Milton Dick (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to enter the debate tonight on the Veterans' Entitlements Amendment Bill 2018 and also to strongly support the second reading amendment moved by the shadow minister. I just want to touch on the issue the member for Canberra—who has been a passionate and fierce advocate for Defence Force families and men and women serving in the ADF—raised in the debate tonight about national servicemen. In my electorate of Oxley there is what we call one of the headquarters for national servicemen, the Wacol Barracks. That was a significant area, used during the war and also postwar, where many young men provided great service to our nation. I actually met with the National Servicemen's Association from Queensland two weeks ago. They are on a mission to build a memorial at Wacol for those 'nashos' who lost their lives during service. There isn't a lot of recognition for those men who, through accidents and through incidents, were killed during their national service.

Tonight, in the House of Representatives, I place on record my thanks to, particularly, those great men who gave outstanding service and, in some ways, who've not been fully recognised as part of the nashos. I know, by talking to their leadership in Queensland, just how passionate and dedicated they are to honouring and remembering their comrades, those brave men, that served Australia but haven't yet been recognised. Tonight, I place on record that I will be doing what I can. They want to have a memorial erected for next year. Wacol is a wonderful community. It was the site of a couple of things: great army barracks and, later, through the fifties, sixties and seventies, a migrant processing camp, where the second-largest number of migrants were processed in Australia. That happened in the south-west suburbs of Brisbane. They are very historic suburbs, but, in some ways, they are suburbs that have great military connection to our country.

As the member for Oxley, I want to take the opportunity tonight to place on record my support for this bill. It is a minor amendment, but it is an important amendment that we will be dealing with tonight. We've heard speakers from both sides of the chamber recognising the great service to our nation of those who have served in the ADF, and service to one's country is nothing short of selfless. When a person makes this commitment, we as a nation must in turn undertake a commitment to support that individual and their family both during and after their service.

Tonight's bill amends the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 in relation to how the Department of Veterans' Affairs administers bereavement payments. We know these amendments result in no changes to current entitlements to bereavement payments, but rather insert a new section to the VEA that was omitted in amendments in 1996. We know that the section was inadvertently removed in the Veterans' Entitlements Amendment (Budget Measures 1995-96) Bill (No. 2) 1995 and provides the legislative power for DVA to reduce bereavement payments where an overpayment has occurred. So DVA already has the legal authority to provide the bereavement payment and to recover any overpayment of income support pensions paid to veterans after their death.

The process has been in place since the 1980s, but, as I said, the legislation provision was inadvertently removed in 1996. We need to do this to make sure that this issue is resolved. We know that the passing of a loved one is particularly difficult and, when this occurs, it is entirely understandable that the need to notify the relevant government departments is not always prominent. This means that until the DVA is notified, the veteran will continue to receive payments after their death. This results in an overpayment to the partner.

I support this bill tonight, as does the Labor opposition, and as our shadow minister has outlined, in the attempt to deal with the situation while, of course, respecting and placing the wellbeing of veterans' families at the forefront of policymaking. I'm happy to place on record my support for the bill, but I'm also happy tonight to address the shadow minister's amendment, which reads:

"whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House notes with concern that the Government has undermined veterans' access to health services".

I want to touch on this because I know from representing members of the ADF and talking to members who have served that they are feeling short-changed by the fact that the frozen Medicare rebates have included allied health services. This is a throwback to the disastrous 2014 Abbott budget. We know there has not been any indexation of Medicare rebates since 2014 and, as a result, no corresponding increase in the DVA rebate paid to health professionals helping our veterans. I want to be very clear that this is a serious issue. This is a serious issue that means some of our veterans are not getting, in my opinion, the health care that they deserve.

A number of submissions to the Productivity Commission's inquiry into compensation and rehab for veterans have seen stakeholders critical of this very key impact. I want to read into the Hansard tonight, and reiterate my support for some of these submissions, what the Prime Ministerial Advisory Council on Veterans' Mental Health said in their submission. They said:

It would appear there is a limited, but perhaps increasing, number of medical specialists turning our veterans away once they become aware they are DVA clients. The Council understands the concern regarding accepting DVA clients stems from the fact that MBS fees have been frozen for many years.

The Department of Veterans' Affairs have conceded that there are serious issues with this freeze, with the Veterans and Veterans Counselling Service National Advisory Committee in their submission saying:

The remuneration gap between seeing veterans versus private patients from the general community or Defence members is now so significant that clinical providers are prioritising other clients over DVA referrals. In some cases, providers are refusing to accept clients with DVA white or gold cards because of the poor remuneration offered.

These concerns are confirmed and backed in by the Australian Medical Association. They announced over 18 months ago a survey of their members which found that almost 30 per cent of clinicians are no longer committed to treating veterans and are turning them away and that only 44 per cent of respondents would continue seeing veterans if the freeze continues.

As I said, this is a serious issue that I don't think the government is addressing in any way, shape or form. I don't think it is hearing the message from those people being impacted by this or from experts in the field—from the AMA or from Occupational Therapy Australia, which said:

While the Department of Veterans' Affairs … may report no decline in the total number of occupational therapists treating veterans, OTA is aware of the changing make-up of that number and the potential repercussions of this change.

The issue was also raised in the Senate inquiry into suicide by veterans and ex-service personnel by a number of submitters, including Dr Katelyn Kerr from the Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention. In Dr Kerr's submission, she writes:

However, DVA fees are significantly lower, and there has been a fee freeze for psychologists since 2014, creating a disincentive for experienced and skilled clinicians to see veterans. If DVA would match the fee schedule provided by Medibank Health Solutions or that recommended by the APS, this would increase the number of psychologists willing to see veterans and would increase the delivery of gold-standard interventions which have high success rates in treating mental disorders.

From 1 July 2017 to 23 May this year, DVA had received 8,331 applications for nonliability health care. While not all applications were for mental health treatment, we could expect the majority were seeking treatment for mental health conditions. According to the DVA's 2016-17 annual report, DVA currently services 165,071 veterans. Of course, this number is not reflective of all the veterans in Australia as DVA only track those who are current clients.

You can see from the evidence provided and from what the community is saying—I just want to put on the record tonight that I think the government has been way too slow in acting on this. That's why we're seeking tonight to put that amendment on the agenda: because our veterans deserve that. When the vote comes tonight, we have an opportunity to send a very clear message that this House notes with concern that the way that the government have been dragged kicking and screaming on the issue on frozen rebates is having a major impact on the veterans community.

I want to briefly touch on—I think of the member for Canberra and the particular work that she's done in the area alongside our defence team of the shadow minister for defence, the member for Corio, and the shadow minister for veterans' affairs—the significant announcement for the veterans community which we saw last week in Townsville. I saw some media reports about that announcement. I understand that the announcement was well received by the veterans community. If we are to be successful at the next election and if we are to be in government, Labor's vow to ADF personnel will be set in stone. In the future, if we are successful, a Shorten Labor government will put in place a formal agreement to ensure the nation's armed forces are fully supported during and after their service. It will be legislated with regular reporting to Australia on how Australia is supporting military personnel. I think that's an official promise that, hopefully, both sides of politics will deliver. I was delighted to see that the LNP in Queensland have matched that commitment.

Once again, we've seen the quality of a future Shorten Labor government, if we are successful, in making that firm commitment alongside the shadow minister for veterans affairs. It was only a short while ago that we saw the relevant portfolio elevated to cabinet, and I congratulate the Leader of the Opposition for ensuring that veterans are given that strong voice at the cabinet table. And they can have no stronger voice than the shadow minister, who, I know, has been travelling the country, meeting with veterans' groups, meeting with our Defence Force personnel, to make sure that she hears and understands, and that's why you saw good policy announced in Townsville last week with the member for Herbert, the Leader of the Opposition and the shadow minister.

I very much look forward to giving, if Labor were privileged to be in government, that commitment to make sure that we not only honour but, importantly, deliver on the commitments to those men and women who've served our great nation. With those few remarks, I commend the bill to the House and thank the minister and the shadow minister for the constructive way they have handled this debate tonight.

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