Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment (Budget Measures) Bill 2017. This bill contains three schedules which seek to undertake the legislative reform which underpins three elements of the 2017-18 Department of Veterans' Affairs budget.

The first schedule amends the Australian Participants in British Nuclear Tests (Treatment) Act 2006 to provide Australian participants in the British nuclear tests, British Commonwealth Occupation Force, pastoralists, civilians and Indigenous people with full health coverage for all conditions. Currently, the Australian Participants in British Nuclear Tests (Treatment) Act 2006 only provides Australian BNT participants with testing and treatment for malignant cancers. Under these changes, a broader class of civilians and BCOF veterans will be eligible to receive treatment for all conditions. This coverage will enable these individuals to access DVA funding for all clinically necessary healthcare needs and all health conditions.

These changes are the result of a long and hard-fought campaign for recognition by the BNT and BCOF participants. Both military and civilian personnel participated in the tests, with a nominal role established listing a total of 16,716 persons, comprising 8,126 service personnel and 8,590 civilians. The impact of the detonations spread far and wide, affecting pastoralists, civilians and Indigenous people. These amendments will ensure that anyone who was present in the areas during the relevant period will be covered. In addition to BNT participants and civilians, BCOF veterans will also be able to access full health coverage.

The impact for those who served as part of our BCOF was significant, with some having been allocated to the severely devastated prefecture of Hiroshima. In 2010, the then Labor government sought to provide additional assistance to BNT participants who were also members of the Australian Defence Force by reclassifying their service as non-warlike or hazardous peacekeeping. This change enabled BNT ADF members to access some assistance under the Veterans' Entitlements Act, including access to the disability pension. The amendments in schedule 1 build on these changes and Labor welcomes the expansion to full health coverage for BNT participants, BCOF veterans and civilians, which will enable them to receive the treatment they need and acknowledges the ongoing impact this exposure has had on the individuals who were present at the test sites.

The second schedule seeks to amend the current outdated work history restrictions for the special and intermediate rates of disability pensions provided in the VEA to better reflect modern working arrangements. Under these changes the work history will only require a period of 10 years continuous work in any field or vocation prior to applying. This amendment acknowledges that the nature of work has changed. It is now far less common for a person to remain employed by a single employer for 10 years or remain in the same vocational field in the case of the self-employed. Labor is supportive of this change, which reflects the reality of the modern work environment.

The final schedule seeks to insert instrument-making powers into the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act and the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act, enabling the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission to determine a class of persons eligible to participate in an early access to rehabilitation pilot program. Under current arrangements, the SRCA and MRCA clients are required to wait for their claim to be finalised before they are able to access rehabilitation services. This can take around four months to be completed and, if the cases are complex, even longer. Early intervention in relation to rehabilitation has proven benefits and Labor is supportive of conducting a trial to investigate the best way to provide services to veterans as soon as possible. Under these amendments, a six-month pilot program will be established by the Department of Veterans' Affairs. This will involve 100 people whose claims are viewed as likely to be approved. The program will be entirely voluntary with the option of opting out and, if liability is later rejected, individuals will be transitioned to community providers and costs not recovered. While the trial is initially limited to 100 veterans, we are hopeful that this is just the beginning and that it will identify good results for participants, enabling it to be extended to more veterans. This bill seeks to deliver the legislative changes required to provide the full health coverage to BNT participants, BCOF veterans and civilians. It also removes outdated work requirements for the special and intermediate rate pension and, finally, will enable the department to undertake a trial which aims to improve outcomes for veterans who require rehabilitation. We support these measures and I commend the bill to the Senate.