Labor Senator Nita Green says Coalition to slash DVA jobs, but Herbert MP Phillip Thompson says it won’t happen
Claims frontline workers in the Department of Veterans Affairs could be sacked as part of the Opposition’s plan to slash thousands of public service jobs have been labelled “disappointing”.
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Claims frontline workers in the Department of Veterans Affairs could be sacked as part of the Opposition’s plan to slash thousands of public service jobs have been labelled “disappointing”.
Senator Nita Green has doubled down on the notion that the jobs would be cut under a Liberal National government, saying that she and Herbert candidate Edwina Andrew would work to protect the 2000 public servant jobs in Townsville,
But Herbert MP Phillip Thompson says the Opposition has no plans to cut jobs in the sector, adding that the government was “politicising” his friends.
Senator Green said that voters couldn’t trust that public service workers were not “facing the sack” under Mr Dutton.
“Very clearly voters have told us … what they don’t want is a Peter Dutton government, who they can’t trust, who will make cuts and will sack people here in Townsville,” she said.
Ms Andrew added that under the LNP there was a “backlog of 42,000 claims by veterans waiting to be processed”.
“Townsville veterans who had risked their lives for this country had to wait years to get the support they needed,” she said.
“It’s astonishing that Mr Dutton and Mr Thompson haven’t learnt from their mistakes and are proposing to cut staff from the Department of Veterans Affairs.”
Strongly refuting the claims from Labor, Mr Thompson said he wanted to reiterate that “no frontline jobs will be cut”.
The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide found that delayed claims, and a severe backlog in processing, were leading to an increase in mental health issues among veterans.
“The Coalition and myself have already made a statement saying that no frontline jobs will be cut, no jobs in Townsville, no one would lose their jobs and the Department of Veteran Affairs frontline workers, who have such an important job processing claims to make sure that those who have served our nation can get claims processed and accepted, won’t change,” he said.
“[Peter Dutton] said during his budget reply speech that no frontline workers in the Department of Veteran Affairs, there will be no reducing numbers of frontline workers.”
He called out Labor for their ‘gutter, grubby behaviour’.
“Unlike the Labor Senator and the Labor candidate I have carried the coffins of those who have died by suicide in the ADF, my friends are people that they are trying to politicise right now and I think that’s disappointing that’s the avenue they are trying to take,” he said.
“There will be no frontline Department of Veteran jobs that are in jeopardy. We want more people processing claims, not less.”
Mr Thompson said it was “unreasonable” for any member of parliament to think that the Department of Veteran Affairs didn’t need government oversight.
“It absolutely does, because if it didn’t we wouldn’t have needed a Royal Commission, if it didn’t the claims processing would already be done,” he said.
“The department needs more government oversight so people can get the support that they need on time.”
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Originally published as Labor Senator Nita Green says Coalition to slash DVA jobs, but Herbert MP Phillip Thompson says it won’t happen
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