Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the Prime Minister for the opportunity to address something that the member has raised, which is actually a great success of this year's budget for veterans. What we have been able to do here is make sure that, as we've improved the system, as the Prime Minister said, more people have been able to get their claims processed and get access to the health care they need. But what that has also seen is a degree of overservicing coming into the system, where practitioners are taking advantage of veterans.

So what we have done is introduce an annual monetary cap for allied health services which is well above what the vast majority of veterans ever actually access. For a small proportion, it will mean that we remove overservicing, restoring integrity to the system. Importantly, by doing this we are increasing the fees that will be paid to allied health professionals by $169 million over the forwards. That means it's easier for veterans to access health care.

Veterans and health professionals have been saying to us for a long time, 'You need to increase fees.' The royal commission said to us, 'Increase the fees.' That is what this budget is delivering so that our veterans get better access to health care. That is what you're seeing reflected in the budget and the additional funding that is going into implementing royal commission recommendations as well. (Time expired)

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