Department of Veterans Affairs has put on more staff to help deal with backlog

The Department of Veterans’ Affairs has fewer labour hire staff and more government-employed staff now, compared to six months ago.

THE Department of Veterans’ Affairs has fewer labour hire staff and more government-employed staff now, compared to six months ago.

However, work is still underway to decrease the labour hire workforce in the department from 34 per cent to 23 per cent in a bid to improve wait times for veterans’ claims.

As of June 30, 2021, there was a total of 2876 staff at DVA, 38 per cent of which was labour hire.

As of December 31, the department had a total workforce of 3158 staff, with 34 per cent made up of labour hire.

There has been an increase of about 301 staff in the six-month period and a decrease of about 19 labour hire staff.

The need for more government-employed staff in DVA is an issue that, for the most part, Herbert MP Phillip Thompson and Labor’s Herbert candidate John Ring agree on.

They have both said it would improve the time veterans are waiting for claims to be processed.

Labor candidate for Herbert John Ring on a visit to the Northern Beaches Superclinic with Anthony Albanese. Picture: Caitlan Charles

Mr Ring said while this was an improvement, only scratching at the surface of delays, with some people he knows waiting more than two years for help.

Mr Ring said the issue had been created by the LNP who moved to increase the number of labour hire staff in the past.

“There won’t be 34 per cent labour hire if Labor gets elected … there will be full time staff at DVA,” he said.

Mr Ring added that under Labor, labour hire would only be used for a short period to meet demand, but not at the expense of full-time staff.

Mr Thompson, who has made a claim through DVA in the past, said it was an important step for the department to listen to veterans and make a change.

“To have people be on full time contracts, not through labour hire, benefits our nation and our most (brave men and women),” he said.

The MP said he would continue to advocate for more funding for DVA to improve claim wait times for veterans.

“We can never say we have completed the job in supporting veterans,” he said. “We will always need to support our men and women who support us.”

Federal Member for Herbert Phillip Thompson. Picture: Evan Morgan

A DVA spokeswoman said the government had invested $500m to implement substantial changes to the department’s processes and technology, making it easier and faster for veterans and families to access services and support.

She said claims had more than doubled in the past three years, from 60,663 claims in 2017-2018 to 143,155 in 2020-21.

“This growth is a good thing, as it means more veterans and their families understand the services and support available to them, but it has created an unacceptable backlog in claims and wait times,” the spokeswoman said.

To reduce the backlog for claims, the government provided DVA with $137.2m over two years for staffing in the 2021-22 budget. The funding included $98.5m for 447 new additional staff.

“The majority of these new recruits are either approaching the end of their training or have just completed it and commenced working on the backlog,” the spokeswoman said.

“In the three weeks leading up to Christmas the number of claims finalised increased each week. There are more staff being engaged over the next two months to further support this critical work.

“Once this process has been finalised, labour hire staffing will represent 23 per cent of the total claims processing workforce.”

Lack of preparation on federal government: Ring

FRESH calls to fund rapid antigen tests (RATs) under Medicare have come with claims the federal government has failed to lead in the pandemic.

Labor’s Herbert candidate John Ring has laid the blame for the country’s lack of preparation for an onslaught of cases squarely at the feet of the federal government.

The switch to RATs has failed to make a difference in North Queensland with stock levels low at all providers, leaving residents lining up for hours to get a PCR test.

But Mr Ring says the federal government should have been prepared for this and stockpiling RATs for state governments well before the borders opened.

Queensland’s cases have surged since the border opened in December, with almost 11,000 cases reported on Friday.

“(The federal government) shouldn’t be asking states to open borders if it knows we haven’t got the resources available,” Mr Ring said.

“And to now make the states bid against each other to try and get RATs is ridiculous,”

Mr Ring said.

He said this had happened multiple times before, including in 2018 when fire chiefs warned that the country needed more water bombers and the “government failed to act”.

Mr Ring said it was the federal government responsibility to ensure the states were well resourced.

“They’re setting states up to fail and it’s a political game,” he said.

The decision also drew criticism from Townsville GP Michael Clements who said it was a double standard.

He said the federal government had chosen to cover the cost of PCR tests through Medicare for the purpose of travel, and the same should apply to the RATs.

“Yet now, Scott Morrison is saying ‘this is the test you must have and you must pay for it’, it just doesn’t fit,” Dr Clements said.

However, it has been revealed that it could cost the federal government $13bn to supply free RATs.

Finance Minister Simon Birmingham said it would be “reckless and wasteful” to offer them to everyone for free and warned it would “only exacerbate pressures on supply chains”.

Herbert MP Phillip Thompson said it was “easy to criticise” the federal government’s response but Omicron had changed everything.

“It only turned up six weeks ago. No one knew it would spread like it has,” Mr Thompson said.

“What we have now is a global supply issue on rapid antigen tests, which hopefully will be resolved in the next week or two.

“The TGA approved RATs several months ago. Every state and territory had the opportunity to order their states’ worth of RATs.

“Every state and territory did, except Queensland. The premier ordered Queensland’s RATs only a couple of days ago.

“There has been a lot of politicking throughout this global pandemic, from all levels and all sides.”

Mr Thompson said Mr Ring could “look no further” than the Queensland government which had made exemptions for celebrities and sports starts to cross the border while relatives could not say goodbye to loved ones.

He said Covid-19 tests for symptomatic people and close contacts were free, and always would be.

“Now we will start seeing rapid antigen tests handed out at state clinics for free for those people, subject to the state governments’ ability to supply them,” he said.

“Symptomatic people and close contacts are the only people who need tests now. However, for people who want ‘peace of mind tests’, and are certain concession card holders, they will be available for free at chemists.

“Nearly all states, except Queensland, have now dropped testing as a requirement for travel.”

Townsville Hospital and Health Service chief executive Kieran Keyes said rapid antigen tests were in the process of being delivered to the region.

“As a health provider we’ve had them in our system already and we use them at a point of care. They are a different test than those supplied to the general public,” Mr Keyes said. “Supply of those will be made rapidly available to us and we’ll look to distribute them as soon as we are able to.”

All governments have ‘failed’ in Covid response: MP

RAPID antigen tests will now be available for concession card holders, but Herbert MP Phillip Thompson says while it’s a positive step, it’s too little too late.

Plagued with supply shortages in Queensland and reports of price gouging in some parts of the country the decision to switch so rapidly to the new testing protocols left the state in the dust.

Townsville is now more than 90 per cent first dose vaccinated, but testing lines are still more than six hours long.

With 18 million tests ordered, cost split 50/50 between the state and federal governments, and changes to testing requirements made at national cabinet on Wednesday, supply is expected to normalise.

Federal Member for Herbert Phillip Thompson. Picture: Evan Morgan

Mr Thompson, the federal MP, said he had hoped national cabinet would decide to make the tests free, but giving concession holders access to no cost tests would help many vulnerable people.

“They’ve (national cabinet) decided that this is logistically not possible right now,” Mr Thompson said.

Instead, RATs will be sold through chemists, with concession card holders to be able to obtain 10 free tests over a three-month period, while Covid-19 testing sites will hand out free RATs to symptomatic people and close contacts.

Mr Thompson said both federal and state governments had made mistakes in the Covid response process.

He said all levels of government could have been doing better in its response to Covid-19.

“The TGA approved (RATs) several months ago and some states were quick to order … and others were slow,” Mr Thompson said.

“I believe we all could have been doing better.”

Mr Thompson said changes announced after national cabinet, which include no longer requiring the trucking industry to be tested frequently, would also impact the huge lines at testing stations.

“It breaks my heart that we’ve got kids waiting nine hours in a car to get tested … that is simply not good enough. That is all of our responsibilities. All levels of government have failed and all levels of government need to do better.”

ALP candidate for Herbert John Ring outside the Chemist Warehouse in Garbutt. He wants the federal government to commit to free rapid antigen tests. Picture: Shae Beplate.

ALP Herbert candidate John Ring said workers were losing hours and pay as they lined up all day waiting to get tested.

“Businesses are losing staff and are struggling to work out how to keep their doors open,” he said.

The candidate believed the tests should be made free and accessible for everyone.

“Local chemists are putting up signs saying there are no paid tests available. In short, don’t even bother,” Mr Ring said.

“At least in Sydney and Melbourne they have at least some access to tests. In the North we have none.

“If the federal government had a plan for free tests, just like Britain and the USA, we wouldn’t be facing this massive problem.”

Cate’s Chemist group general manager Paul Willis said the pharmacies were being inundated with calls about RATs every day.

“Most of the community seem to understand that there has been a lot of recent changes around rapid antigen testing and they are quite supportive of waiting for the stock to stabilise,” Mr Willis said.

Cate's Chemist GM Paul Willis

“We know that is coming, and it’s not very far away. We are already getting stock starting to dribble in … that is getting consumed very quickly.”

He said many pharmacies were offering waiting lists and prioritising who had a more pressing need for the tests.

Mr Willis said he was optimistic that the stabilisation would occur in coming weeks as the new changes were rolled out.

“I think it makes a lot of sense for the concession card holders (to be subsidised),” he said.

“They are usually the patients are in an at risk group … and often find it more difficult to access medications anyway. There is usually some sort of transport or travel limitations.”

Mr Willis said it had been a rapidly changing environment, and the community had been patient with the group while it implemented the changes.

“We really respect and thank the community for bearing with us during these changes.”

Originally published as Department of Veterans Affairs has put on more staff to help deal with backlog