Member for Robertson Gordon Reid is seeking feedback and submissions on draft legislation which will simplify and harmonise the century old veterans’ entitlements, compensation, and rehabilitation system.
The draft Veterans’ Entitlements, Treatment and Support (Simplification and Harmonisation) Bill 2024 is open for submissions until April 28.
“As we approach ANZAC Day, let us never forget the sacrifices of our Australian defence personnel, and their families,” Reid said.
“The current system is difficult to understand and complex to administer.
“The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide found the system was ‘so complicated that it adversely affects the mental health of some veterans and can be a contributing factor to suicidality’.”
Following consultation, the draft legislation will simplify the veteran compensation system, with all claims to be considered under a single Act.
Under the new system: all new claims for compensation and rehabilitation from the date of commencement would be assessed under a single Act, an improved Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act (MRCA); the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986 and the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Defence-related Claims) Act 1988 would be closed to new claims following commencement of the new arrangements; and all benefits being received under existing schemes will continue unaffected under grand-parenting arrangements. Any new claims after the commencement date (including claims for worsening of pre-existing conditions) will be assessed under the improved MRCA.
The Federal Government says there will also be a number of improvements including: the introduction of a new Additional Disablement Amount to provide similar benefits as the Extreme Disablement Adjustment for those post retirement age; making the higher travel allowance under MRCA available to all veterans and for all kilometres travelled; providing a pathway for veterans currently only covered by DRCA to qualify for the Specialist Medical Review Council and a Gold Card if they have a new claim accepted; and increasing the general funeral allowance to $3,000 with the amount previously set at $2,000.
The release of the draft legislation follows the Government’s earlier consultation on a pathway to simplify the veterans’ legislative framework, and provide better support to veterans and their families.
Feedback from that consultation has guided the proposed changes.
More information on the proposed legislation changes, and opportunities to provide feedback can be found at www.dva.gov.au/legislationreform.
The new veterans bill needs to take into account the incompetency that often happens during the discharge process.
I was first discharged (incorrectly) from the RAAC, in the early 1990s, and the after immediately re-enlisting in the reserves (which was what was supposed to have happened), I was finally discharged in the early 2000s. All told, I served five years full time, and about nine part time.
However, my discharge was completely screwed up, with the Chief Clerks of both my discharging units completely failing to ensure that I was in receipt of my appropriate medical compensation.
In 2018, I was awarded a 60% DVA medical pension, on account of injuries sustained during my time in the ARA, but this was only backdated to the point at which I applied, not to the point of either discharge. Some of my injuries were not recognised, because my medical records ended up containing less than half of the relevant information. More incompetence either by the medics, whose job it was to send the records for permanent filing, or someone who couldn’t be bothered properly filing my records.
This is disgusting and greedy. I should have been recieving that payment from the time I left the ARA, or at least the time I left the ARes. Because of other people’s incompetence, I missed out on decades of pension, that would have made a difference, and that lack directly contributed to other subsequent traumas, like homelessness, and chronic unemployment, which have only added to the pile of suffering. And people wonder why we end up taking our own lives. When you next walk past the person outside your supermarket, who is homeless, don’t just spit on them, tell them to get off drugs and get a job. Recognise that they might be a veteran, or someone who has otherwise fallen through the cracks. Even if you don’t give them money, talk to them, and offer what help you can. Ask them what food you might be able to buy them.
I have lived with injuries from my time in service for decades, and suffered additional trauma, simply because of other’s failure to do their jobs properly. This reality is not just mine, but that of many other veterans. This NEEDS to be recognised in any new legislation. We are people too and should not be penalised for the incompetence of others.
Veterans should receive complete back payment to our time of service, not just for the 12 to 18 months that it takes to process the application, decades after the injuries took place.
I and other veterans are used to, but entirely fed up by this. Basically, the Australian Government takes fit, healthy young people and turns us into invalids, before throwing us on the trash heap of civilian life, without any kind of support.
I should have received the compensation I was due, because of injuries sustained during service from the date of my initial discharge. By failing in its duty to me, the Australian Government has simply compounded the problem, needlessly adding to my burden. The trauma of homelessness is something nobody should be forced to go through.
When finally, the RSL helped me obtain compensation that I didn’t realise I was eligible for it should have been backdated fully, not simply to the time at which my application was finally submitted. I still live in poverty, but if it wasn’t for the RSL, it would be significantly worse.
The Government is basically using poorly trained, or incompetent discharge personal as an excuse to rip tens of thousands of dollars from the desperate hands of veterans who’ve given their health in service to our country.
Even the White Card, Gold Card system is an insult. I wasn’t asked to serve overseas, and so have a white card. My inability to afford something as simple and essential as proper dental care, has led to me needlessly having several teeth removed and any care that I do receive is only through the generosity of state funded local dental health clinics, for which there is currently an 18+ month wait for non-urgent (ie it doesn’t hurt like buggery), care. Forget something as simple as yearly checkups, and follow-up work.
I’m not saying that veterans who served overseas should not be given the medical treatment they need. In fact, they should be routinely, and proactively contacted to see how they are going, and to remind them of their eligibilities for medical treatment.
What I am saying is that the current system fails to recognise the ongoing medical needs of servicemen who are never called to serve in recognised war zones, but still suffer as a direct result of their service. All the current system does is serve as a reminder that we aren’t as valued as our colleagues, who served overseas, even if they never saw any danger.
And it isn’t just me. Last year, I lost a good friend, who was a Navy veteran, who’d been discharged because of psychological traumas that he’d experienced during service (sometimes other servicemen can inflict just as much psychological and even physical trauma as any “enemy”). I met and helped him when he was homeless, but he never had a white card. Even when I insisted he should seek compensation and get a white card, he resisted, because doing so would have brought to the fore things that he wanted to forget. Sadly, cancer took him before he turned 60.
Finally, the Australian Government should require medical professionals to treat veterans and compensate them appropriately. Only last month, I was forced to cancel an appointment with a psychiatrist, when it turned out that they did not accept DVA clients, even though the sleep clinic that referred me to them did. Another psychiatrist told me that my GP had to fill out the relevant forms, and locate the “code numbers”, for the treatment I was attempting to receive, despite that being a plain impossibility. At that point I gave up. What is the point of “free” mental health treatment if it is made impossible to obtain, by a system that fails to give a toss about our welfare and seeks performative “solutions” to real problems?
Just as with Medicare, the Government fails to pay these people appropriately, and when given the choice between a patient that pays well and a DVA far too many go for the money. Our prime minister earns, $549,250 a year (among the highest of any country’s leaders) for doing bugger all, but let’s not let Veterans need get in the way of politician’s greed.
The Government has shirked its responsibilities to Veterans for far too many decades. I hope this new legislation helps address these problems and concerns.
We should not be awarded a lifetime of suffering for our decision to serve our country.