‘Failed veterans’: Ex-minister grilled over tardy response to claims backlog

The former Coalition government has been accused of “failing veterans” by not acting on recommendations to fix significant backlogs in compensation claims for more than two years.

Former veterans’ affairs minister Darren Chester was questioned over his time in the position, which he held from 2018 to 2021, at the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide in Townsville.

Former Veterans’ Affairs Minister Darren Chester at the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide in Townsville.

The commission also heard on Tuesday from another former Morrison government veterans’ affairs minister, Andrew Gee, who was forced to make cuts of more than $430 million while the department struggled to address a 50,000-strong backlog in compensation claims.

Chester was pressed extensively over a Productivity Commission report from 2019, which made several recommendations to improve the Veterans’ Affairs Department, including changes to legislation regarding the processing of veterans’ compensation claims.

But counsel assisting Peter Singleton said information obtained from the department showed that despite the Coalition government receiving the report in 2019, the earliest significant work done to address the issue was in December 2021, in the form of a workshop.

Singleton repeatedly pointed out to Chester that the government had not made a decision in three years to accept or reject the recommendations.

He suggested a conclusion could be reached that the government failed in its duty to veterans in regards to the recommendations. Chester disputed this claim.

Chester repeatedly told the commission other work was being done.

“I don’t agree with you that the government has failed in that regard,” he said.

“There have been, as I indicated, 35 of the 69 recommendations funded, within the order of $386 million, through the normal budgetary process.”

But Chester said there was “no completed policy, no completed costings” for the specific recommendations in question.

“There were changes being made to simplify processing claims which were consistent, I guess, with the spirit of the recommendation, but you’re right in terms of your proposition that there is no completed draft legislation, or completed draft costings that were presented to me in my time as minister,” he said.

A road map addressing the issue was expected to be developed by the department, but Chester, under examination from the commissioners, conceded neither he, nor his office, gave the department a deadline, and it remained unfinished.

Chester was also questioned over funding offsets, which Gee admitted to on Tuesday, but he was unable to provide a specific answer when asked by Commissioner Peggy Brown AO about the $385 million.

“I don’t have that detail in front of me. There were a number of initiatives there, which you may be aware of – more than a dozen or so – and I just can’t recall particular offsets required. Some of them would have been new spending proposals.”

The royal commission continues and is expected to hear from a range of witnesses, including Defence Force chief Angus Campbell.

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