A federal report into the Department of Veterans’ Affairs’ (DVA) communication with veterans when making claims for compensation has been labelled as obsolete by local veteran representatives.
On January 20, Acting Commonwealth Ombudsman, Penny McKay, released the report which examined the appropriateness of the DVA’s administrative framework to support its communication with veterans making claims for compensation for injuries or conditions related to their service.
It also focused on the DVA’s approach to communicating with and assisting at-risk veterans.
The report stated that no significant concerns about DVA’s policy were identified, but opportunities for improvement were needed to strengthen the accessibility and transparency of information available to veterans.
The Central Coast has the largest number of DVA clients in NSW with 4,798 clients, which is over 1,000 more than any other NSW region (as of November 2021).
Military advocate from the Ettalong-based Vietnam Veterans’, Peacekeepers & Peacemakers Association Central Coast Sub-branch, Dr Stephen Karsai, said he firmly believes the report is “not worth the paper that it is written on.
“The Ombudsman has not taken into account the following: time taken by DVA to answer the telephone when the veteran or an advocate ring – the time taken is often between 10 to 20 minutes, [and] the reason that it takes today at least 12 to 14 months to make a decision for veteran’s claims to be accepted or rejected,” Karsai said.
“[The Ombudsman has also not taken into account] the reason why [the] DVA has adopted an adversarial policy against veterans when a claim has been submitted – the veteran is often required to attend a Medico-Legal Specialist.
“This specialist is supposed to be independent of [the] DVA and examine the veteran without bias – in the majority of cases that I have handled, veterans have had to obtain another MLCOA specialist report at the veteran’s expense to negate [the] DVA-appointed MLCOA.
“[The Ombudsman has also not taken into account] the attitude of some of the delegates towards the veteran when taken to task as to why they made the particular decision – the answer is often, ‘Well you can always go to the review’, this is an uncaring les affaire attitude of DVAs delegates.
“These are just a few issues that the Ombudsman did not address – I sincerely hope that the current Royal Commission into DVA covers these and others that are vital for the current veteran and their concerns with DVA.”
However, Karsai acknowledged the DVA’s introduction of veterans’ payments.
The report identified eight recommendations aimed at improving the transparency and quality of information provided to the veteran community and guidance for DVA staff to support effective communication with veterans.
The DVA said it will implement all eight recommendations by the end of 2022.
However, Karsai said all eight recommendations have been adopted by the DVA “for quite a long time.
“DVA is already advising veterans that [it] is acknowledging veterans of the receipt of claims when submitted by the veteran,” Karsai said.
“They are already giving the veteran a concise and detailed report of the decision that DVA have made whether accepted or rejected – in both cases DVA gives a clear concise explanation for the reason of the decision.”
Acting Commonwealth Ombudsman McKay said the DVA has progressed several positive initiatives to improve service delivery.
“While this investigation did not identify any significant concerns about DVA’s policy and procedural framework for managing communication with veterans during the claim process, we identified some opportunities for improvement, “McKay said.
“Good communication, through the delivery of clear and regular information to veterans throughout the claim process, can help to manage veterans’ expectations and reduce feelings of uncertainty, anxiety or frustration whilst waiting for claims to be assessed.”
The full report can be found on the Commonwealth Ombudsman’s website.
Maisy Rae