Alan Griffin (Bruce, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

The Harmer review and these pension reforms are good news for the veteran community in this country. We are talking about an additional $1.1 billion with respect to income support for those veterans and war widows who are in a situation where they rely on government income support. We are talking about some 320,000 Veterans’ Affairs pensioners in this situation, some 190,000 service pensioners and over 105,000 war widows. This comes on top of the 325,000 or thereabouts who benefited from the bonus payments in the first stimulus package and the nearly 130,000 who received support under the second stimulus package.

The Harmer focus was very much on the issue of income support for those who really needed it. As was outlined by the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs earlier, it was also about simplification of payments and also improved indexation methods. It is complex, and the circumstances around individual veterans are something which they will need to understand. They will be written to accordingly to ensure that they have the information that they need to understand the nature of what they are receiving.

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