QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE: TAKE NOTE OF ANSWERS

Senator LAMBIE (Tasmania) (15:36): I move: That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister representing the Minister for Veterans' Affairs (Minister McAllister) to a question without notice I asked today relating to veterans' health care. About seven per cent of veterans need allied health support. I've been in this place long enough to know that when pressure mounts on a government policy—in this case, a government policy that it not just bad but also shameful—the minister starts putting out press releases announcing exemptions.

This is just the government trying to fix bad policy on the run. The veterans that are still going to get caught by the cap are veterans like myself, who are still working, and those that are having major operations when it will take months of allied health to give them a reasonable chance of getting back on their feet. We cost less than we are paying in tax and contributing to the economy.

I've had three surgeries over the last 12 months. I'm in recovery, and that means I'm going through that proposed cap of $5,000 every five weeks—or I would be, but I'm paying some of it myself because I can't be bothered dealing with DVA. And you want me to wait another 28 days while you tick off what I don't trust you with.

As I pointed out to the minister today, the average time for getting a claim ticked off under the MRCA, one of the acts that sits over this, is 364 days—one day short of a year. The minister is asking us to believe that DVA will rush these through in 28 days. What a load of rubbish!

The minister told me today that we will continue on with our allied health, so the allied health provider is now supposed to subsidise my treatment until DVA pays. Are you kidding me? I'm supposed to go to my provider and say to them, 'Hey, just wait.

I think DVA will pay you.' Besides this being bad policy, there is another much bigger problem: veterans don't trust DVA, and allied health providers don't trust you either. You've brought that on yourselves. Allied health providers are not going to keep providing treatments when there's no guarantee they are going to get paid.

Seriously, what planet are you on? The Department of Veterans' Affairs has played fast and loose with lives and veterans' affairs for decades. The minister and the Prime Minister could start fixing this today by scrapping the cap.

Question agreed to.