Scott Ludlam (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

asked the Minister representing the Minister for Defence, upon notice, on 25 July 2011:

Can the department:

(1)   Confirm its statement that a total of 182 Australian soldiers deployed to Afghanistan have been wounded.

(2)   Confirm that the Department of Veterans' Affairs has accepted 2200 claims from wounded and injured soldiers, compensating 920 of them.

(3)   Confirm whether or not it was aware of the number of injured and wounded soldiers who have received compensation from the Department of Veterans' Affairs, prior to them being published in an article which appeared in the West Australian newspaper on 16 July 2011.

(4)   Explain the discrepancy in numbers of wounded Australian soldiers publicly stated, compared with the number of:

  (a)   wounded soldiers compensated by the Department of Veterans' Affairs; and

  (b)   injured soldiers compensated by the Department of Veterans' Affairs.

(5)   Disclose the number of soldiers who were wounded or injured in Afghanistan who are currently still serving in the Defence system.

(6)   Disclose the number of wounded and injured soldiers whose claims for assistance have been made through Centrelink.

(7)   Provide a detailed breakdown of the types of wounds and injuries sustained by soldiers in Afghanistan who have received compensation through the Department Veterans' Affairs.

(8)   Provide a detailed listing of the types of treatment and support offered to wounded soldiers returning from Afghanistan.

(9)   Explain why it does not yet centrally collect and analyse injuries suffered by soldiers on deployments (including injuries lodged with the Department of Veterans' Affairs,) despite having said it would move to do this back in 2004.