Parliament House Canberra ACT 2602
Telephone 02 6277 7820 Facsimile 02 6273 4140
The Hon Alan Griffin MP
Minister for Veterans’ Affairs
The Hon Warren Snowdon MP
Minister for Defence Science and Personnel
VA018
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
CUTTING RED TAPE FOR VETERANS AND ADF PERSONNEL
Delivering on a key election promise, the Rudd Government has cut red tape and delays facing
veterans and ex-service personnel trying to access their entitlements. The Minister for
Veterans’ Affairs, Alan Griffin, and the Minister for Defence Science and Personnel, Warren
Snowdon, said today the Interdepartmental Working Group had been established and was
already reducing the bureaucracy involved in making claims.
“Prior to the election I was approached by many veterans and ex-service personnel frustrated
by the administrative burden created by dealing with multiple Government agencies. I promised
to establish an Interdepartmental Working Group to address this issue and am pleased to report
it is already having a positive effect,” Mr Griffin said.
The Interdepartmental Working Group has already:
Reduced the medical reviews veterans must undertake;
Commenced information sharing across DVA, Centrelink and
ComSuper - resulting in around 250 DVA disability pensioners already being
exempted from further ComSuper reviews;
Published a practical transition handbook on accessing interdepartmental
entitlements;
Listed the ADF Identification Card as an acceptable Proof of Identity document
across Government; and
Commenced a trial to expand the final Defence medical examination to cover the
requirements of a liability claim to DVA or ComSuper, and eliminate the need for
further medical examinations in most cases.
Delivering on another election promise, the establishment of a Special Claims Unit at DVA has
reduced average times taken to process claims. A comparison of the two financial years 2006-
2007 and 2007-2008, shows processing time reductions of 15.7 per cent in VEA claims, 7.8 per
cent for SRCA initial liability claims and 30.9 per cent for MRCA initial liability claims.
“The process of accessing entitlements should place minimal additional stress upon veterans
and ex-service personnel, particularly as many of the people claiming are older veterans who
were injured during their service,” Mr Griffin said.
“Reducing the burden of government bureaucracy on these people is an important objective.”
Mr Snowdon said he welcomed efforts to end the duplicate – even triplicate – medical
examinations that separating personnel need to undergo to access entitlements.
“A successful trial to expand the role of the final Defence medical examination will reduce the
complexity and delays facing some of the personnel leaving the ADF each year,” Mr Snowdon
said.
Mr Snowdon added while some initiatives are about simplification, like listing the ADF
Identification Card as a Government Proof of Identity document, others highlight the critical
importance of inter-agency co-operation.
“The protocol developed by Defence and DVA to follow in the event of a death in service or
serious injury on deployment has been expanded to include Centrelink and ComSuper,
ensuring senior level case management across all agencies. This means that relevant
agencies are able to co-ordinate the full range of Government assistance that is available in
these circumstances,” Mr Snowdon said.
The working group brings together representatives from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, the
Department of Defence, Centrelink, the Department of Human Services and Comsuper.
Representatives from the ex-service community have also been consulted by the working
group.
Mr Griffin said: “There are still issues to address, but I’m pleased we’ve already started to get
results from this process.”
Media inquiries:
Laura Ryan 02 6277 7820 or 0437 863 109 (Minister Griffin)
Kate Sieper 02 6277 7620 or 0488 484 689 (Minister Snowdon)
The VVCS – Veterans and Veterans Families Counselling Service can be contacted 24 hours a day, seven days a
week on 1800 011 046. To receive the Minister’s media releases automatically by email subscribe at
minister.dva.gov.au/subscribe.htm
NEWS 
