Radio interview, 6PR Perth live with Oliver Peterson

E&OE transcript
Radio Interview
6PR Perth live with Oliver Peterson

Veterans’ Legislation Reform Consultation Pathway

OLIVER PETERSON: The Federal Government's aiming to clear a backlog of compensation claims by military personnel in the next twelve months by streamlining the process. Veterans' Affairs Minister Matt Keogh joins me this afternoon. Minister, welcome to Perth Live.

MINISTER KEOGH: Great to be with you, Oly, how are you?

OLIVER PETERSON: I'm all right, Matt. This has been a change which will be very, very welcome and something that's been a long time coming.

MINISTER KEOGH: It absolutely has been a long time coming. The legislative reform that we're proposing for consultation now is to fix up more than a century's worth of legislation for veterans’ entitlements.

OLIVER PETERSON: The backlog of claims is still over 40,000. Can you believe how it's ballooned to that level?

MINISTER KEOGH: Well, it was absolutely shocking as we were coming into Government. It's why we made a commitment to employ an additional 500 staff to the Department of Veterans' Affairs to get through that backlog. We've now employed 262 of those staff, but it does take a little while to train them up. And we saw a continued increase of claims coming into the system, so that number continued to grow after we came into Government. We've now started to bring it back down again, so we're heading in the right direction. So it does sit just a bit above what it was when we came into Government, but we have actually brought it down from a peak in the second half of last year. We're happy that the trajectory is going in the right direction, but there's still a lot of work now to get through that backlog.

OLIVER PETERSON: How long do you think it will take, Minister?

MINISTER KEOGH: Well, the Royal Commission set us a target of trying to get through that backlog by March 2024, and we're certainly committed to trying to achieve that. And if we can get through it sooner, we'd be very happy to do that. And that's why we're going through that process now, engaging those staff, getting them trained as quickly as we can so that we can work through that backlog. But of course, that doesn't fix the whole problem. We need to fix up the legislation so that it is simpler and easier to use for veterans and so that it's quicker for the Department to process those claims from veterans as well. That's why we've set out the Pathway yesterday of what we think is a better system for the legislation, closing out the two older schemes and continuing with the ongoing 21st century scheme that currently deals with most claims as it is, having everyone in that modern scheme going forward so that it's simpler for veterans to understand, simpler for their families to understand, and quicker for the Department to process those claims.

OLIVER PETERSON: And that is obviously very welcome news for people who might be on those older schemes. Will anything change for them?

MINISTER KEOGH: Nothing will change for them. They'll get exactly the same thing that they have already been receiving, so that we're not changing anything for people, we'll be giving good lead up time for people to have notice about when a change would come in and when new claims would be dealt with under that third piece of legislation, the ongoing piece of legislation. But the purpose of this as well is we're outlining this now so that we can do that consultation with the people that it impacts on most, the veterans’, their families, existing defence personnel, the advocates that work in this system, the health professionals. We're engaging with people around the country. We'll be doing roundtables and online. People can make their own submissions through the online portal so that we get all of that feedback, so that we best understand people's thoughts about this proposal, so we can factor that into what we can then bring forward.

OLIVER PETERSON: So what's this new timeline in terms of consultation? And then how long will it be, do you imagine, before you're able to draught up some legislation and introduce that to Parliament?

MINISTER KEOGH: So we've said we'd like people to make submissions by the middle of May and they can do that online through the DVA website. We'll be going around doing roundtables around the country. I'm heading up to Darwin this weekend for the anniversary of the bombing of Darwin and I'll be meeting with veterans groups up there to get their views on what we've proposed. And I'll be moving around the country myself, as will the Assistant Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Matt Thistlethwaite. The Department will be running online forums as well, so that we can get that information ourselves directly. The Department collating stuff. So we're looking sort of heading towards the middle of the year to do all of that consultation, so then we can bring forward a proposal about what we think, what we can actually bring into the Parliament.

OLIVER PETERSON: On a similar matter of Veterans' Affairs White Cards, we've heard reports of some GPs are no longer acknowledging those or saying that veterans’ couldn't use them to pay. Are you aware of this, Minister? And will there be something that's able to be done to make sure they can be used?

MINISTER KEOGH: Look, I am aware of it, Oly, and that's a business decision that those GPs have decided to make. But we're aware that some GPs, it's definitely not all GPs. And what I say to veterans is, if you're having trouble finding a GP or a specialist that will accept the white card, contact DVA. We will connect you to a GP or medical specialist that is able to help you under your white card. And that's very important for veterans to know that they can contact DVA for that assistance. But I have also engaged with the Health Minister and my Department is working with the Health Department so that we can best understand what other things we need to look at doing to make sure we don't have this problem. I'm sure, as you and your listeners are very well aware across the country, we've seen a decline in doctors’ bulk billing, and this is really the same problem manifest in the veterans’ community now as well.

OLIVER PETERSON: Minister, you enjoy your trip there to Darwin over the weekend and we appreciate your time.

MINISTER KEOGH: Great to be with you, Oly.

OLIVER PETERSON: Matt Keogh, Veterans' Affairs Minister, have you been caught out with this backlog of compensation claim claims? 133882 and then you're filled with confidence those 42,000-odd claims will be processed now over the next 13 months. An ambitious target that's just been set.

END

Authorised by The Hon Matt Keogh MP

Open Arms – Veterans & Families Counselling provides 24/7 free confidential crisis support for current and ex-serving ADF personnel and their families on 1800 011 046 or the Open Arms website. Safe Zone Support provides anonymous counselling on 1800 142 072. Defence All-Hours Support Line provides support for ADF personnel on 1800 628 036 or the Defence Health Portal. Defence Member and Family Helpline provides support for Defence families on 1800 624 608