Much kudos to the hard-working Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Minister for Defence Personnel, the Hon Dan Tehan MP, who on Monday realised an election promise by delivering the first annual Ministerial Statement on Veterans and their families in Parliament.
In a statement with distinct parallels with the indigenous Closing The Gap report, the Minister happily socialised the unsatisfactory public perceptions of his department within the Veterans community. Of note was the statistic that in 2015/16, of the almost 3,000 decisions taken to the review board, nearly 50 per cent were later changed or reversed. In the same year, over 200 out of 307 tribunal rulings went against the department.
In line with earlier Coalition Government promises of the Abbott-era, the department was trying hard to cut down on paperwork and reduce red tape. The Minister confirmed in Australia, there are “an estimated 320,000 veterans who have been deployed”.
The Minister outlined the transition from a serving ADF member to a veteran is important and the department has been laxed with the change, saying, “the moment a member of the Australian defence force becomes a veteran is crucial so we must do better at the transition process. Just as members of the ADF prepare for being posted to a deployment, we should prepare them for posting to civilian life”.
The Minister also spoke about the unfortunate circumstances that force serving ADF members to cease their employment, saying “in the last twelve months, over 1,400 members of the Australian Defence Force separated for reasons not of their choosing. Ten years ago, just over 740 members separated involuntarily”.
However, it’s not all bad news with the Minister outlining some successes, including a pilot program announced in this year’s budget, which seeks to speed up access to rehabilitation services once claims are made, rather than waiting for approvals.
Interestingly, the Minister also challenged the Veterans’ community and organisation, disparate in their approach, to unite and respond in a cohesive voice across the country.
