Television interview, SKY News Australia, Government’s Response to the Royal Commission Interim Report

E&OE transcript
Television Interview
SKY News Australia

TOM CONNELL: Welcome back. There is an ongoing Royal Commission into veteran suicide in Australia. While it's ongoing, though, there has been an Interim Report handed down, which the Government has now responded to. I spoke to Veterans' Affairs Minister Matt Keogh a short time ago. I started by asking him what the government is changing in the immediate future.

MATT KEOGH: So right now we've got a situation where you've got three pieces of very complex legislation for veterans. A veteran can fall under up to all three pieces of that legislation and they go through a process of lodging a claim with DVA. Often that's been done on a paper-based system. We've now introduced an online way of lodging those claims, so that's one improvement straight off the bat there. That claim then needs to be assessed for what we call initial liability. So is the injury that they're seeking assistance for related to their Defence service? Then we've got to go through assessing all of the things about rehabilitations and services that they need. So the legislation is complex. The IT systems we're operating off are very old now and out of date, and what has to be assessed in terms of the medical conditions is also a complex process and we need to address all of these.

TOM CONNELL: My understanding is too, eligibility can change. If an injury happened on this certain date in 1958 versus 1959, it changes what you're eligible for.

MATT KEOGH: That's absolutely right. So you might have an injury that occurred - say the first occurred in the 90s then that injury may have been exacerbated in the 2000s, let's say, in 2006. And because of that, that stretch, that will cover two different pieces of legislation. And so what you're eligible for may differ as a consequence.

TOM CONNELL: So, will you have one all-encompassing eligibility? Is that-?

MATT KEOGH: So what we're now looking at as part of agreeing to recommendation one is developing a pathway to simplify this legislation, to harmonise it. There have been proposals, like from the Productivity Commission about some ways in which we can do that, but we do need to work with the veterans community and consult with them about how that pathway forward should work.

TOM CONNELL: So what would be the issue with just having one eligibility, then not having to worry about what year it happened in? Is that on the table or is there an issue with doing that?

MATT KEOGH: There are some issues with doing things like that because the question is not just about if you've got one eligibility, but then what are you eligible for? And so looking at what people may be eligible for now versus what could happen under a newer system that may be more simple and more harmonised across the board, may throw up things that people aren't happy about and we don't want to see that occur. So we've got to work with people about how we find a better operating system in terms of the legislation, but that also meets the needs of our veterans as well.

TOM CONNELL: Is there a problem that some of the past schemes were so generous that it would not be feasible to do today, but you don't want to take away the generous scheme retrospectively from previous generations?

MATT KEOGH: I wouldn't talk about them in those terms. What I'd say is they just operate in fundamentally different ways. So, for example, under an older scheme, you might have got - received a pension, so a fortnightly payment, and under newer schemes you receive a lump sum payment. And for people who are eligible under both, they get a lump sum and then their pension is offset against that lump sum. That's a complicated process and it involves manual calculations at the moment within the department. Those are the things we need to streamline.

TOM CONNELL: You spoke about eliminating the backlog, so when that backlog is gone, what will you expect the average time between lodgement and decision?

MATT KEOGH: So at the moment, we're in the process of hiring 500 additional staff, which was a commitment we made at the election into DVA, so that we can get through that backlog as soon as possible. The Royal Commission has called on us to get that backlog resolved by March of 2024. We think, and we're advised by the Department we can get through that by the end of 2023. And if we can get through it even faster than that that would be absolutely [indistinct].

TOM CONNELL: That's a backlog. Okay so that's the backlog but at that point, how long should claims take?

MATT KEOGH: It does differ from claim to claim type because you've got different pieces of legislation, you're making different types of assessment. And of course, as we are going through a process now of developing a pathway to a simpler form of legislation, the time frames that would apply against those would be different again, so I can't give you a specific number of days, but obviously the wait time at the moment is entirely inappropriate.

TOM CONNELL: There's a line in there about having to weigh up some of the timelines against budget restraints. Is every department just having to look at, you need to do this as cheaply as possible because of the overall budget restraints?

MATT KEOGH: Well, it's a process, right? We've got to go through budgetary processes with any development of new policy areas and changes to legislation and of course, the time frames, also, we need to accommodate necessary consultation with a broad and diverse stakeholder group. There's over 580,000 veterans in Australia, so we've got to accommodate the necessary consultations and we've got to go through a proper budgetary process in looking at how we bring forward simpler and more harmonised legislation.

TOM CONNELL: Well, in the simplest way then, there's going to be a lot of calls for cost-cutting in different areas. Will DVA be part of that or exempt from cost-cutting calls?

MATT KEOGH: So the Royal Commission has been very clear that we need to make sure we properly resource DVA in doing the work that it's doing. So it's actually getting more resources because we're engaging the 500 additional staff.

TOM CONNELL: And that will happen even as there's going to be a lookout to try to find savings, DVA funding will grow through future years. 

MATT KEOGH: So we're increasing the staffing profile for DVA this year, next year, to make sure we can get through that backlog. Of course, if we can deliver on simpler legislation that's easier for everyone to use then there's efficiencies that can come out of that over time, that's a great win-win outcome, but we're now in the process of developing a pathway forward. We're going to have to do consultations around that as well so we can make the system work better for everyone.

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