Andrew Gee (Calare, National Party, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I also thank the member for Clark for his question and acknowledge his service in the Australian Army. On this side of the House, we have many veterans, as there are on that side of the House as well, and we know how important it is to make sure that our veterans and their families have the best possible care our country can provide.

As the Prime Minister has stated, David Tune did carry out an independent review of TPI payments, and the Australian government, our government, has accepted all of those recommendations. One of his recommendations was to provide targeted assistance to TPI veterans with income-tested pension who pay private rent. In short, he recommended that we abolish the disability income rent test from the Veterans' Entitlement Act, or VEA. This recommendation is addressed in our bill before the parliament at the moment, the Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment (Exempting Disability Payments from Income Testing and Other Measures) Bill 2021. It's in this House at the moment. That bill will ensure that disabled veterans will now have the same access to rent assistance as those Australians who receive it from Centrelink. It addresses a key finding of the Tune review.

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