The Hon. Barnaby Joyce MP

Shadow Minister for Veterans’ Affairs

Member for New England

Media Release

Veterans worth more than the 2023 Budget

9 May 2023

So I have just sat and listened to the Treasurer of the Commonwealth for 40 minutes and apart from mentioning dealing with the claims backlog, Veterans barely get a mention.

It is not just that they don't put the Minister for Veterans' Affairs in the Cabinet room, they don’t make Veterans a priority in the primary speech of the Nation. It is an insult; they take Veterans for granted. They offer their lives, and they barely get a line, a nod, a thank you for your service.

The Coalition put forward returned personnel into key defence portfolios and ex-service Australians into the Shadow Cabinet.

There is a difference in approach and a difference in respect offered. The Australian people are not blind nor ignorant of those who sign the paper to offer their lives for our nation.

Labor talk of "heroes of the pandemic" and fair enough. How about also the heroes of our nation who seek out and close with the enemy, so we don't have to fight them on our soils, so your children live with the same freedoms you were born with and take as a birthright?

The Coalition are after tonight an alternative to the stark reality of what has been an insult to those who have served.

Labor talked about gases, health, childcare, renewable energy and more but they barely mentioned their care for those who have served and so many who have suffered because of that service.

Bad look Jim.

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