Deputy Speaker,

As we’ve heard, this scheme was an initiative of the Rudd Government in 2008 to help ADF members and their families to achieve home ownership, and we’re proud of it, and we’re proud of these changes that will make it more accessible.

I want to acknowledge serving men and women, those still in uniform and those that have served.

And I didn’t realise, Deputy Speaker, that there was such a 8-7-RVR mafia in this place, so in acknowledging the Member for Spence, the Member for Menzies and yourself, Deputy Speaker, I’d like to recognise all the service of reservists and full time members of the Australian Defence Force now and into the future.

And we’d like to fill the ranks of the ADF for the times we face into the future, and this scheme, which Defence rightly calls a retention initiative, does just that – encourages them to keep serving but also to assist them once they move into the Reserves or into civilian life.

It’s an incentive for members to stay in the ADF because the longer they serve, the more entitlement they accrue and the longer they can receive assistance.

The Scheme also directly helps Defence families.

When a member passes away, the member’s surviving partner may apply for the member's benefit under the Scheme.

So even with the death f a member, not only will groups like Legacy wrap around a family, but this Scheme will help them.

So it’s very important to many people who serve in uniform and the families and children who wear it with them.

Since 2008, it has invested in affordable housing for veterans who face difficulties like all Australians do when it comes to housing.

But I think it’s important to note that often servicemen and women’s moving around does affect their ability to get into home ownership.

The Scheme gave eligible ADF members and veterans a monthly subsidy payment on the interest portion of their mortgage payments for those who purchase their own home.

This was a necessary reform, because so many serving Defence members are penalised from buying their own home because of their compulsory postings and deployments.

I was posted to Canberra initially, then to Sydney, Singleton, Bonegilla in Victoria, to Wagga in NSW, over to Perth, back to Sydney, Timor-Leste, Arnhem Land, as well as other work in security-related roles in the Middle East and elsewhere.

So you move around a lot in that vocation, and it does make it different.

And it is just as important for our large and growing veteran population who often, to our great shame as a nation, can struggle to find any housing at all.

Way too many veterans end up on our streets sleeping rough, couchsurfing with mates, or begging from you and me for a feed.

Over 5,000 veterans will experience homelessness tonight.

A 2019 study by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute found that 5.3 % of the recently transitioned ADF population are homeless.

That is an astonishing figure.

Consider that the homelessness rate for the general population is 1.9%.

That’s too high as well, and there are many initiatives in this Budget that’s just been handed down that goes towards assisting housing and homelessness across the spectrum.

That huge 5.3% is a massive concern and was, in no small part, part of my motivation to fight so hard in the last term of Parliament to get a Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide established, because it was clear to me and so many others in the veterans community that there was a direct link between medical discharges with suicidal ideation and suicide, but also with homelessness, substance abuse, and more.

In my electorate of Solomon, homelessness is much higher than that national average of 1.9% and I’m proud of the initiatives in the Budget to go towards alleviating some of that.

The same study found that about two-thirds of recently homeless ADF veterans reported being suicidal at least once in the past year.

That’s higher than the still shocking one-quarter of non-homeless ADF veterans who had reported being suicidal.

Deputy Speaker, this concerns us all.

That’s why this Bill is so important to me and to so many.

This great Labor reform has stood the test of time.

And that’s why the Albanese Labor Government committed at the May election that it would boost Defence home ownerships by amending the Scheme from 1 January 2023.

That’s exactly what this Bill does.

The Bill recognises that housing affordability is one of the biggest issues facing Australia.

It responds to the struggles experienced by veterans during transition to civilian life that too often end in homelessness.

And it helps give those serving Defence members and veterans who need it a hand up to buy their own home.

The Bill makes four broad policy amendments to the Scheme which look to further home ownership levels amongst serving Defence members and veterans.

Firstly, the Bill expands access to the Scheme by helping Defence members access benefits earlier in their careers.

This amendment reduces by half the period of effective service that a Defence member must complete.

What this means for members of the Permanent Defence Force is that their qualifying service period will be two years.

That’s down from four years.

For members of Defence Reserves, it will be four years.

That’s down from eight years.

And for a foreign service member, it will be two years.

The Bill similarly amends the requisite period of effective service to access each subsidy tier.

There are three subsidy tiers, which are 40, 60 and 80 per cent of the average house price.

Based on the years of effective service, the tiers determine the subsidy amount received by participants of the Scheme.

The Bill provides members of the Permanent Forces and the Reserves, as well as members who have separated from the Defence Force because of a compensable condition, with access to each subsidy tier between two and four years earlier than currently provided by the Act.

The amendment will provide members of the Permanent Forces access to tier one where they have less than four years of effective service.

They’ll access tier two where they have between four and eight years of effective service.

And tier three where they have between eight and 12 years of effective service.

Secondly, the Bill allows veterans to apply for their final subsidy certificate any time after they have separated from the Defence Force.

Currently, veterans must apply to access the Scheme within five years of separating from the Defence Force.

Removing this limitation will ensure veterans can access the Scheme at a time that suits them without feeling pressured to do so within a five-year period.

And that’s a fantastic outcome for veterans, Deputy Speaker.

The Albanese Labor Government acknowledges that the nature of military life is unique and families can be deeply affected by their service.

And service affects the home ownership of ADF personnel.

That’s why this amendment extends these benefits to surviving partners who have similarly been impacted by the nature of service within the Australian Defence Force.

Thirdly, the Bill creates a power to keep paying a subsidy amount where a genuine error, mistake or accident caused outstanding amounts due under a subsidised loan to be paid.

This is to avoid a situation where a subsidised borrower stops receiving their monthly subsidy because of a genuine error.

This will address scenarios like cases where a subsidised borrower mistakenly transfers money into their loan account which results in it being paid off, or where a third party mistakenly transfers money to a subsidised borrower’s loan account not for the purpose of paying the loan down.

Finally, the Bill provides a power to make and recover relevant payments, including overpayments.

This technical amendment assists the Scheme’s administrators in efficiently processing subsidy payments.

For transparency and good governance, the Bill also requires the Secretary of the Defence Department to report any such payment every financial year.

The Bill is scheduled to commence on 1 January 2023.

From this date, new applicants will be able to apply for a subsidy certificate under the proposed amendments.

The Bill will also allow applicants who are veterans to re-apply where they were refused a subsidy certificate because they had not completed their service period or made their application outside of the five-year post-separation limit.

The Bill reinforces and furthers the Albanese Labor Government’s commitment to retention in the Australian Defence Force, home ownership for members and veterans, as well as veteran wellbeing.

These are massive wins for our veterans, for serving Defence members, and for their families.

In my electorate, this policy is so important.

But we’re actually doing more, because we realise the scope of the issue.

And that is that we’re establishing some supported hosing, not only for veterans but for members of our first responder community.

Those on the front line every day, whether it be a police officer, an ambulance officer, firefighter, members of our border protection – people who are serving our country or community in uniform.

It will be named after Commando Scott Palmer, the only Territorian killed in Afghanistan.

When a Defence member separates, they leave one family, and if they don’t have family nearby they can get lost without that support.

So this supported accommodation will wrap around those who are struggling and assist them as they transition into civilian life.

Those wraparound service will save lives.

I’m proud of them, I’m proud of this Bill, and I thank you for your service, Deputy Speaker.