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. What impact have workers at the Department of Veterans' Affairs had on claims processing, and are there any threats to that progress that would leave Australian veterans worse off?

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

I thank the member for Hasluck for her question. It was great to go and visit the Bellevue RSL with her recently for an announcement of funding for their new cenotaph. We went with Trish Cook, the Labor candidate for Bullwinkel, as well, because Bellevue, of course, is changing. It was great to meet with all of the veterans out at the Bellevue RSL.

When we came to office, there were some 42,000 veteran claims in the backlog at DVA that had not even been looked at by anyone within DVA. As a result of the Albanese government's investments into the Public Service, employing more staff in the Department of Veterans Affairs and, importantly, converting those staff from labour hire and non-ongoing contracts to become permanent public servants, we have cleared that backlog.

Of course, there are now more claims coming into the department than ever before. The workforce is getting through those claims because it's able to work faster than before, getting them in front of someone within a fortnight and determining those initial liability claims in just a few months. That means that we need to have more support to get these claims determined to get benefits and support out the door faster to veterans who need and deserve it. That's what the Albanese government did.

Senator Hume wants to take the Public Service back to 2022, when that backlog was what we inherited. It emerged because there wasn't enough resourcing in the Department of Veterans' Affairs. In fact, yesterday she said that that increase in staffing to DVA should be reversed. We had the Leader of the Opposition saying he wants to roll back the additional public servants under this government. Then they said, 'No, no. It won't affect frontline staff.' Then yesterday Senator Hume said she specifically wants to cut back on the frontline claims processing staff in the Department of Veterans' Affairs. Well, I say to the senator and I say to the opposition that only in February the secretary of DVA said in estimates:

If the staffing numbers were reduced … it would have a rapid impact on decisions; they would then start to sit for longer with the department for allocation and for decision. New backlogs would begin to emerge because there would not be the same number of staff as there is every day now to make those decisions.

…   …   …

They would wait longer for those determinations and would not be receiving the benefits.

We would see a return to the bad old days of the previous Liberal government: a re-emergence of backlogs, with veterans waiting and not receiving the benefits that they need and that they deserve to be able to receive. So I have a message to Australia's veterans: when it comes to the Leader of the Opposition, when he cuts, you pay.