Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I'll make a couple of points before I hand over to the minister. One of the things I'm really conscious of is support for our veterans. Indeed, when we came to office, one of the reasons why the member for Calare is sitting up there and not over there—apart from having the good common sense to leave National Party—is what they did to veterans affairs when they were in government in terms of budget. When we came to government, we inherited a backlog of almost 42,000 veteran compensation claims that hadn't even been looked at by someone. This had real-life consequences for veterans and their families. We invested in DVA, and, as a result, now when a veteran makes a claim it's in front of someone within 14 days. DVA is processing claims at record levels. This is the most critical thing—as well as the hubs that we've created providing services for veterans. I'll ask the minister if he wants to add something.

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