Skye Kakoschke-Moore (SA, Nick Xenophon Team) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Defence, representing the Minister for Veterans' Affairs. On 24 June 2016 at a hearing of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the chair of the commission, Justice McClellan, asked a Department of Veterans' Affairs witness to convey to the department his advice that was most critical of some decision guidelines. Justice McClellan advised that the guidelines which DVA is using to reject claims of abuse are 'not in accordance with the law' because the DVA guidelines require the existence of corroborative evidence of the alleged abuse. Will the minister ensure that DVA's decision guidelines on abuse are brought into accordance with the law as per Justice McClellan's advice as a matter of urgency? Further, will the minister direct DVA to review claims which have been previously rejected under these unlawful guidelines?