Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Families and Communities) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about the Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment (Omnibus) Bill 2018. As it stands, generally a person affected by a service injury or disease must make a claim themselves. However, in limited circumstances, a claim may be made by another person on their behalf. This legislative change will provide another avenue for claiming, which may streamline the claims process and, in some instances, help to facilitate earlier acceptance of liability.

Further reforms to align the powers of the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission to allow them to obtain information under the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Defence-related Claims) Act 1988 are also included. The changes will allow the MRCC to require information from any Commonwealth state or territory departments and authorities. This includes agencies such as the ATO, Centrelink and Medicare. Both of these schedules seek to streamline processes and improve the claims process broadly and the process of obtaining information for DRCA clients. It's for this reason that Labor is supportive of these measures.

Finally, the legislation will ensure that lump sum determinations made by the Secretary of the Department of Social Services will apply as exempt lump sums from the income test that applies to DVA income support clients when appropriate. Currently, the Repatriation Commission often implements separate yet identical exempt lump sum determinations for payments that have already been exempted by DSS. This places an unnecessary additional burden on DVA which could be removed by allowing exempt lump sum determinations made by DSS to apply to DVA income support clients where the exemption is consistent. This bill seeks to streamline the claims process, make it easier for the MRCC to obtain information for DRCA clients and prevent unnecessary delays with the creation of additional instruments. Labor are supportive of the measures, which seek to improve processes for veterans and their loved ones, and as such offer our support for this bill.