Anne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Veterans' Affairs. How will the Albanese Labor government's budget measures assist Australia's veteran community?

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

I thank the member for Werriwa for her question, and for her ongoing support for the more than 1,500 veterans and families in her community.

I would also like to congratulate the Treasurer on his budget this week, because there is no doubt that veterans are a key priority for the Albanese Labor government. The Albanese government's budget measures are assisting veterans by dealing with the former government's underfunding and under-resourcing of the Department of Veterans' Affairs, and that has had real-world consequences for our veterans. While the former coalition government was trumpeting their affection for the veteran community, they were undercutting their services and supports.

The Albanese Labor government is investing in landmark measures to prioritise veterans and families for generations to come. We've now crunched the numbers, and I am so proud that this budget sees that the Department of Veterans' Affairs will be receiving more funding than it has in three decades. This week's budget will ensure veterans can better access services and supports that we're delivering on the recommendation of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.

One of our government's top priorities in this is eliminating the claims backlog from under the last government. We invested $233.9 million over four years in the October budget to employ 500 additional staff to process claims. That's already having great results. We're now seeing the backlog is down 20 per cent from its peak. But there's still more work to do and, in this budget, we're investing a further $64.1 million to maintain staffing levels to meet that demand, as well as $254.1 million to modernise and sustain ageing IT systems—systems that the previous government left to degenerate.

We know that families look different all over the country. For many kids, grandparents are their primary carers, so we're expanding the Defence, Veterans' and Families' Acute Support Package to make sure that grandcarer veteran families are also supported if experiencing crisis.

Veterans have also been concerned about not being able to access a GP. This budget delivers in making it easier to see a doctor by tripling the veteran access payment for GPs. In this budget we're also supporting those who support our veterans, with $2 million towards mental health awareness and suicide intervention training and increasing the wages of the workers who provide in-home care to veterans and families.

Australia's Defence Force personnel and veterans made a solemn commitment to serve and defend our nation. The Albanese government is getting on with the job of building stronger foundations of a better future for our veterans and families.