MORRISON GOVERNMENT CONTINUES TO FAIL VETERANS

SHAYNE NEUMANN MP.
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3 years ago
MORRISON GOVERNMENT CONTINUES TO FAIL VETERANS
SHAYNE NEUMANN MP
The Morrison Government is failing to deliver on a 2019 pre-election commitment to make it easier and faster for veterans to access the services they need, as veterans continue to experience long delays in having their compensation claims processed.

In Senate Estimates last night, Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) officials confirmed that waiting times for processing veterans’ claims have continued to increase and the backlog of claims keeps blowing out.

In response to Labor’s questions, it was revealed veterans are waiting, on average, 178 days – or nearly six months – for Initial Liability claims and 186 days for Permanent Impairment claims to be processed, with some waiting more than a year.

Incredibly, the backlog of Initial Liability claims has jumped from 14,381 on hand at 30 September 2020 to at least 25,000 at 31 December 2020. 

DVA confirmed that 42 per cent of its workforce – including more than 50 per cent of claims processing staff – are sourced through labour hire companies as a result of the Morrison Government’s arbitrary cap on the number of public servants, the highest in the public service.

In a response to a Senate Question on Notice, DVA revealed it spent more than $82 million last financial year on labour hire workers, sourcing them from 46 different providers over that time.

This explosion in labour hire outsourcing is because of the Government’s decision to cut permanent jobs in the public service through a staffing cap, which should be abolished immediately.

This arbitrary cap is wasteful because it means taxpayer dollars are going to multinational companies through labour hire fees when they could be better spent providing frontline services for veterans and their families.

It is also bad for veterans as DVA’s own commissioned research has shown that delays in processing claims directly impact on the mental health of ex-service men and women and, in some cases, have tragically led to suicides. 
 
DVA has had to seek supplementary funding and a freeze on its current staffing levels in several recent Budgets, and in Senate Estimates last night, DVA Secretary Liz Cosson admitted that the current levels of labour hire are not sustainable.
 
The Government should axe its misguided staffing cap policy and allow DVA to hire the staff it needs to support veterans and address the huge backlog of claims. 
 
It’s just not good enough and our veterans and their families deserve better.
 
Veteran Affairs