Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about an innovative and extremely effective holistic treatment model for Australian Defence Force veterans and their families. GO2 Health in Brisbane is providing comprehensive care to veterans and their families as they transition out of military service and into the community. The aim is to help veterans and their families to manage the transition and ultimately establish the personal agency they need to lead normal lives.

I visited GO2 Health a couple of weeks ago and met with their medical doctor, Dr Kieran McCarthy, and their managing director, Rod Martin. More than 6,000 veteran patients are being cared for at the clinic, with about 1,500 visits taking place every week. It's not only medical care but also complementary treatments such as psychology, psychiatry, clinical Pilates, skin cancer treatment, hydrotherapy, remedial massage, dietitian advice and physiotherapy. It brings veterans' families with them on the same journey.

Today's ADF personnel are not the rank-and-file soldiers and sailors who comprised the armed forces of the 20th century. They are highly trained experts in what they do, following a regimented existence with comprehensive logistical supports. They apply this training, often at great risk to themselves, on behalf of our nation, and many veterans today have also experienced the horrors of war and combat. It's not easy to make the transition to civilian life, and many veterans and their families really struggle with it. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare says that, in comparison with the national population, suicide by ex-servicemen is 27 per cent higher and, for ex-servicewomen, it is a staggering 107 per cent higher.

Claims by veterans are rising. In the last budget, an additional $4.8 billion was provided for veterans' claims and another $64 million was needed to help address the backlog of claims. GO2 Health's focus is preventive health care, and I consider that, if their model were fully adopted as the benchmark in veteran health care that it is, this could save taxpayers and the economy a great deal of money, in addition to the tangible benefits for individual veterans and their families.

However, this model is at risk due to inequities in funding. GO2 Health bulk-bills its services. As a business, it is operating on a wafer-thin margin while facing increased operating costs, with a recent 5.9 per cent wage rise triggering more payroll tax liability. The practice is having difficulty retaining people, especially mental health experts, because of lower payments under the Department of Veterans' Affairs schedule and partly due to unfair competition from high payment rates offered in the National Disability Insurance Scheme. GO2 Health's experience is that its GPs, physiotherapists, exercise physiologists and psychology services experience an average 35 per cent loss under the DVA schedule. This is effectively a form of discrimination against veterans and their families. Health practitioners favour private patients or those funded by WorkCover and the NDIS over patients under the DVA schedule. This is because the former can be billed at market rates and don't involve the same high level of compliance. The solution, of course, is to lift the DVA schedule in line with more competitive WorkCover rates.

I also agree with their proposal that the Albanese government fund a national expansion of this model. This would involve opening similar clinics in each state, with the potential to treat up to 24,000 veterans at a cost of only $2,500 per veteran and their family. That's only $60 million per year. This would be for a treatment program lasting 18 months: six months before leaving the ADF and 12 months after. In the long term, this preventive medicine approach would potentially save taxpayers a great deal of money in comparison to treating veterans long-term. You'd be forgiven for thinking the veterans' affairs minister, Matt Keogh, would be keen to talk to GO2 Health and visit their clinic. However, I am informed that, while he's had plenty of opportunities, the minister hasn't made the effort, and it appears his office has even asked GO2 Health to stop calling. This is very short-sighted, and I call on the minister to examine this model with an eye to adopting it.