Veterans will no longer have to prove their mental health problems were caused by their service after a $350m package expanding support services announced on Sunday.
The veterans’ affairs minister, Dan Tehan, said the package in the federal budget was “new money” that would cut claim times and improve mental health and prevention.
The main elements of the package are:
- $166.6m to modernise the Department of Veterans’ Affairs IT systems to improve access and cut claim times
- $133.1m to provide healthcare to the participants of the British nuclear test program in Australia in the 1950s and 60s and veterans who served as part of the British Commonwealth occupation force of Japan
- $33.5m to expand the non-liability healthcare program to cover all mental health conditions
- $9.8m to pilot new approaches in suicide prevention
- $8.5m to expand eligibility for Veterans and Veterans Families Counselling Service
At a media conference at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, Tehan said as a result of the package “any veteran that has served one day will be able to get a suite of mental health treatment” without having to show their illness was service-related.
“The reason we are doing this is the earlier you get help and treatment for mental health issues, the better the outcome.”
Geoff Evans, a veteran who served in Afghanistan and is the chief executive of the veterans’ reintegration organisation Team Rubicon Australia, congratulated Tehan on the package, which he called a “fundamental recognition” of the need for early intervention.
Evans was wounded in Afghanistan in 2010, medically discharged and had post-traumatic stress disorder. He said the department had provided “good support” but the claim times were slow.
“What this package does is reduce the time it takes for people like me to get help, that’s why I wholeheartedly support it.”
Tehan said spending in last year’s budget had reduced claim times for non-mental health claims from 18 days to four hours.
Asked if the $350m would be offset by cuts elsewhere, the veterans’ affairs minister directed the question to the treasurer, who will deliver the federal budget on Tuesday.
The veteran and independent senator, Jacqui Lambie, welcomed the package, calling it a “great result” from an inquiry into veterans’ support services.
$350m for vet mental health is great news & a great result from the inquiry I established #auspol https://t.co/6QOH2YQd2y
— Jacqui Lambie (@JacquiLambie) May 7, 2017
In a statement on Sunday, Nick Xenophon said it was “inexplicable” nuclear veterans had not had health costs paid sooner.
He said the policy was “belated recognition for the hazardous warlike service these veterans endured” and said his party’s advocacy on the issue was “instrumental” to achieving the outcome.
“Ignored, and treated with contempt by successive governments since the 1950s, these nuclear veterans will finally get the recognition and assistance they so strongly deserve,” Xenophon said.
“Getting access to the Gold Card will make a very big difference to the surviving veterans – many of whom have suffered terrible health and illnesses as a result of their exposure to radiation.”
Of the 17,000 Australian soldiers and civilians directly involved in the British nuclear tests in Australia, at Emu Field and Maralinga in South Australia and Monte Bello Islands off the coast of Western Australia, it is believed only about 1,100 are still alive.
• Crisis support services can be reached 24 hours a day: Lifeline 13 11 14; Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467; Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800; MensLine Australia1300 78 99 78
