Portfolio — 24 March 2026

The Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Minister for Defence Personnel, Mr Keogh, used 24 March to advance two substantively different but thematically linked reform agendas: a detailed implementation update on the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide delivered to the RSL National Congress, and the second reading of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Genetic Testing Protections in Life Insurance) Bill in the House — a cross-portfolio bill touching financial services, health, and discrimination law that Mr Keogh introduced in his capacity as a minister with a direct earlier history on the issue.

On veterans' affairs, the address to the RSL National Congress was the centrepiece of the day [TA-260324-dva-f5930f68ba86]. The Minister reported that 32 of 122 Royal Commission recommendations have been implemented, with two-thirds expected to be complete by the end of 2026. The most structurally significant announcement was the establishment, from 1 July 2026, of a new Agency within the Department of Veterans' Affairs focused on veteran and family wellbeing, backed by $78 million to support at-risk veterans transitioning from the ADF and to serve as a central navigation point for the support system [TA-260324-dva-f5930f68ba86].

That same date triggers the commencement of the Veterans' Entitlements, Treatment and Support (Simplification and Harmonisation) Act 2025, which consolidates all new compensation and rehabilitation claims under a single instrument — the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 — ending what the Minister described as "a nightmare to deal with for decades".

The Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 and Safety Rehabilitation and Compensation (Defence-related Claims) Act 1988 close to new claims on 30 June 2026, with the Minister assuring continuity of current payments throughout the transition.

The integrity and advocacy dimensions of the reform package received substantial treatment. The government is investing over $203 million across free veteran advocacy services, fraud prevention, and the new Institute of Veterans Advocacy. The BEST Grants Program has been doubled and grant terms extended from one to three years — closing to new applications on 15 April and not reopening until 2029 — giving ex-service organisations a longer planning horizon for employing professional advocates [TA-260324-dva-f5930f68ba86].

The Minister also flagged government support for the Royal Commission's recommendation to form an ESO peak body, inviting the sector to lead that process. His framing throughout rejected the "broken digger" narrative and positioned the reform agenda as one of early intervention, prevention, and lifetime wellbeing — explicitly cross-portfolio with Defence on the transition pipeline.

In the House, the Minister introduced the Treasury Laws Amendment (Genetic Testing Protections in Life Insurance) Bill, which prohibits life insurers from using adverse genetic test results in eligibility or pricing decisions [TA-260323-house-068fade26cde:s082]. The bill delivers on Parliamentary Joint Committee recommendations 9.1 to 9.4 from an inquiry the Minister himself led during his first term — an inquiry that recommended a moratorium on insurer use of genetic test results and on which the previous government took no action.

The central public policy argument was behavioural: Australians currently delay or avoid genetic testing out of fear of insurance consequences, removing the diagnostic opportunity that could enable earlier and cheaper treatment [TA-260323-house-068fade26cde:s082]. A Monash University study of 10,000 Australians aged 18–40 enrolled in a preventable cancer and heart disease screening program found that more than half withdrew due to insurance concerns, despite one in 50 carrying high-risk findings [TA-260323-house-068fade26cde:s082].

The bill aligns the Insurance Contracts Act and the Disability Discrimination Act, and places ASIC as the enforcement authority with both civil and criminal penalties available.

The two streams share a structural logic: both frame government intervention as removing a systemic barrier — one in the veteran support system's complexity, the other in the financial disincentive to genetic testing — and both anchor their case in data or lived experience rather than abstract principle. The genetic testing bill sits outside Mr Keogh's core portfolio assignment but connects directly to his committee history, and its health-system framing (earlier detection, reduced treatment costs, increased research participation) mirrors the preventive orientation he articulated for veterans' wellbeing reform.