Join us as we take a step forward in strengthening our veteran and veteran family community! The Australian Peacekeeper and Peacemaker Veterans' Association is thrilled to announce the first of our monthly veteran Community Issues meetings, aimed at identifying and resolving the issues that matter most to you.

These meetings will serve as an open forum where every voice matters. We believe in transparency and progress, which is why we'll be tracking each issue raised and providing public updates on our website. This is your chance to make a difference and have your concerns heard and addressed. Our goal is to create a space where administrative issues are not only raised but resolved, ensuring no concern is left unheard or unaddressed.

We welcome all veteran organisations to join us. The event is free and will be run on MS Teams.

We're grateful for the support of the DVA, whose commitment to this initiative signifies the emerging standard of trust and teamwork under their new leadership. We're pleased to have some a number of the most senior staff at DVA attending this meeting, including Repatriation Commissioner Kahlil Fegan DSC AM, Deputy Secretary Alison McLaren, and Deputy Secretary Teena Blewitt PSM, as well as acting Assistant Secretary Simon Geraghty.

Participants will have the opportunity to submit their issues ahead of time or bring them up during the meeting. For complex issues, we encourage you to support it with a paper. Remember, we're stronger together, and through collaboration and mutual support, we can make a significant impact.

Join us in this journey of change and let's build a better future for our community! Save the date and coordination and registration details will follow shortly.

We would like to thank the following organisations who have developed this with us as a team.

TPI Federation, Paws for Hope and Understanding, Partners of Veterans Association, the Australian War Widows Inc, Defence Shed Wagga Wagga , Pro Patrica Wagga Wagga and Villy Community Darwin.

Commissioners Nick Kaldas (chair), Peggy Brown and James Douglas wrote to Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus in October to raise concerns the current timeframe continues to impact the ability of the Royal Commission to deliver a final report and recommendations to bring about long-lasting improvements for the wellbeing of our Defence and veteran communities.

The Royal Commission was due to present its final report and recommendations to the Governor-General by 17 June next year; however, the Commissioners stated that timeline was impacting key areas of work, including the:

• opportunity for comprehensive action on procedural fairness for all parties; and
• testing of recommendations with key stakeholders, such as the Australian Defence Force, Departments of Defence and Veterans’ Affairs, and Defence and veterans’ bodies, including ex-service organisations, to ensure the Royal Commission delivers implementable recommendations to Government.

The Royal Commission has previously expressed frustration at the slow response from Commonwealth agencies to requests for information, as well as claims of confidentiality, parliamentary privilege and public interest immunity.

Commissioner Kaldas has today welcomed the Government’s decision.

“Regrettably, the latest AIHW data released last month confirms there has been no improvement in the high rates of suicide in our Defence and veteran community,” Commissioner Kaldas said.

“This Royal Commission must be a call to action. We, as a nation, can no longer allow the preventable deaths of our serving and ex-serving Defence personnel to continue.”

“This short, three-month extension will help to ensure our final report is robust, evidence-based and fair to all parties, and contains recommendations that are realistic, fit-for-purpose and implementable – to ensure Government is well equipped to address what is a national crisis once and for all,” he said.

The Royal Commission’s final report must now be delivered by Monday 9 September 2024.

Meanwhile, the Royal Commission is moving quickly to appoint a number of Assistant Commissioners to ensure hundreds of outstanding private sessions with people with lived experience can be completed before the end of the inquiry.

A recent legislative change allows for the appointment of Assistant Commissioners with the appropriate skills and experience to undertake private sessions alongside the three existing Commissioners.

Commissioners Kaldas, Brown and Douglas have so far completed 639 one-on-one confidential sittings to hear the often-harrowing stories of those impacted by suicide and suicidality. There are some 320 private sessions still to be held.

“We know how important these sessions are to veterans and their families, and the catharsis and validation they bring to so many people impacted by suicide and suicidality,” Commissioner Kaldas said. “Equally, these sessions provide us real insight into the lived experience of serving and ex-serving members, and their families, and this knowledge is vital to our inquiries.”

"We want to continue to ensure they have the opportunity to be heard and the appointment of Assistant Commissioners will achieve that."

The Royal Commission hopes to finalise the appointment of the Assistant Commissioners by the end of the year.

Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Update - The Hon Matt Keogh MP

Minister Keogh thanked all members for their efforts and contributions, not only through forums such as ESORT, but for the work they do in their respective organisations to support veterans and families. The Minister discussed key priorities including consultation on the legislation reform pathway to produce a better, simpler system of compensation, opening new Veterans’ and Families’ Hubs, and the importance of veterans and families having access to well-trained advocates as part of a broader eco-system of support.

DVA Update – Secretary Alison Frame

Secretary Frame acknowledged the significant contribution of ESORT members, and noted the value of ongoing collaboration in everything we do to learn from experience and leverage expertise in ex-service organisations. She highlighted achievements in 2023 including a significant reduction in the compensation claims backlog, recruitment of 500 additional DVA staff and implementation of MyService upgrades. Emerging priorities include Aged Care, continuing to meet information requests of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, Transition, Legislation Reform, connecting with veterans who are currently not accessing DVA services and building on DVA’s research and evaluation agenda, in collaboration with our Five Eyes partners across areas of common interest.

My thoughts are that it is a pity you all cannot see the significant changes at the senior levels of DVA as a result of Alison Frame, Teena Blewitt PSM, Alison McLaren, Andrew Kefford PSM, and Khalil Fegan DSC AM commencing. Leadership starts at the top and there has been no more ignoring of ESORT member’s questions as there has been prior to 23 Jan 23 when Secretary Frame arrived. Equality and respect now are first and foremost and when subordinates take the old ways and provide a “non-answer” or attempt to ignore the veteran community, this approach is very quicky adjusted by the new leaders.

Veteran, Family and Stakeholder Engagement Strategy

I co-chaired the working group on DVA’s own draft Strategy noting it is based on best practice and is a living document. While the Strategy is focused on engagement, and designed to promote a structured and consistent approach for DVA staff to follow when engaging with the veteran community, members also flagged the importance of good communication. The final document will be released early next year.

Veteran Journey Mapping

The ESORT was given a presentation on efforts to map how veterans and families currently interact with government agencies responsible for providing services and programs. Mapping is about informing service planning across departments and to identify how the government can provide seamless, integrated and tailored services to improve experiences. The ESORT discussed areas for improvement noting ESORT will continue to be consulted as journey mapping evolves.

My own thoughts are that following a veteran’s journey through DVA is very important because we can see where the blockages are, so I encourage this initiative and the APPVA is taking an active part in the activity.

We have received a lot of concern in the past three weeks from the medical community who provide services to veterans. It appears that two years ago you were directed to stop sending invoices to state DVA offices and instead directed to send invoices to one central address. This changed without warning about six weeks ago when someone made the call to cancel all of your invoices and required you to go back to the original method which is still shown on the DVA website.

Again, businesses have outstanding invoices, and in some cases moving rapidly towards $1m in excess of 60 days overdue. Payroll tax payments loom on the 7th of next month, PAYG Tax at the end of each month of you have high enough turnover, super and the big two, wages and the fact that you must pay your subcontractors within five days. That doesn’t leave much left!

We have addressed this with the relevant Deputy Secretary and true to form Teena Blewitt PSM came back true to form on the same day and reversed the no payment decision with the following message to GPs:

To support GP Practices transition back to the standard process, DVA will implement a temporary arrangement with a “No Wrong Door Approach” where, if invoices are sent directly to the Accounts team that do not have an “authority to pay”, they will be forwarded to the Compensation Team for review and approval. Where a compensation claim has been lodged by the veteran, “authority to pay” will be assessed and approved if it relates to the claimed conditions, and the invoice will be paid. Where no compensation claim exists, the invoice will need to be rejected.

From 1 February 2024 the temporary arrangement will close and all GP invoices will need to send invoices to the DVA State offices and they will only be approved if they have an “Authority to Pay”.

DVA has always held a rigid hard line on decision it made, no matter how many people were disadvantaged. It is good to see common sense reign.

Fee for Services Advocates

Beware of Fraudsters. There are plenty of great fee for service claims advocates out there that give a sound service...for a fee. Some of us need this; most don't.

There are however some bad characters amongst them and for those in the Brisbane area be aware. While we cannot name the company as yet, the characteristics are a one page website, and google ratings where the newest have one star ratings. The rating then goes to five stars and the wording turns to praise. There is a reason for this. I'll let you ponder it.

Have you been stung by them? Get in contact with me. Ian Lindgren, Chairperson. ian.lindgren@peacekeepers.asn.au