Staffing recruits up but veterans still vexed

Staffing levels in the Department of Veterans Affairs will balloon to over 3000 next year as the Albanese government struggles to process over 36,000 outstanding claims.

Veterans’ Affairs Minister Matt Keogh defended the government’s decision to bolster departmental staff. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Staffing levels in the Department of Veterans’ Affairs will balloon above 3000 next year as the Albanese government struggles to process more than 36,000 outstanding claims.

The new figures come as the Coalition and crossbench attacked the pace of processing of veterans’ support claims after Labor had promised to “fix the crisis in Veterans’ Affairs” in the lead-up to last year’s election.

The Australian can reveal the government, which before the election said it would spend $226.3m for 500 frontline staff to slash the Veterans’ Affairs backlog, included provisions in the budget to hire an extra 400 staff in 2023-24 and push average staffing levels to 3129.

According to government figures provided in response to a question on notice from opposition veterans’ affairs spokesman Barnaby Joyce, the backlog in processing unresolved claims for veterans up to February this year was higher than when the Coalition left office, despite the Albanese government recruiting an extra 764 frontline staff.

Despite the workforce surge, which the Coalition has linked to a union push to convert contractors into public servants, the backlog sat at 41,972 in February, which was 35 claims higher than when the Coalition left office.

Mr Joyce said veterans were paying the price for Labor’s decision to remove the veterans’ affairs portfolio from cabinet, which he said had taken their voice from funding decisions.

“It’s looking increasingly likely that Labor’s election pledge was not about veterans and their compensation claims but more about growing a unionised public sector workforce,” Mr Joyce told The Australian.

“I don’t think there are any extra staff, certainly not 500. What I suspect has happened is that the government has taken existing contractors who were already working on the backlog and simply transferred them to the public service payroll.

“Great news for union membership officers, but bad news for our veterans just wanting to get their entitlements.”

Veterans’ Affairs Minister Matt Keogh defended the government’s decision to bolster departmental staff, saying the former Coalition government’s underfunding of the department had “real world consequences” for former defence personnel.

According to new government figures provided to The Australian, claims have dropped from 45,226 to 36,271 across the period between September last year to April 30.

Mr Keogh said Labor had slashed the number of un­resolved claims for veterans’ support by nearly 9000 cases in nine months, marking a 20 per cent reduction off its peak last year. “One of our government’s top priorities in this is eliminating the claims backlog from under the last government,” he said. “In opposition, Labor recognised that demand for services at DVA has significantly grown in recent years, but the resourcing of the department has not kept up.”

Independent Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie criticised the government’s handling of veterans’ affairs, saying Labor had been in power for a year but little has been done to address un­resolved claims.

Senator Lambie, who formerly served in the Australian Army and is a prominent advocate for veterans, said Labor must “stop putting f..king bandaids over everything” after the government invested funding to upgrade IT systems.

“They have had over one year to fix this problem but the situation is getting worse and the department is going to get a smash­ing over this in two weeks’ time at Senate estimates. You watch this space,” she said.