Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Defence Personnel) Share this | Hansard source

Labor believes this budget, in terms of the Department of Veterans' Affairs, is really a case of marketing, mismanagement and missed opportunities. We have a situation where the Department of Veterans' Affairs needs to be rebuilt. It's so obvious from the Productivity Commission report, which said that, for veterans, navigating the department is complex and difficult and the whole claims process is really difficult. The government seems in this budget to be throwing around some money to fix political problems of its own creation. There are some stopgap, bandaid solutions rather than the delivery of fundamental reform, and the government is yet to respond fully to the Productivity Commission recommendations.

We do welcome the funding for additional staff, but we'd like to know when the additional staff are going to be employed in the Department of Veterans' Affairs. We note there is another $98.5 million in the budget for an extra 440 staff. How long will it take to employ those staff—over what period? At what level does the minister expect those staff to be employed?

We do know after Senate estimates that the same figures seem to come up all the time: 40 per cent of Department of Veterans' Affairs staff are labour hire workers and 50 per cent of the frontline staff dealing with veterans and their claims are labour hire. When are those percentages, in relation to frontline services as well as to the whole department, going to come down, Minister? We really need a better resourced DVA and faster claims processing, and we really need to crack down on labour hire to guarantee 'same job, same pay' and allow people more secure Public Service jobs, ending inappropriate temporary contracts. One of the things that is quite clear is that there is a big problem in terms of temporary workforce in the department. I'd like to know, Minister: How many of the employees that are working at the Department of Veterans' Affairs are on temporary contracts? How many are casual? How many are working on a full-time basis?

Minister, the government is really not using its position as a model employer to give a good example to the workforce generally, including the private sector. The government should only be utilising non-permanent employment where it's absolutely essential. Minimising permanent employee numbers in the Department of Veterans' Affairs is simply not the way to go. I want to congratulate and thank the men and women in the Department of Veterans' Affairs as well as the men and women who serve in the ADF for the work they do. A job in the Public Service is really critical, and delivering service to our men and women is really, really important.

A DVA labour hire worker recently told the union:

I have been a casual for five years and now I have to reapply for my job because the company that employs me has lost its contract with DVA. If I don't get employed I'll have no redundancy pay or any leave paid out. If the new contractor employs me then it just shows I'm not a casual. This sort of thing is happening to more of us all the time. We are doing permanent work and should have secure jobs.

Minister, it's really critical that workers like that who work in the department are employed in the Australian Public Service.

The other thing that's quite clear from what people tell me—and I get this wherever I go, whether it's in Tweed Heads, Townsville, Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne or anywhere I visit—is that the waiting times are up to a year for payments or even sometimes for just a claim to be allocated to a delegate. When is that going to be addressed, Minister? It's an absolute disgrace, and this government should hang its head in shame.

What is the government going to do to fix the delays, denials and dysfunctions in the Department of Veterans' Affairs, and how many more people are going to be in a position where they are going to have issues that affect their mental health? That's been the result of many, many inquiries we've had, including coronial inquests where people have said their experience with the Department of Veterans' Affairs has impacted on their mental health, with issues of suicidal ideation and others. I could quote many, many inquiries and many, many coronial inquests in which that has been said. This is a really critical issue to address. We thank those people who have been involved in that.

We note the government has been dragged kicking and screaming into a royal commission into veteran suicide. It's really important, Minister, for you to take a systemic approach to the royal commission. I'm asking if you intend to do that, because certainly what we've seen in terms of the themes has been an individualised approach. We're asking, Minister, that you look at a systemic approach that deals with the challenges of the Department of Veterans' Affairs in the royal commission.

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