Remembrance Day

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (15:33): On Monday this week, we commemorated Remembrance Day at a number of services across the state and across the nation. It was good to see the community is steadily once again giving greater respect to this day and stopping for a minute's silence to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice during World War I and future conflicts. As a schoolboy at Epsom Primary School, I recall the special assembly we held on the day, standing silent for one minute at 11am to acknowledge the sacrifice made by service men and women and their families. That tradition seemed to disappear from the mid-seventies, so this year I was pleased to be able to attend the Remembrance Day service held by Gawler and District College.

While Remembrance Day marks the end of World War I, the day gives the community an opportunity to recall, reflect and acknowledge the effect of violent conflict on all our service men and women and their families, irrespective of the theatre of war. Our veterans and their families deserve no less. I have been fortunate enough not to have been involved in any theatre of war, so I have no firsthand experience of the brutality of war. I do not know what it is like, and the best I can do is have empathy for those who served and their families.

As shadow minister for veterans affairs I can and indeed I have an obligation to listen to ex-service personnel and their families to ensure that they do not needlessly suffer as a result of poor public policy. There is a general consensus in our community that we take a bipartisan approach when dealing with defence and veterans' policy. I fully concur with this sentiment.

Bipartisanship does not, however, mean turning a blind eye to injustice in public policy or, worse, a lack of commitment to veterans and their families. A significant proportion of veterans public policy falls within the federal sphere of government. Nevertheless, a state government can act as an advocate for local veterans and their families and also support various ex-service organisations that work hard to assist and support our veterans and their families.

This is why the Rann Labor government created Veterans SA and the new portfolio of minister for veterans' affairs. It is disappointing now to hear that Veterans SA currently has no director after a failed selection process, which required the incumbent director, Mr Rob Manton, to reapply for his own position. I raise this matter for two key reasons: firstly, I believe that Veterans SA plays an important role in supporting veterans and should have its full complement of staff and particularly its leaders in place; secondly, I have various concerns about what the Premier and the Minister for Veterans' Affairs have previously informed this parliament. On 4 June 2019, the Leader of the Opposition asked the Premier the following question:

Can the Premier guarantee that the Director of Veterans SA, an Iraq veteran, Mr Rob Manton, will continue in executive employment?

The Premier responded as follows:

Mr Manton has a contract. There is no suggestion that that contract will be broken. He is doing an excellent job, and I enjoy working with him. His service to Australia and to the veterans' community in South Australia has been exemplary.

You will note the high praise from the Premier for Mr Manton. On 24 July 2019, I asked the Premier the following question in estimates:

In terms of the move of Veterans SA, Premier, what is your understanding regarding current staff of Veterans SA? Will any of the current staff in Veterans SA be required to reapply for their positions?

The Hon. S.S. Marshall answered as follows, 'No, that is not envisaged at all.' We now know that Mr Manton was required to reapply for his own position. These answers raise a number of questions: when was Mr Manton told and by whom that he would be required to reapply for his own position, and are these facts consistent with the Premier's responses to parliament? On 4 June 2019, the Leader of the Opposition asked the Premier, 'Are you abolishing Veterans SA as a standalone agency?' and the Premier responded, in part, as follows:

… we have made a decision to locate it in the office of Defence SA so that it can share some of the overheads that are associated between those two agencies.

On 24 July, I asked the Premier the following question, 'What benefits do you hope to achieve from the transferring of Veterans SA program to Defence SA?' The Premier replied, in part:

I think we have been extraordinarily satisfied with Veterans SA since coming to government. It was an initiative of the former government…

I then asked, 'Does the Premier envisage any administrative or budget savings from the co-location or the merger of Veterans SA to Defence SA?' The Premier responded, in part, 'Nothing specific.'

Our veterans deserve an appropriately resourced agency that has the support of their minister. Veterans SA should be competently led by a veteran with proven leadership capability. When can we expect this to occur? This parliament has not been informed why Mr Rob Manton was removed from his office, despite the Premier's previous high praise, and it is not clear why Veterans SA has been shifted to Defence SA.

I am also advised, but happy to be corrected, that the Premier has failed to attend any Veterans Ministerial Council meetings. This parliament and, most importantly, SA veterans deserve answers and a minister who is fully engaged in his portfolio, not missing in action. Our veterans and their families deserve no less.