Press Conference, Perth

SUBJECTS: Perth RAAF Air Show 2027, veteran supports, Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide

MINISTER FOR VETERANS’ AFFAIRS AND DEFENCE PERSONNEL MATT KEOGH: Well, it's a glorious day to be here at the Perth Royal Show, especially on Defence and Veteran’s Day, and I am really excited to be able to announce that Perth CBD will be hosting its first ever Royal Australian Air Force Air Show. This is an incredibly exciting opportunity for Perth. On the 12th of September 2027, we'll be having an air show around Perth CBD. We're used to having these out at Pearce Air Force Base and at other Air Force bases around the country, but this will be the first time we'll be having it around the Perth CBD, being able to see the great depth and breadth of Air Force capability and Australian Defence Force capability. 

People will be able to view this from the South Perth foreshore, from Kings Park, and of course from Perth itself, and importantly, come to Langley Park to see a whole range of exhibits and events, and to learn more about what our Australian Defence Force does in the service of our nation, both across Air Force and the other services, Army, Navy, and of course now in cyber and space, there is so much that our Australian Defence Force has to offer in terms of careers for our people in Australia. By having this Air Show in the Perth CBD, it makes it much more accessible for people to be able to see, to learn, and to feel that excitement about what our Australian Air Force has to offer. If we have this up at Pearce, we've done that before back in 2012, we're really limited in terms of how many people can get onto Base, are able to see the aeronautic displays - by having this Air Show in the Perth CBD, many many more people will be able to see what our Air Force has to offer, its amazing capability, and to learn more about our Australian Defence Force and its important capability across all domains. 

I'm excited. I think Western Australians should be excited. The CBD and the Swan River are an amazing backdrop for an air show. It's a great way for people to learn and to see what our Air Force has to offer. I'm now going to let Micka, who runs our air shows around the country, say a bit more about the Perth Air Show next year.

AIR FORCE HEAD OF AIR SHOWS, AIR COMMODORE MICKA GRAY: Good morning, thanks, Minister. Air Force is really excited and pleased to be able to conduct our next major Air Show in 2027 in Perth on Sunday, 12 September 2027. Air Force will showcase its most modern air force, all our capabilities, both in the air and on the ground. We'll also have a great range of broader Australian Defense Force capabilities at Langley Park, but the airs, the air will be full of incredible flying, as our air crew just demonstrate what we do on a daily basis, but we do that out of sight in our training areas, the Air Show will give people an opportunity to see and hear and feel it up close over the City. 

There'll be multiple viewing points. We're expecting huge crowds, probably 80,000 people leveraging off Perth as a magnificent city with its great logistics and its beautiful backdrop. We're looking forward to everyone being there. We're very excited to be able to do this, as it's it is our major community engagement. Air shows are incredible community engagement events that bring people together and have people understand the Air Force and Defence Force and our fantastic people. Thanks very much.

KEOGH: Can I just add, I think many people in Perth will remember the Red Bull Air Race taking over Perth CBD, the Royal Australian Air Force Air Show in 2027 will leave that in the dust. It will be a great array of different aircraft, our full Air Force capability on display here in Perth CBD.

JOURNALIST: Who’s going to be footing the bill? Is this cost sharing with the City of Perth and Department of Defence? Any State Government funding involved? 

KEOGH: So we run a program of conducting Air Shows every couple of years around the country. This will be the Perth part of those Air Shows around the country. Previously, we've done these up at Pearce, though it has meant it's limited of who's been able to attend. By having the 2027 Air Show, not just here in Western Australia, but in the Perth CBD, makes it so much more accessible for people.

JOURNALIST: So that accessibility, it’s not State Government funded? 

KEOGH:  This is part of our regular Air Show program, but making sure we're bringing it to the people where more people can see it is what we're delivering through our normal Defence program.

JOURNALIST: What are some of the flagship events at this airshow? What can people expect?

GRAY: What people see is our fighter aircraft. We're aiming to have all the all the Air Force aircraft types here, subject to operational requirements. But our F-35 fighter aircraft is the most modern fighter aircraft in the world. If anyone hasn't seen that doing display, it is awe inspiring. Our F-18 Super Hornets and EA-18 Growlers are equally as good in a different role. So they will be on display. The Hawks from RAAF Base Pearce up the road. We expect the Roulettes, our fantastic aerobatic display team, the larger aircraft, E7 Wedge Tail, the command and control aircraft, KC-30 Airbus tankers, P8 maritime patrol, just highlighting like our most modern Air Force equipment that we have. Like we are world-leading in this, so to be able to display that to the public, we're really excited, and we know people will love it. 

JOURNALIST: Your pilots must be pretty excited to be doing this on the Swan river? Must be looking forward to that? 

GRAY: Yeah, look, the air crew love doing displays because you know we train daily, you know, incredibly great training of professional aviators throughout Air Force and the Defence Force. But to be able to do that, where you know people are watching from very close and seeing that, and on the ground, being able to provide that, you know, ground exhibits and interact with people. We love talking to the public about their questions, [inaudible], and of course, it's not all about flying. The Defence Force has hundreds of jobs, so we will have all those people available to engage with the public. 

JOURNALIST: [inaudible] 

GRAY: Yeah, it's a great location. When the Minister said, we looked at Pearce. Pearce is a very important Air Force base, but there's a logistics challenge of getting there. Everyone loves being at an Air Show. People join the Air Force because they went to an Air Show. We know they'll love that, but we also want to enjoy the getting there and getting home again. Hence, the downtown location is ideal for that.

JOURNALIST: Where did you get that 80,000 number, are you expecting a few more? Red Bull air race had well over 100, 000? Is that an estimate? 

GRAY: Yes, it is. From dealing with the City of Perth, on how many in Perth for Australia Day, and that huge expanse at Langley, and of course all the foreshore is, you know, it's almost open-ended thing. It'll be a free, unticketed event. The Air Show will be free to public, no tickets required, open access. It really is a Defence Force community engagement.

JOURNALIST: Minister, Veteran Allied Health, so two weeks ago, you put out a statement announcement that you're dumping the planned cap on that, why [inaudible]

KEOGH: Well, I've been clearly explaining what we've been doing with the Allied Health Measure and a range of other initiatives that we've been taking since Parliament finished a few weeks ago. What's been really important here is that we're not proceeding with the threshold review at $5,000 on Allied Health, but importantly, we are keeping the increase in fees to allied health professionals because we had been seeing some allied health professionals withdrawing service from our veteran community by increasing those fees. The biggest increase in 20 years will make sure that we're continuing to provide good access to allied health services for our veteran community. 

But at the same time, we're able to secure the passage of two very important pieces of legislation implementing recommendations of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. Between those two Bills, they directly implement 20 of the recommendations of the Royal Commission and support the implementation of a further 20 of the recommendations of the Royal Commission. So that keeps us on track for having two thirds of the recommendations implemented by the end of the year, and at the same time, we also announced that we've upgraded our response to 15 of those recommendations. Many of them previously noted now becoming agreed or agreed in principle by Government for implementation.

JOURNALIST: I mean, you had to back down on that on that veteran health cap. You had to apologise to the groups that were calling for it to be scrapped, they're calling for you to be sacked. Can you really say that you, you know, have the trust of those veterans still?

KEOGH: Well, what's been, I think, really important through our implementation of all recommendations of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, and all of our reform in improving access to services, support, and compensation for our veteran community is the way in which we've been able to work collaboratively with the veteran community, with ex-service organisations, with veteran service providers as well, on making sure that we get the reforms right, that we are able to deliver better outcomes for our veteran community, and that we’re implementing the recommendations of the Royal Commission at pace, and we've seen that with standing up the new Veteran and Family Wellbeing Agency, which started on the 1st of July, also by being able to rapidly legislate and commence the work of the Defence and Veteran Service Commission, which the Royal Commission itself said was its most important recommendation. We've worked collaboratively with the sector the whole way through, making once-in-a-century reform to improve the veteran entitlement system as well, the legislative system. And we've worked with the sector all the way through on doing that. And we said we would do that with the Allied Health measure as well. We did that. We coordinated and collaborated, and we did, undertook the consultation. We listened. We've maintained the fee increase. We've dropped the threshold proposal, and we'll continue to work closely with the sector on the further implementation of recommendations as we go forward.

JOURNALIST: You’ve got former Defence personnel. You've got these groups calling for you to be sacked, does that undermine your position as a Minister? Does it make it difficult for you to go on?

KEOGH: I think what's been really important is actually the achievement we've been able to deliver when it comes to the Veterans’ Affairs portfolio and supporting our veteran community. When we came into Government, there were some 42,000 claims sitting with DVA that had not been looked at by anybody. 

The total expenditure on supporting our veteran community was around $10 billion a year under the previous Government. Under the Albanese Government, in the time that I've been the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, we have been able to increase that funding now this year to up around 15 billion dollars a year going into veteran support. It's meant over the four years we've increased that funding by around $16 billion dollars over four years. 

It's meant that we've been able to make this once-in-a-century reform to veterans' entitlement legislation. We've been able to process that backlog of claims. We've made the processing of claims through DVA faster, and we want to continue to make it faster as well. Claims that have been lodged this year and processed are being done in an average of less than 100 days. When we came to Government, it was taking over a year. Now there are still claims that take longer and are more complex, and we're working through those and we're making the system better. And a lot of that comes through implementing the reforms of the Royal Commission. 

But what we have been able to achieve in the four years that I've been Minister under the Albanese Government in delivering better healthcare, faster claims processing, better access to treatment and rehabilitation, and greater and quicker access to compensation as well, has been dramatically different to the foot on the hose that existed under the previous Government, where they didn't resource the Department of Veterans’ Affairs appropriately, and they weren't making sure that the benefits and supports were getting to our veteran community. 

JOURNALIST: so was it bad policy?

KEOGH: I think what's really important with all Government policy, whether it's in the veterans' portfolio or in other areas, is that when Government comes forward with ideas around how can it implement reform, like recommendations from the Royal Commission or in other areas, that you commit to engaging with the relevant sectors. You consult, you listen, and you respond, and that's exactly what we’ve done, we said we would consult on this measure. We did that. We engaged with the veteran community. 

We heard and we responded, and I think that's what people actually want from good, effective Government on delivering good reform: is that you continue to push for good reform to provide better outcomes for people. In this case, the veteran community, and you listen to the sector, both allied health professionals and the veteran community and the service providers, and you respond to that appropriately. And that's exactly what we've done to make sure we continue to deliver good outcomes for our veteran community.

JOURNALIST: So, whose decision was it? Was it your decision, or the Prime Minister's?

KEOGH: So the Government made this decision. That's how Government’s work. We listen and we responded, and that's exactly what we did.

JOURNALIST: Isn't that a problem, though, if you don't have the trust of your veterans, or at least some veterans? Isn’t it difficult for you to do your job?  

KEOGH: What's really important about how I do my job is that the commitment to engage, to listen, to bring forward good ideas, and to make sure that we're delivering good outcomes for our veteran community. We've improved the processing times. We've improved the engagement of rehabilitation, treatment, support outcomes for the community. That's what we're doing. That's what the veteran community expects, and that's what we continue to deliver with them. 

JOURNALIST: You expect to continue in the in the job? You should remain the Veterans Minister? business.

KEOGH: I've been so proud and humbled to be the Veterans’ Affairs Minister under the Albanese Labor Government, to be able to introduce such significant reform to the legislative entitlement system, to be able to implement recommendations from the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, to see the amount of funding and support going to our veteran community increase by 50% over the term of our Government to now, these are great achievements, there's still more to do, and I look forward to delivering on those better outcomes. 

JOURNALIST: Thanks, Minister. 

KEOGH: Thanks everyone

ENDS