Kate Chaney (Curtin, Independent) | Hansard source

DVA has committed to 12 months of consultation with veterans and ex-service organisations on how the new allied health system will work. I've made the case directly to the minister: build the exemption pathway around the veterans with the most serious needs, make it clear, make it fast and make it something a person in crisis can actually navigate without it becoming another fight. Because this is administrative, the minister can do that, and there's no excuse not to do so. We owe these men and women more than a royal commission and a set of recommendations; we owe them follow-through. This bill constitutes good follow-through. It takes real steps to better support veterans' wellbeing. But those steps mean little if, at the same time, we let changes to the allied health cap pull in the opposite direction. We can't strengthen wellbeing with one hand and undercut it with the other. I commend this bill to the House.

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