ADJOURNMENT
Senator LAMBIE (Tasmania) (20:56): I rise to speak about the Department of Veterans' Affairs. I got into the Senate because I found out the hard way that the Department of Veterans' Affairs had one policy and one policy only when it comes to our veterans, and that policy was 'delay, deny, die'. I spent nine years fighting for the DVA to recognise that my injuries were caused by my time in the Army.
When I was elected—thank you, Tasmanians, for the four times—I spent the next 10 years joining an army of mothers, advocates, families and veterans campaigning for the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. Finally, everybody could hear the stories of the shocking damage done to Australian veterans and their families, because delay, deny, die comes with a body count.
During the royal commission, the DVA put on more workers, and I was hearing through the veteran grapevine that things were getting better. Claims were being processed faster. It was an uphill climb, for sure, but I hoped—by God, I hoped and prayed—and I think most Australians thought that the care for veterans would get better.
The minister and the Prime Minister embraced the royal commission's findings, and they agreed in principle to 104 of the 122 recommendations. But guess what Australians? I have again found out from the inside, because I'm going through it again myself, that DVA's approach to veteran care has gone backwards.
I've still got issues with my back, probably not helped by the fact that the DVA made me fight for nine years without any help, and doctors are telling me it's now worse than what it was before the royal commission. If a doctor tells me that I have to get a procedure, I could be waiting up to 60 days for DVA to approve it, and that's on a good day. Not only are we going back to the bad old days of delay, deny, die; it now seems that the Labor government has failed to listen and failed to launch.
Claims are taking longer, doctors aren't being paid for their reports, and, worse, the reports that these doctors aren't getting paid for are being used by the DVA anyway. That is absolutely unscrupulous! You have no shame in that department—none.
If there are any doctors watching and you have invoices from DVA that haven't been paid and you're sitting on a veterans report, please call my office, because I don't trust DVA any more. That's come and gone like many others. So we can add borderline theft into the list of misdemeanours for DVA.
Doctors are getting off the DVA list because they don't pay and they don't treat these doctors or their patients with any respect whatsoever. I want to know what the DVA commissioner is doing about this. I want to know what the DVA family and wellbeing commissioner is doing, because, quite frankly, from what I'm hearing, you are doing diddly squat, except that you are spending 300,000 bucks on rebranding.
How about you worry about the veterans and their families? Adding insult to injury is DVA's $5,000 cap on allied health for veterans. Allied health is psychologists, occupational therapists, podiatrists, dietitians—you name it; they're on there.
Australian veterans found out about the $5,000 cap when the government handed down its budget in May: no consulting, no nothing—just cap it off. The minister defended this new hit on veterans by pointing to an increase in fees to service providers, as if veterans are supposed to be grateful that this has been tweaked, even though these fees are still not the ones the NDIS is paying.
That's why we're being outdone, and you're not listening. We are still missing out, and we are still being treated like second-class citizens. The minister says this will be easier for veterans.
What planet are you on, Minister Keogh? That's because you didn't sell it, and no wonder. You've had to be either arrogant or totally clueless not to know that this will bring harm to veterans.
I say both—arrogant and clueless. Why are we putting arbitrary caps on treatments that get veterans back on their feet? Do you just want us sick our whole lives?
Does the Prime Minister think he knows better than these doctors? Has he finally really become that arrogant? That arrogant Albo needs to pull his head in.
He needs to scrap this cap. You will go back to killing veterans. How's that for your conscience this evening?
The Prime Minister has a duty to make sure that veterans who are harmed because of their service get treatment and support based on clinical need, not what suits your budget for the year. Go and take your money elsewhere, but stop taking it off veterans. What price do you put on a veteran's wellbeing?
For veterans managing chronic pain and mental health, allied health is critical. They help us manage the pain, they keep us mobile and they get us back on our feet faster, and it's cheaper when we're at work than you paying us a wage. When our access to allied health care is reduced or delayed, it puts us behind and we lose years of our lives because of your poor decision-making.
Based on my own circumstances, I would reach the proposed threshold in five weeks. At the moment, I have three lots of physiotherapy sessions a week. I'm paying out of my own pocket, 150 bucks a pop, and I'm seeing a chiropractor twice a week, at $110 a pop.
At least DVA is paying for that. If I chose to have a psychologist, which most do a couple of times a week when they are that far down—my goodness me!—there is another $250 a pop, each session. That means I would burn through my cap, like the other seven per cent, in five weeks.
I'm lucky. I own most of my house and I have a good job. I don't have to wait 60, 90 or 120 days for DVA to approve my medical procedure or therapy.
If I have to, I can pay it upfront, and I'll argue with DVA and see them in the courts shortly. But there aren't many veterans like me. Here's a perfect example: I put in a claim three weeks ago and the claim's still sitting there.
I'm having emergency surgery tomorrow because I'm not waiting for you to put me out any longer. I'll pay my six grand in the morning and I'll have it done. I waited on you for nine years, and that ended up with me walking in front of a car.
I'm not waiting on you again. Given the history of DVA's shocking mishandling of claims in the past, and knowing very well that this contributed to veteran suicides, I have to ask: why are we going back over old ground? This new idea to cap the allied health services is already causing harm.
The DVA says the traditional treatment beyond the cap may—'may'; goodness me, that's put me in panic—be approved where there is demonstrated clinical need. That's if you can get that done within a few days. Good luck to you!
But that means we have another layer of bureaucracy in the system—just what we don't need. That becomes another trigger for the most vulnerable veterans out there. You're not listening.
Veterans who have sacrificed their health in service to this country should never have to face a situation where access to clinically necessary treatment is limited by an arbitrary annual spending limit. That is the lowest of any government. I'm glad the government has fixed the allied health services providers' fees, but the cap has made it worse.
Why did you even bother? What were you thinking? Rather than improving access to care, the combined effect of paying higher fees now will chew up the cap even faster, but you didn't take that into account either.
It might mean that veterans burn through their cap even faster than they've been doing, so their five weeks will go down to four. So, once again, you're either arrogant or ignorant or both. The proposed cap on allied health services is totally out of step with the findings and recommendations of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.
The royal commissioners went out of their way to highlight that 'timely, accessible and ongoing health care for veterans is absolutely vital'. I guess the Prime Minister thought he knew better. He thinks he knows better than the royal commissioners.
He thinks he knows better than the healthcare providers. He thinks he knows better than veterans who've had to relive their stories again and again. Obviously he thinks he knows better than me.
Do you? Yeah, I don't think so. How can the PM claim to honour the royal commission and introduce a policy that puts financial limits on the care of our most vulnerable veterans?
Who does that? There's no consulting, no nothing. Where did you pull that from?
You cannot be serious. I'm getting a petition going, Australians, and I know that you've supported us veterans in the past. I'm asking you to stand up again and stand beside us.
I'm asking you to go to my website. I'm asking you to go to arrogantalbo.com.au and sign the petition to scrap the bloody cap before it kills more veterans. Senate adjourned at 21:05