Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the Veterans' Entitlement Amendment Bill 2018, but I really want to address my remarks to the amendment that has been moved, because right now some veterans are missing out on mental health services as a direct result of the government's ongoing Medicare freeze. This isn't an issue that's come out of the blue. It's been raised by multiple inquiries and it's been raised anecdotally with us and, no doubt, with the other side. The underlying situation comes about because the DVA fee schedule is linked to the Medicare Benefits Schedule and the MBS rebates. As a consequence of the government's continuing Medicare freeze, the DVA fee schedule has remained stagnant since 2014—so we're talking four years. It really means the DVA schedule is out of step with the real world. The situation that has been described to me is a gap in payments of anywhere between $102 to about $150 for psychiatrists and psychologists. Of course, it comes about because people can't pay the DVA gap. We have a real inequity here and we have a responsibility to act on this.

In conversations with serving personnel and those who recently transitioned to civilian life or are about to transition, including those who've been discharged on medical grounds because of mental health problems, it's pretty obvious that looking after veterans' mental health has to be a key priority for this place. There is a strong commitment on both sides, but we are letting them down here. It's been raised by the Australian Medical Association. Their survey last year about the impact of the fee schedule freeze found that almost 30 per cent of specialists were no longer committed to treating veterans and only 44 per cent said they'll continue to see veterans if the freeze continues, with the remainder considering other ways to charge veterans. That's coming from doctors themselves.

As part of the Productivity Commission's current inquiry into compensation and rehabilitation for veterans, the Prime Ministerial Advisory Council on Veterans' Mental Health said in their submission:

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.

This is clearly already on the record. In addition, the Veterans and Veterans Families Counselling Service National Advisory Committee stated:

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.

I've had conversations with people about occupational health. This is affecting allied health therapists as well. There is a change in make up of the people they're seeing simply because of this problem with the benefits that are being paid.

I don't think that we as a parliament can expect people to go and serve this country and then not look after them when they come back. Their families deserve that, and they deserve that. I'm very pleased to see that Labor has announced our military covenant, which would ensure that we all have at heart the best interests of Defence Force personnel and veterans—those who've served and those who've retired for whatever reason. That is what everybody should expect from this place.

It's particularly concerning that we were aware of this issue because it came up in a Senate inquiry into suicide by veterans and ex-service personnel. As I say, it's not a new issue; it's not something that we can pretend we didn't know about. It was raised by the Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention, the Australian Psychological Society and the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists. We have been told and we should be listening to the things people are saying.

When we expect men and women to selflessly serve their country, they rightly expect that, when they come home, they're given appropriate access to health care, and that means that it is appropriately funded. The paperwork is, to say the least, daunting. One young man recently shared with me the hoops he has to jump through—pages and pages of documents to work through. It's hard enough if you're well, but if you're suffering from PTSD, depression or another mental illness then it's like climbing Everest to get that paperwork done. Having done all of that, be deemed eligible and then be turned away from medical professionals because the rebate is so far below the going rate is really devastating for our veterans and for their families. Remember, this is not about one person; this is about all the people around them. So we really do have to step in and take action on this matter, and I would urge the government to consider acting on this very swiftly. We've talked about the impact of the Medicare freeze on the wider community. Here is yet another group being profoundly impacted. If we can change it to make it a better outcome for even a small number of veterans who are suffering, then we're doing the right thing in this place. I commend the amendment to the House.

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