A Member has committed to take this petition to the House. The campaign is moving on every front.
A short update for everyone who has signed.
The petition is moving. Here is what has happened this week.
1. The parliamentary side. The House of Representatives e-petition I lodged has been verified by the Standing Committee on Petitions and assigned formal petition number EN10124. The Committee is expected to certify it on Monday 30 June. A Member of the House of Representatives has confirmed in writing that they will present the petition and speak to it in the chamber on the sitting Monday following certification. I am not naming the Member publicly yet, out of respect for their office's preparation, but the commitment is real, the briefing material has been provided, and you will know who it is the moment they take the petition to the floor.
2. The Senate side. A parallel Senate paper petition is in preparation. Multiple senators have been formally written to about presenting it, including Senator Jacqui Lambie (Independent), Senator David Pocock (Independent), and the Greens spokespeople for Defence and Veterans' Affairs.
3. The Royal Commission accountability side. A substantive submission has been lodged with the Defence and Veterans' Service Commission, the statutory body the Government itself established in September 2025 to oversee implementation of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. The submission asks the Commission to include the $5,000 cap within the scope of its scheduled statutory inquiries. The argument is straightforward: the Government cannot, in good faith, claim to be implementing 104 of the 122 Royal Commission recommendations while imposing a cap that operationalises the rationing the Commission specifically warned against. The submission is now on the record with the independent oversight body the Government created.
4. The ESO side. Soldier On is now engaging the Department of Veterans' Affairs at peak ESO level. The Yeronga-Dutton Park RSL Sub-Branch is taking the cap to the RSL Queensland Annual General Meeting this weekend. The Nicholas Clinic, a veteran-owned mental health provider, has committed to support. Correspondence has gone to 17 ESOs across all states.
5. The cross-party side. The cap has been raised on Hansard four times in the House by Coalition MPs (Phillip Thompson OAM, David Batt, Mary Aldred) and once at Senate Estimates by Senator Jacqui Lambie, who disclosed she had personally exhausted $5,000 in 10 weeks managing chronic back pain. I have a confirmed constituent meeting with my own federal MP, the Hon Julie-Anne Campbell (Labor), on Friday 19 June. State-level Labor engagement is also underway through Mark Bailey MP, Queensland Shadow Minister for Health.
What you can do today:
Keep sharing this petition. Every signature signals to your MP, to my MP, and to the Department of Veterans' Affairs that the cap is being watched.
Send the template letter to your federal MP: bit.ly/vet5000cap (click, hit "Make a copy", fill in details, send; ten minutes).
Once the House e-petition is officially certified (expected Monday 30 June), I will post the official aph.gov.au signing URL here and ask everyone who can to also sign there. Signatures on the official aph.gov.au page are what trigger the Minister's required written response.
Thank you. Genuinely. This campaign is moving because of you.
In solidarity,
Rebecca