Portfolio — 26 May 2026

Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Defence Personnel Matt Keogh used the 2026–27 budget to deliver the most significant restructuring of veteran allied-health funding in two decades. The centrepiece is a $169.7 million commitment to raise allied-health provider fees, lifting the physiotherapy rebate from $75.10 to $110 per session — an increase of roughly 46 per cent — effective July 2027 [TA-260525-house-43807c883b19:s223].

Keogh framed the fee increase as a supply-side measure: providers have been unwilling to bulk-bill veterans at the previous rate, restricting access in practice even where entitlements existed on paper.

Equally significant is the removal of the $5,000 annual cap on allied-health services. Under the previous arrangement, veterans with complex or chronic conditions could exhaust their annual entitlement and face gaps in care. Keogh stated the new settings allow veterans with genuine clinical need to access unlimited allied-health care [TA-260525-house-43807c883b19:s223], signalling that the portfolio is moving away from cost-containment mechanisms that functioned as de facto treatment limits.

The portfolio is also abolishing the requirement for veterans to return to a GP after every twelve allied-health sessions — a structural constraint Keogh described as a restrictive treatment cycle. Removing it reduces administrative burden on both veterans and practitioners and reflects a broader shift toward continuous, clinician-directed care rather than episodic, GP-gated access.

Taken together, the three changes — higher fees, uncapped services, and eliminated GP re-referral requirements — represent a coherent package aimed at making allied-health care practically accessible, not merely nominally available to veterans.