10 May 2005

MEDIA RELEASE

TPI VETERANS FORGOTTEN IN THE BUDGET

Mr Blue Ryan, the National President of the Australian Federation of Totally and Permanently Incapacitated Ex Servicemen and Women, said that "the 2005 Budget shows that the Howard Government has again failed to address some of the serious health and financial needs of veterans and their families.  The Minister for Veterans' Affairs said that this is a Government that listens to the concerns of our veterans.  Well she and the Government certainly didn't listen to us."

The Federation has been making representations to successive Veterans' Affairs Ministers for nearly a decade to have the TPI compensation to be indexed to MTAWE or the CPI - whichever is the greater - in the same way as the other major pensions like the Old Age, the Service Pension, the Disability Support Pension and the War Widows Pension.  The Government's failure to properly index the pension means that it has been eroded by nearly $100 per fortnight over the last 10 years. 

In last year's Budget the Government accepted the Federation's argument but only applied a partial indexation to 60% of the pension and refused to increase the base rate to the current equivalent.  The result is that TPIs - the most seriously disabled of Australia's veterans - continue to have their pensions eroded.

"The Treasurer in his Budget speech said that the Government was cutting the marginal tax rates of low income earners from 17% to 15% to put more money in their pockets.  At the same time he has his hand in the pockets of our sickest veterans taking the money to pay for these cuts.  It is a national disgrace when you listen to the obscene amounts of money that are being flung around that the Government can't scratch up $10 million to fix this serious anomaly affecting nearly 29,000 of Australia's most disabled ex-service men and women" said Mr Ryan.

The Federation has also been making representations to the current Veterans' Affairs Minister that payments to medical specialists for treatments under the Gold Card be aligned to those of a private health fund like Medicare, including provisions to cover gap payments.  This would help to overcome the increasing problem of specialist not accepting the Gold Card and veterans having to find other specialists who will accept the Gold Card.  This has had a significant impact on veterans in rural and remote locations and in Tasmania where some veterans have had to travel to Melbourne to get treatment.

"The band-aid solution announced in the Budget only tinkers with some of the specialists fees and after years of negotiations does little more than bring them up to where they should be.  It will do little to change the situation with many specialists and we will continue to see frail and aged veterans separated and isolated from their loved ones as they are forced to travel for treatment" said Mr Ryan.


 

"The task of fixing this problem should be given to the Department of Veterans’ Affairs to sort out with the AMA, It is a relationship and system that has worked very well for more than eighty years and now seems to have been taken out of their hands by the mean spirited, uncaring, economic rationalist bean counters in the Prime Minister's office" said Mr Ryan.

On Friday the 7th of May it was announced that a further 200 troops left our shores for service in Iraq. They willingly put themselves in harms way for their country and as always they will do Australia proud.  However, should any of them be unfortunate enough to sustain serious injury and be classified as Totally and Permanently Incapacitated they will be given a Gold Card for their medical treatment and a pension.  The Card's usefulness will depend on where they live and their pension will continue to erode in real terms.

Mr Ryan said that "The Prime Minister is very quick to send our troops to war and to bask in the glow of their magnificent achievements. It is now time for him to also personally take responsibility for their care.  He needs to stop hiding behind incompetent and ineffective Ministers for Veterans' Affairs and the leaders of compliant ex-service organisations who are rewarded with overseas trips for telling him things he wants to hear. The Prime Minister can take no joy from the fact that the Opposition continues to show a lack of interest in veterans' issues.  He must act like a real leader and meet this nation's responsibilities to its troops - nothing is too good for them".

The Nation President of the Federation

John (Blue) Ryan