The red tape facing Australia’s most disabled ex-serving personnel accessing income support has been cut in new changes announced today by the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Alan Griffin. Minister Griffin said that from March 2010, veteran pensioners assessed as Totally and Permanently Incapacitated (TPI) would be exempt from Centrelink medical reviews to access a Disability Support Pension.

“Since coming to Government we have sought to reduce the barriers facing veterans and injured ex-serving personnel seeking compensation and income support,” the Minister said. “We established an Interdepartmental Working Group to simplify the bureaucratic maze facing veterans and ex-serving personnel, making it easier for them to access their entitlements and streamlining arrangements across agencies."

“Today’s announcement immediately assists around 1100 veterans on a Centrelink Disability Support Pension and has the potential to benefit many more into the future. Currently TPI pensioners undergo repeated Job Capacity Assessments to access and retain their Disability Support Pension. Our TPI pensioners have already been through a rigorous assessment process to access their DVA benefits so making them go through a similar process to access Centrelink benefits is unreasonable.”

Today’s announcement builds on a range of initiatives introduced since the election, including expanding acceptance the ADF Identification Card as Proof of Identity by more government agencies and compiling the ADF Transition Handbook, which lists all interdepartmental benefits and support services available to separating ADF members. DVA and Centrelink are also sharing data to help reduce the risk of overpayments for the more than 17,500 pensioners on both DVA and Centrelink payments.

Mr Griffin said the inter-agency co-operation under this Government was creating smarter ways to deliver “whole-of-government” services. I am pleased with our progress to date but more will be done in our efforts to support our veterans and defence personnel,” Mr Griffin said.