Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Minister for Defence Personnel. How has the Albanese Labor government improved the lives of Australian veterans? Is the minister aware of proposals that would leave veterans worse off?

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

I thank the hardworking member for Hasluck for her question and for her advocacy and engagement in the veteran community in her part of Perth and Western Australia. The Leader of the Opposition has been saying, 'Workers who provide government services are government waste.' He has been saying that he wants to cut 36,000 Public Service roles. But, when the Liberals left office, DVA was underresourced and there were some 42,000 veteran claims that were not even being looked at by the Department of Veterans' Affairs, which meant that veterans were waiting for years to have their claims processed.

The Albanese Labor government have engaged some additional 500 claims-processing staff in the Department of Veterans' Affairs. That's allowed us to make sure that veterans and families are able to get the entitlements that not only they need but they deserve and were not getting under the previous Liberal government. By properly resourcing the Department of Veterans' Affairs, veterans are receiving some $13 billion in benefits that they deserved but were not receiving under the previous government. Now new veteran claims are with DVA and being looked at by somebody within 14 days. Over the last 12 months, initial liability claims have been processed, on average, within just a few months. Back in the last financial year of the previous government, 2021-22, there were some 53,508 veteran claims determined. Compare that to the last financial year, 2023-24, where there were over 100,000 claims determined for veterans.

The Leader of the Opposition says that we need to look after our veterans but then also says that he wants to cut the vital staff that process their DVA claims, calling them 'waste'. Our priority is delivering services and support for those that have served our nation, not serving bosses long lunches at taxpayer expense. If the Leader of the Opposition thinks that DVA staff are waste, what then does he also think of our veterans? Under the Leader of the Opposition, Australian veterans will be worse off.