Welcome to the latest edition of Clark Matters, my monthly email newsletter to help keep you abreast of federal politics and what I’ve been up to.
Government must act swiftly on Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide
The release of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide Report is a significant moment for a great many Australians. I welcome its release as a blueprint for change, but the Federal Government must prioritise acting on the recommendations.
In the last 30 years, there have been at least 57 separate inquiries relating to Defence and veteran suicide which have never been acted on. This is disgraceful when on average there are three deaths by suicide of serving and former Defence personnel every fortnight. The Government must respond to the Royal Commission as quickly as possible and look to address all 122 recommendations. To do anything less would be a betrayal of the more than 1,500 serving and ex-soldiers who have suicided, as well as their families and loved ones. To be clear, the Government must have responded to the Report and launched strong remedial action before the next federal election.
Service in the Australian Defence Force (ADF) is dangerous and there are many risks. But the sad reality is that the high rate of suicide is a result of many other factors. This includes poor leadership and culture in the ADF, the under-resourcing of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, long processing times for claims, and the lack of support for veterans after they’ve returned to civilian life.
The Royal Commission addresses these concerns and makes good recommendations that will ensure our serving personnel and veterans have the support and services they need. It is now up to the Government to act quickly on these recommendations.
Improving the standards in Parliament
The Parliamentary Workplace Support Service Amendment (Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission) Bill 2024 goes some way to addressing the problems that were raised in the Set the Standard Report.
But there is one glaring omission. That is, where a matter involves a ‘serious offence’, the power to impose sanctions is taken away from the IPSC and given to the Privileges Committee. This flies in the face of the Set the Standard recommendation for a fair, independent, confidential and transparent complaints processing mechanism that will hold parliamentarians to account for poor behaviour.
I moved an amendment to remedy the Government’s Bill. My amendment would enable the IPSC to include recommendations for any sanctions in its report to the Privileges Committee. Moreover, should the Privileges Committee choose to deviate from the recommendations of the IPSC, it must table its reasons for doing so.
Investment in Tasmanian public schools
Every child deserves to have what they need to succeed in school and teachers deserve to have the resources they need to provide students with this opportunity. That’s why I welcome the announcement that the Commonwealth has reached a funding agreement with the Tasmanian Government to fully fund all public schools in the state to 100 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS).
This funding will go a long way towards ensuring the needs of all students in Tasmania are met by allowing public schools to reduce class sizes, increase one-on-one support for students and provide more assistance for teachers in the classroom.
However, this is only a modest investment from the Federal Government. They are only increasing their funding for Tasmanian public schools by 2.5 per cent to 22.5 per cent and requiring the State Government to cover the remaining 77.5 per cent. Furthermore, schools might still not be funded to 100 per cent of their SRS until 2029. I’m sure most teachers and parents would hold concerns that this is far too long when our education system is struggling now. The truth is that this should have happened more than a decade ago.
Yours sincerely
