Govt delivers on promises to vets

The Rudd Government has cut red tape and delays facing veterans and ex-service personnel trying to access their entitlements.

The Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Alan Griffin, and the Minister for Defence Science and Personnel, Warren Snowdon, said that the Interdepartmental Working Group had been established and was already reducing the bureaucracy involved in making claims.

“Prior to the election I was approached by many veterans and ex-service personnel frustrated by the administrative burden created by dealing with multiple Government agencies.

“I promised to establish an Interdepartmental Working Group to address this issue and am pleased to report it is already having a positive effect,” Mr Griffin said.

The Interdepartmental Working Group has already:

• Reduced the medical reviews veterans must undertake;
• Commenced information sharing across the Department of Veteran Affairs (DVA), Centrelink and ComSuper, resulting in around 250 DVA disability pensioners already being exempted from further ComSuper reviews;
• Published a practical transition handbook on accessing interdepartmental entitlements;
• Listed the Australian Defence Force (ADF) Identification Card as an acceptable Proof of Identity document across Government; and
• Commenced a trial to expand the final defence medical examination to cover the requirements of a liability claim to DVA or ComSuper, and eliminate the need for further medical examinations in most cases.

Delivering on another election promise, the establishment of a Special Claims Unit at DVA has reduced average times taken to process claims.

A comparison of the two financial years 2006-2007 and 2007-2008, shows processing time reductions of 15.7% in Veterans Entitlements Act (VEA) claims, 7.8% for Safety Rehabilitation and Compensation Act (SRCA) initial liability claims and 30.9% for Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act (MRCA) initial liability claims.

“The process of accessing entitlements should place minimal additional stress upon veterans and ex-service personnel, particularly as many of the people claiming are older veterans who were injured during their service,” Mr Griffin said.

“Reducing the burden of government bureaucracy on these people is an important objective.”

Mr Snowdon said he welcomed efforts to end the duplicate, even triplicate, medical examinations that separating personnel need to undergo to access entitlements.

“A successful trial to expand the role of the final defence medical examination will reduce the complexity and delays facing some of the personnel leaving the ADF each year,” Mr Snowdon said.

Mr Snowdon added while some initiatives are about simplification, like listing the Australian Defence Force (ADF) Identification Card as a Government Proof of Identity document, others highlight the critical importance of inter-agency co-operation.

“The protocol developed by Defence and DVA to follow in the event of a death in service or serious injury on deployment has been expanded to include Centrelink and ComSuper, ensuring senior level case management across all agencies. This means that relevant agencies are able to co-ordinate the full range of Government assistance that is available in these circumstances,” Mr Snowdon said.

The working group brings together representatives from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, the Department of Defence, Centrelink, the Department of Human Services and Comsuper.

Representatives from the ex-service community have also been consulted by the working group.

Mr Griffin said: “There are still issues to address, but I’m pleased we’ve already started to get results from this process.”