Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I rise to speak on the Veterans’ Affairs Legislation Amendment (Veteran-centric Reforms No. 1) Bill 2018. This bill, which comprises eight schedules, seeks to provide greater support for our current and former ADF members by addressing several recommendations from the Senate inquiry into suicide by veterans and ex-service personnel. We do owe a debt to those who put their lives on hold in service of our country. When individuals enlist with the Australian Defence Force they undertake a commitment to our country and place their health and wellbeing on the line in service to our nation. In return, we undertake a commitment to look after them and their families both during their time in the ADF and after. This commitment is about more than just their physical health; it is about taking a holistic view of the member and their loved one. For those whose service has had a greater impact on them, we have a duty to care for them and their family now and into the future.

One suicide is one too many and we should be doing all we can to prevent our current and ex-serving Defence personnel and their loved ones from reaching this crisis point. It's for this reason that Labor supported the establishment of the Senate inquiry into suicide by veterans and ex-service personnel. This inquiry sought to highlight the struggles some veterans and their families undergo following their time in the Australian Defence Force and, importantly, what we can do to provide greater assistance.

Over the course of 11 months the inquiry received 458 submissions and held a number of public hearings with veterans, families, ex-service organisations and other interested parties to work through the issues facing our ex-service community. These submissions built a detailed picture of gaps and stumbling blocks that our veterans experience. They highlighted the lessons they had learnt and what the Department of Defence, the Department of Veterans' Affairs and the government could do to improve outcomes for the ex-service community.

The report made 24 recommendations, with the government accepting 22 in full and two in principle. This legislation addresses two of these recommendations. Labor has offered full support to the government to ensure the Senate inquiry recommendations are implemented in a timely manner to bring about positive changes for our veterans and their families. I've been following the progress of these recommendations closely to ensure that they are implemented in a timely fashion and am pleased to see these elements included in this bill.

Schedule 1 of this bill seeks to amend the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act to provide additional support for current and former members and the families of current and former members, including deceased members, by providing additional childcare arrangements, counselling, household services and attendant care. This is in response to recommendation 19 of the Senate inquiry, which states:

The committee recommends that the Department of Veterans' Affairs review the support for partners of veterans to identify further avenues for assistance. This review should include services such as information and advice, counselling, peer support and options for family respite care to support partners of veterans.

The proposed amendments will support the implementation of three initiatives which are intended to help families maintain their connections to community and employment and improve social function. They aim to provide key psychosocial interventions to members with complex needs and assist in reducing family pressures. This schedule will help to address some of the issues that have been raised with me which have also been highlighted in the National Mental Health Commission's report.

Family members of current and ex-serving Defence personnel play a vital role in supporting their loved ones, particularly in circumstances where the service of a veteran has had a greater impact on that member. In these circumstances the families have needs of their own and it is our responsibility to ensure that the systems which support veterans extend the same care to their loved ones. It is for this reason that Labor has committed, if elected, to developing a family engagement and support strategy for Defence personnel and veterans. This strategy would provide a national blueprint to include engagement of DVA and Defence with military families and would ensure best-practice support for families of serving personnel and ex-ADF members is consistently available across the country. This element of consistency is particularly important given the cycle of repostings for ADF members and the impact on the family who move with them.

Support for families was the topic of many conversations during my recent trip to Darwin. Luke Gosling, the member for Solomon, invited me to the NT to visit with current and ex-serving members and their families. I really appreciated those individuals who took the time to come and meet with me and raise concerns. It's by talking to members of the serving and ex-service community and their families that I'm able to best advocate for their needs.

I'm pleased to see the government acting on the recommendation which seeks to provide additional support and recognises the importance of military families. Under this schedule a new chapter will be inserted into the MRCA to enable the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission to provide a range of services to current and former ADF members, specified family members and specified family members of deceased family members. This schedule seeks to provide additional child care, brief intervention counselling and additional household services for widows and widowers. While some of these services have been made available to individuals in this group via exceptional circumstances determinations, these changes will formalise the assistance and make the process smoother and easier for veterans and their families. Labor is supportive of these changes to provide greater assistance to the family, who do, as I've said, play a critical role. After all, greater support for military families is greater support for our current and ex-serving Defence personnel.

Schedule 2 establishes the veteran payment, an interim income support payment for those waiting for mental health claims to be determined. The payments are subject to satisfying the income and assets tests and will require individuals to engage in vocational and psychosocial rehabilitation, including financial counselling. In addition, partners of veterans may also be eligible for a payment. This new payment is both in response to the Senate inquiry and in response to the inquiry into the suicide of Jesse Bird.

As members may be aware, Jesse Bird was a young veteran who took his life in June 2017 after his claim for compensation had been rejected by the Department of Veterans' Affairs. The inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Jesse's case made 19 recommendations to improve the service and experience of veterans. Recommendation 18 dealt with the provision of more timely incapacity compensation payments, recommending the provision of more timely incapacity compensation payments for former members of the ADF incapacitated for service or work by mental health conditions without the need for a determination that those mental health conditions are related to service. As a result of the recommendation, and the findings of the Senate inquiry, the government committed to introducing interim incapacity payments for mental health conditions which would ensure a level of financial security for veterans and their families when suffering from mental health injury.

Schedule 2 of this bill provides the legislative basis for these payments. The veteran payment will be available between lodging a claim for a mental health injury and the claim being determined, essentially targeting this gap and providing some level of financial security during a difficult time for a particularly vulnerable group of individuals. Importantly, this payment can include the veteran's partner, who may be unable to work directly due to this circumstance. The basic rate for an individual will be set at $913 and $713.60 for a partnered person per fortnight. In addition, these individuals may be eligible for the pension supplement, rent assistance, remote area allowance and family tax benefit part A. The payments will be subject to the individual and their partner satisfying the assets and income tests. It is anticipated that this payment will benefit approximately 1,500 people in 2017-18, made up of 830 veterans and around 700 partners. This includes veterans who are currently waiting for their mental health injury to be determined.

Financial security is a key element of good mental health. For those suffering from mental health issues following their time in the ADF, this payment will provide some certainty and assist to lessen the impact of an often complicated and lengthy claims process. This veteran payment is a direct result of the advocacy of Karen Bird and all of those who made submissions to the Senate inquiry. Karen and her family's strength, courage and determination in the face of such a terrible circumstance has been humbling to witness. Since Jesse's death and over the course of this inquiry I have been in regular contact with Jesse's family and have appreciated how generous the Birds have been with their time. I'm glad to see the recommendations are beginning to be implemented. I can assure the House that I will continue to actively pursue with the government the remaining changes to ensure that they are implemented in a timely manner. Labor does support this measure and the drive to implement this payment as soon as possible to assist veterans and their families.

Schedule 3 amends the MRCA and the Veterans' Entitlements Act to assist in creating a pilot program to improve the mental health support for veterans in rural and regional areas. This measure will build on the existing Coordinated Veterans' Care Program, which is a team based model of care led by a GP and supported by a practice nurse, and will refer veterans to use an application on a smart device. It is aimed at veterans with mild and moderate health conditions such as anxiety and depression who have a physical condition requiring pain management and will recruit 125 participants each year over two years to provide support for veterans in rural and regional areas. The app will utilise cognitive behaviour therapy treatments and will include a level of clinical oversight.

Access to mental health treatment is an issue of concern for many in the veteran community, particularly in rural and regional areas, and this has been an issue that I have raised on a regular basis. Labor welcomes this funding and supports this trial aimed at addressing some of these issues. But of course, that being said, geographical location is not the only roadblock for veterans seeking mental health treatment. Access to clinical support for veterans is being eroded due to issues with the freeze of the repatriation medical fee schedule. This schedule is tied to the Medicare rebate and indexed in line with Medicare rebate indexation. As such, this fee has remained stagnant since 2014, resulting in circumstances where some medical and allied health professionals are turning DVA clients away. The government has flagged its intention to lift the freeze in 2020. Four years is far too long to wait to address these issues. Labor and I have called on the government to drop this unfair freeze immediately. Until this freeze is lifted, access to clinical services for veterans is going to get worse.

Schedule 4 amends the existing provisions relating to compensation for household and attendant care services where an ADF member has sustained a catastrophic injury or disease under the MRCA legislation. These provisions will allow the commission to approve weekly amounts of compensation for household and attendant care services it considers reasonable in individual circumstances. As with schedule 1, this assistance is currently provided by an exceptional determination; however, these amendments will remove the requirement for this determination to be made, thereby minimising any delay in the provision of appropriate care and support for seriously injured current and former ADF members. Labor is supportive of this measure as a way to ensure clear and practical support for those whose lives have been significantly impacted by their service. They deserve our unwavering support and assistance now and into the future.

Schedule 5 will amend the Veterans' Entitlements Act as it relates to a claim for qualifying service. This amendment will create an additional way for a qualifying service determination to be made. The amendment will enable the automation of a qualifying service determination and be primarily based on the information that the Department of Defence provides to DVA. This process will essentially remove a hurdle that veterans must currently overcome in order to make an application for a benefit. This is the first legislative amendment to support the implementation of a veteran-centric reform and is part of a broader improvement strategy to ease the transition process for veterans. Labor is supportive of this measure which improves process and addresses longstanding issues within the Department of Veterans' Affairs. That being said, we will be closely monitoring the implementation of the so-called veteran-centric reform process to ensure it does not result in veterans being left worse off. Veterans deserve world-class care and support delivered through a dedicated department.

Schedule 6 makes technical amendments to the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Defence-related Claims) Act. These technical amendments would remove redundant references to Comcare and other bodies and repeal provisions not related to providing compensation and rehabilitation to current and former ADF members and eligible persons. As members may be aware, this piece of legislation, the DRCA, removed all the Defence Force elements from the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act, known as the SRCA. The SRCA covers public servants, and, until last year, this included Defence Force members in certain circumstances between 1949 and 2004. As the SRCA covers public servants, it sat under the responsibility of the minister for employment. Last year, in an effort to simplify and consolidate all three acts under the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, the government made a carbon copy of all the Defence Force related elements in the SRCA and created the new act, the DRCA. The government advised that, in an effort to make this process as clear as possible, technical amendments were kept to a minimum at that time. Now that this process has been completed, the DRCA is acting as intended. The government is now seeking to remove redundant references and provisions not related to Defence Force members in an effort to tidy up the legislation.

Last year when the DRCA was proposed, the veterans and ex-service community raised some concerns about whether the bill was indeed a carbon copy of the SRCA. Labor diligently worked through each of the concerns raised to ensure that they were replicated in the new act. While I appreciate the intention of this schedule and believe that the proposed amendments are of a technical nature, I will continue to listen to and work with the veterans community to ensure that is indeed the case. This schedule also proposes to align the information-sharing provisions under the DRCA with those under the MRCA, enabling the commission to provide information to the Chief of Defence for the reconsideration or review of a determination made regarding the liability of injury, disease or death of an employee. Finally, this schedule will also reinsert section 43 into the SRCA, which was admitted during the drafting process. Section 43 provides that if compensation under SRCA is payable to a person who is a peacekeeper for the purpose of the VEA, they can elect to not receive compensation under the SRCA when they wish to pursue a claim through the VEA.

Schedule 7 makes a number of consequential amendments relating to references made by the Specialist Medical Review Council. These amendments will remove references to 'the Council' and replace them with 'the Review Council' to make it clear that these references relate to the Specialist Medical Review Council. Schedule 8 makes a number of amendments, the first to the Australian Participants in British Nuclear Tests (Treatment) Act 2006 and the Australian Participants in British Commonwealth Occupation Force (Treatment) Act 2006, which will enable a person who was a member of the ADF who served in Japan any time from 6 August 1945 to the end of the 30 January 1946 to be eligible for the gold card. This amendment is intended to extend the gold card eligibility to those members of the ADF who served in Japan just prior to the British Commonwealth Occupation Force, BCOF, and subsequently missed out on the changes that went through the parliament last year. Given that these individuals were exposed to the same conditions as those members of the BCOF, it is entirely appropriate that they receive the same care and support which was extended to members of the BCOF last year. Labor wholeheartedly supports this change. The second change is to the VEA to align the pension age with the DRCA and the MRCA. The amendment removes the prescribed age of 65 and replaces it with the term 'pension age', meaning that, as the pension age increases, the act will reflect this and not create a gap of support for veterans. Finally, there will be a technical amendment to this schedule.

Labor is supportive of the amendments proposed in the legislation, in particular those which seek to implement the recommendations from the Senate inquiry and the Jesse Bird inquiry. Both those inquiries highlighted issues with a system that has become adversarial, lengthy and overly complicated, a system which has let down some of the people it is designed to assist. As I mentioned, the Senate inquiry received over 400 submissions detailing the difficulties they have experienced and what we could do to make sure both they and their loved ones get the support they need to live full and productive lives. We owe it to them, and to all those that have and continue to put their lives on hold in service to our country, to ensure that these important recommendations are implemented in a timely manner. While I'm pleased to see legislation introduced which begins to address the recommendations, more needs to be done.

As part of recommendation 6, the government agreed to make a reference to the Productivity Commission review into the legislative framework of compensation and rehabilitation for service members and veterans. The Senate inquiry recommended that this be completed within 18 months. It's now four months later and it appears the terms of reference have not been completed. This issue around the complicated legislative framework has been well established, and if the government had been serious about addressing concerns of the veterans community, the commission would have had the terms of reference finalised and the Productivity Commission would be undertaking this review.

In addition, several recommendations raised issues around barriers to employment and what support could be offered to members of the ex-service community. The unemployment and underemployment of veterans is a serious issue which requires our concentrated attention. Recent reports have the unemployment rate for veterans at 30 per cent. For those who are employed, there is an average 30 per cent drop in income from ADF wages. Our country would not tolerate a 30 per cent unemployment rate in many other groups within our community and it should not be tolerated when it comes to our veterans. Our ADF members have a wealth of practical experience, but clearly not enough is being done to assist transitioning members into employment. The government's focus thus far has been to establish an industry advisory committee and the Prime Minister's employment awards, which recognise employers. I believe that there is value in working with industry, but it cannot be the only action taken to ensure our veterans move and transition into fulfilling employment. More needs to be done to ensure employers can benefit from the many desirable skills of our ex-ADF and to prepare and train and enable those transitioning members to move smoothly into the job market. I will continue to urge the implementation of the recommendations from the Senate inquiry to ensure that the government delivers on their commitments to our current and ex-serving community. In the meantime, given the changes in this proposed legislation, which seeks to provide greater support for families and those suffering from mental health injury, I and Labor offer support to this bill. I commend the bill to the House.

Debate adjourned.