Daryl Melham (Banks, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs. How will the veterans community benefit from the government’s pension reforms announced in the budget?

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

I thank the member for Banks and for his longstanding interest in matters relating to veterans. The budget builds on last year and continues reforms by this government and, particularly in the area of pension reform, sees some major movement forward. People are aware of the detail of the Harmer review in terms of payments.

With respect to the Veterans’ Affairs portfolio, we are talking about $1.1 billion over the next four years for pension payments. This will benefit 105,000-plus war widows and 320,000 across the board in the portfolio. It also includes nearly 200,000 service pensioners and partner service pensioners. All of these will benefit in the same manner as those pensioners under the aged category with respect to the benefit from Harmer in terms of its graduated fashion.

Carers also benefit dramatically in this area with respect to the new carer payments: $35 million over five years to the 16,000 carers who relate to the care of veterans and their families within our portfolio. In addition, it is important to remember the TPIs, who are our most injured veterans—those who have suffered most with respect to the impacts of war. Roughly 80 per cent of those will be impacted by these reforms and will in fact gain the benefits that others in the community will on the basis of their income circumstances beyond their compensation. I think that is also good news for many of our most injured war veterans. That is all up as part of a budget of $11.8 billion across the portfolio: a record $4.9 billion with respect to health care and, in the context of compensation and income support, $6.5 billion.

In that context, with respect to mental health care for ADF members and also those who are now veterans, I also mention the circumstances are—in combination with the reforms from the Dunt reports—$92 million over four years: $83 million in the Defence portfolio and $9.5 million with respect to improved service delivery within the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.