house and to the people of South Australia.

Under its current establishment, the ANZAC Day Commemoration Council is a stand-alone council with the primary task of administering the fund. It does not advocate on behalf of veterans, nor does it provide policy advice to government, although to a degree it answers to the minister. The Veterans Advisory Council is an advisory council assuming the functions of the ANZAC Day Commemoration Council. It retains its functions, and that includes providing policy advice. In other words, by making this change we are bringing together into one responsible, well-represented group the role of both advice and the disbursement of funds.

The VAC comprises 16 members plus a chair. It is representative across rank, gender, service and conflict. Its current structure also includes current serving personnel from all three services, recognising that many of our veterans are young and still serving. Under the chairmanship of Vice-Marshal Brent Espeland AM, a former deputy chief of the Royal Australian Air Force, the VAC focus is now firmly on the next 50 years, ensuring the needs of our contemporary working age veterans and those who are still in uniform are catered for in South Australia.

In doing so, the VAC has not lost sight of the origins and the legacy of service in the ADF. keeps a very close eye on the needs of our veterans from earlier conflicts and ensures that they are commemorated respectfully and that their deeds addressed appropriately. I will not go into all the details about the VAC and how it operates because I note that those opposite are supporting the bill. I thank them for that on behalf of all veterans. We did seek crown law advice on the preparation of these arrangements and consulted fairly thoroughly with the veterans community, which is generally in agreement that this is the right thing to be doing.

I want to take some time to talk about some of the individuals who have been involved in helping us with our work. I have mentioned the VAC. There have been some new appointments recently: Group Captain Darren James Goldie, Mr James Terence O'Hanlon, Mr Francis Henry Lampard, Lieutenant Colonel Paul William Graham, Commander Andrew John Burnett ADC RAN and Mrs Helen Meyer.

There have been some reappointments: Brigadier Laurie Lewis AM (retired), Mr Leon George Eddy, Mr Michael Gunther Baron von Berg MC, Brigadier Tim James Hanna AM, Christopher Mark Burns CSC (former colonel), Pamela Dorothy Hendrika Schulz OAM, Mr Bronson Leon Horan, who served in my former regiment 1^st Commando, Mr Raymond John Kemp, Ms Chantelle Julia Graham, Ms Paula Anne Dabovich, and Dr Sharon Lorraine Mascall-Dare.

This is a pretty representative group. I think the house can take some comfort from the fact that this group will serve us well. They will make recommendations to government through the agency on how grants should be disbursed, and those considerations will be given great thought and great care. The arrangements that will apply are not dissimilar to those that apply for certain other acts.

For example, I draw members' attention to the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1988 for which the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation is responsible. It is a fund established and administered by the minister with no consultation required by the minister in applying the fund. There is the Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary Act 2005 for which the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation is responsible. The Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary Fund is one for which the minister must, before applying money belonging to the fund and furthering its objects and objectives, have regard to any advice provided by the Parks and Wilderness Council in relation to the matter.

There is the Export Partnership Program, which is one I manage as the Minister for Investment and Trade. Again, this funding goes through a due process administered by the Department of State Development without particular reference to any statutory fund. The details are available on the DSD website. They do not include any reference to the board making recommendations to the minister; however, the program may be an initiative of the Economic Development Board established under the Economic Development Act.

In other words, these recommendations come to me about what should be approved or not, and generally the minister approves those recommendations. It would be extraordinary really for me as minister or any minister not to concur with the recommendations given to me by the relevant committee, which now would be the Veterans Advisory Council. Of course, the agency chief sits at VAC meetings and is there observing the decisions that are made.

It is hard to imagine circumstances where a minister might be advised not to agree with a VAC recommendation. It would have to involve some concern that the agency might have about probity, the way the fund was applied for or perhaps some duplication of effort, but it is more than likely that that would be drawn to the VAC's attention at the time. They are very thorough, and I am superbly confident that, under Air Vice-Marshal Espeland and the group we have put together here with the guidance of the agency, recommendations that come to me will be concurred with.

I would not want members to feel that the minister will somehow be sitting back there making calls on where money will be deposited. It will come through the VAC, and there is a process of accountability, because the VAC will know if for some reason or another a minister has not accepted their recommendation and, no doubt, questions would be asked on that basis, but I am happy to answer questions about that in committee.

Finally, could I just take a moment to thank the current and past members of the ANZAC Day Commemoration Council. The terms of that council have been for a number of members to be serving. There have been changeovers recently, with many of those terms due to expire around the middle of this year, hence the timing of this move lined up fairly smoothly with the expiry of a number of terms on 23 June 2017, including those of Mr Malcolm Hyde AO APM, who has done a wonderful job as presiding member; Mr Keith Bleechmore; Ms Candida D'arcy; Mr Bill Denny AM, BM; Dr Felicity-Ann Lewis; and Mr Malcolm McInerney.

The terms of two members are due to expire on 22 April 2018—those of Mr Rob Manton, who is head of the agency, and Mr Benjamin Flink—but I think we have accommodated this act of parliament with those expiry dates. It lines up neatly because Mr Manton will continue in a role with the VAC and Mr Flink has been advised of what is going on and concurs with the arrangements being made.

I want to identify that group of people as people who have served South Australia proudly and well. I want to thank them for the work they have done; they have been extraordinarily successful. I could go through some examples of the sorts of grants that have been made: the District Council of Karoonda East Murray, $10,000 for a Karoonda East Murray District honour roll. I noted the member for Hammond's comments earlier and I would have thought Karoonda would be in his electorate.

Mr Pederick: It is coming back with redistribution; it's in Chaffey.

The Hon. M.L.J. HAMILTON-SMITH: Is it? Then you have the Loxton Museum of Agricultural Technology that got $10,000 for the World War II RAAF aircraft hangar relocation, as well as Athelstone Primary School. There is a very long list here of grants that have been managed successfully by this particular committee over a long period of time. Those grants will continue to be managed by veterans through a committee process over a long period of time. The quantum of money has actually been increasing in recent years, not decreasing, as the government and those opposite recognise that veterans need support.

Thank you to all those who have contributed. In particular, I thank the member for Morphett for his service as shadow minister for veterans. He has been terrific to work with and I know the veterans' community have great respect and regard for him. I wish the Leader of the Opposition well in his role, having recently taken that responsibility upon himself. I am sure he will exercise that responsibility enthusiastically. I thank the deputy leader for leading the debate and the professional way both she and the opposition have dealt with the matter. I am sure that veterans will be very pleased with the outcome.

Bill read a second time.

Third Reading

The Hon. M.L.J. HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite—Minister for Investment and Trade, Minister for Small Business, Minister for Defence Industries, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) (16:12): I move:

That this bill be now read a third time.

Bill read a third time and passed.