Tasmanian senator and veteran, Jacqui Lambie, has delivered a strong push against a planned cap on allied health services for veterans
The $5,000 cap is due to begin on July 1, 2027, whereby veterans needing more funding support will need to apply. Labor says its aimed at overcharging, and save $700 million on the budget.
The Jacqui Lambie Network senator responded with an urgency motion, saying capping funding ran contrary to the findings of the 2021 Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.
“The royal commissioners were clear, one of the biggest triggers for veterans taking their own lives is a lack of timely, accessible and ongoing healthcare,” she told the Australian Senate on Aug. 19.
Lambie also questioned whether any meaningful savings could be obtained for the federal budget with less than one percent of veterans using over $15,000 in allied health services annually.
The senator also expressed concern that the current claim process already struggled with long wait periods and a backlog of over 100,000 claims.
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“You’re not stepping up for veterans, you’re now stepping on us veterans,” she said.
“I do believe it will cause suicides,” she warned.
Nationals, Greens, One Nation Unite in Concern
Nationals Senator Ross Cadell also spoke against Labor’s impending policy, saying it was only introduced two veterans had received more than $100,000 in services.
Cadell queried why no action was taken against the providers, instead, likening Labor’s policy to “collective punishment” against the 25,000 veterans who needed more than $5,000 in services from 2024-25.
“So two providers are potentially taking advantage of the system, rorting the system, rorting the taxpayer, rorting veterans, taking money out of the system and the answer of that government is to punish 25,000 veterans by putting a cap on allied health services,” he said.
Greens Senator David Shoebridge said some veterans with health issues could churn through $5,000 in months.
“So what do you do for the rest of the year? You spend your time begging Veteran Affairs through some, as yet unplanned bureaucracy, to see if they‘ll let you go to the physiotherapist, to see if they’ll let you go to the psychologist,” he said.
Shoebridge also claimed there had been a lack of transparency when the matter was queried during Senate Estimates, where he said the government gave “no answers at all” as to who was consulted beforehand.
Meanwhile, One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts said the policy brought shame on Australians.
“This system is clearly broken and needs to be reviewed and rebuilt,” he said. “Doctors and our veterans are worried, and have every right to be worried.”
Labor Defends Proposed Policy
Labor Senator Dorinda Cox denied the government was introducing a hard cap, saying the $5,000 was a “threshold.”
“Senator Lambie’s contribution should be heard… these changes also come with a $1.7 million investment into allied health provider fees, the largest increase in more than two decades,” Cox said.
“And when Labor came to government, [the Department of Veterans Affairs] was underfunded and under-resourced.
“Almost 42,000 claims had not been looked at. Labor funded the DVA, hired staff and cleared that backlog. And today, the DVA is better resourced than in the last three decades.”
Cox defended Labor’s record on veteran support, pointing to an increase in annual funding for rehabilitation and compensation from about $10 billion under the previous government to $15 billion this year.
She also spoke of reforms to simplify veterans’ entitlements, the establishment of a $78 million veteran and family wellbeing agency, and progress implementing the Royal Commission’s recommendations.
RSL Opposes Labor Proposal
The Returned Serviceman’s League (RSL) has staunchly opposed Labor’s policy, maintaining that veterans are being made to suffer because of a handful of dodgy providers.
In May, the RSL called for clarity from the government.
Tinley said information had been scarce on how the process would work and how future claims are processed.
