Alan Griffin (Bruce, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I would like to make a few comments today regarding some other issues with respect to the Veterans’ Affairs portfolio, particularly with respect to the Department of Veterans’ Affairs annual report, which revealed some worrying and disturbing statistics about the time taken to process veterans’ claims, particularly those relating to injury claims.

For example, the time taken to process a primary compensation claim under the Veterans’ Entitlements Act is reported as 106 days while the target is 75 days—a 40 per cent increase over target time. The mean time taken to process primary injury claims under the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act has ballooned from 122 days in 2004-05 to 181 days in 2005-06—a 48 per cent increase since 2004-05. The mean time taken to process primary injury claims under the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act has blown out from 90 days to 146 days—up some 62 per cent since 2004-05. The time taken to process new impairment claims under the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act has dramatically ballooned from 26 days to 130 days—up some 400 per cent since 2004-05, admittedly on small numbers, but it is nonetheless a worrying trend.

These issues were raised with the department at Senate estimates the other week. The fact is (a) they were confirmed and (b) what became clear from the answers from the head of the department is that we have actually seen a cutback in resources being dedicated to these parts of the department. That is clearly having an impact on the services provided to veterans and the time taken to consider their claims.

Resourcing provided in this area is part of an overall government policy, which, as I understand it, relates to a formula. The number of claims globally are dropping down, and that leads to a cut in the resources made available to DVA to be able to do their jobs. The problem with that is that, if you cut those resources and the result is a situation where you increase massively the time taken for processing of claims, you actually, I think, undermine the fairness and equity of the system.

Many of the people involved in these claims are in a very damaged state. They are frail and they need our support and assistance. We have already had a range of claims and concerns raised about the way that government handles claims processing in terms of investigations. There have been allegations about the use of companies that effectively act as private investigators to address claims and consider the details of claims made by veterans. There have been legitimate concerns raised about aspects of that which need to be properly investigated. Certainly what we can say is this: the sorts of figures that are coming out of the annual report of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs regarding the time taken to process veterans’ claims are absolutely unacceptable. This has a real impact on the wellbeing, frankly, of many of the veterans involved because when it takes longer for those things to be considered we can have no doubt that the concerns and the anxiety brought to bear for people who often have been through some quite terrible circumstances will be quite serious. Therefore, the department and the government have to address this issue.

Having blow-outs of as much as 40 per cent in the target times, or 62 per cent over the last couple of years—blow-outs of time from 90 days to 146 or from 26 days to 130—is just not acceptable. Veterans and those who are covered by DVA have given much to our country. They have served in circumstances that have often been quite horrific. They have dealt with tough jobs. They have done it with courage; they have done it with professionalism. When they are down and out, as many of the people that DVA deal with are, we have to do better. We cannot allow a situation where claims such as these take as long as it is now taking for them to be considered. The government has to get on top of this. If there is a situation where resourcing has been cut back as a result of some bureaucratic formula for the provision of resourcing in the department, that formula has to be reconsidered. We have to have a situation where enough resources go in to ensuring that these claims are dealt with in a reasonable period of time. There is absolutely no doubt about that. (Time expired)