Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Solomon for his very important question, for his service to our Australian Defence Force and for his work supporting the 5,500 veterans in his community. When we came to government, DVA was underresourced, it was underfunded and it was facing a crisis. There was a backlog of some 42,000 claims in the department that had not even been looked at. As the former government veterans' affairs minister, the member for Calare said on radio this morning, 'At this time the government was only prioritising funding that had a political advantage.' So they didn't feel there was a political advantage in funding veterans' issues. This was such a dire situation the previous minister threatened to resign over it.

The vast majority of claims that are brought are under the MRCA. The first step is establishing initial liability. Back in 2022-23, it took on average 332 days just to allocate a claim to someone for them to look at it. It took a further average of 113 days for that claim to be determined, which meant in 2022-23 the average time to process claims was 441 days. Addressing this crisis is why the government have made the investments that we have. DVA is now better funded than it had been in three decades. We funded 500 additional APS in the October 2022 budget to get about clearing that backlog. We have added funding for 141 permanent staff in the budget this year. The use of labour hire to process claims has fallen from a third to just 10 people. As of right now, it takes 14 days—no more—for that claim I mentioned to be looked at. On average, since 1 December, it takes six days. The average time taken to determine a claim, since 1 December 2023, is now 44 days. That means it is an average of 60 days now to process a MRCA initial liability claim. Of course, there are claims that a more complex and where further medical information might be sought. It does take some time for those claims.

It's appreciated that due to the backlog we inherited some people have been waiting far too long—indeed, years—for their claims to be processed. That's why we've put in the work to get these claims assessed as quickly as possible. It's the processing of this backlog of claims that we inherited that means we are spending an additional $6.5 billion over five years to give veterans the benefits that they deserve. It's why it is so concerning that some say the government should be cutting back on the staff that it has, which would result in veterans getting fewer benefits. This is not about politics; it's about doing the right thing.

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