Summary of Submission Issues

The following issues, or slight variations upon the matter identified, have been raised in the submissions received by the Review Committee. The figure in brackets alongside the issue reflects only the number of authors who have raised the issue in the submissions. Some authors have raised multiple matters.

These figures are intended to provide a reflection of the issues raised in submissions.

The figures do not indicate the priority given to the issue by the Committee, nor do they reflect the views of the Committee. The description of issues also does not commit the Committee or Government to a particular course of action; they are not Committee recommendations.

Some issues have not been listed, where few authors raised them.

EXTENSION OF ELIGIBILITY FOR FULL ENTITLEMENTS

World War II service (1022) - Service in Australia during WWII, or in nearby Pacific regions, which is not currently recognised as "qualifying service", should be considered "qualifying service" for service pension and Gold Card entitlements. This includes RAAF Trainers (39).

Qualifying service (248) - General comments about anomalies in the application of the definitions of "qualifying service" and/or "operational service".

British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan (180) - "Qualifying service" should be extended to those who served as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Forces in Japan for service pension and Gold Card entitlements.

Atomic Test Service (112) - Defence force personnel and possibly civilians involved in the British Atomic Testing in Australia in the 1950s and 60s should be given coverage under the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986.

War widow's pension eligibility (169) - Surviving spouses of all war veterans should be eligible for war widows' pensions or part/full veteran disability pension.

Women WWII service (132) - Women who served in WWII, who were required to remain in Australia and who did not serve overseas should have the same entitlements as men who served in a war zone overseas, ie "operational service" and "qualifying service". This category includes requests for women who were in the Women's Land Army to be given coverage under the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986.

Malaysia (86) - Certain service in Malaysia during the Malayan Emergency or in the Indonesian Confrontation, or certain service in Thailand should be recognised as "operational service" and/or "qualifying service".

Submariners (32) - Submariners who served during peacetime should have their service declared as "warlike service".

Allied and British Commonwealth veterans (268) - those served with an Allied or British Commonwealth forces (generally in WWII for UK) and have since become Australian citizens should receive the same entitlements as those who served in the Australian Defence Force, including Gold Card eligibility.

Special Air Service (23) - Peacetime Defence Force service in the SAS, especially the Counter Terrorist and Special Recovery Teams, should be recognised as "hazardous service" and/or "qualifying service".

Civilians in WWII (21) - certain civilian employment in World War II (eg National Auxiliary Patrol and Civil Construction Corps) be recognised as "eligible war service".

Minesweeping operations post WWII (21) - certain service in minesweeping operations post World War II should be recognised as "operational service" and/or "qualifying service" where presently not.

Ex-Prisoners of War (Europe/Korea) (22) - these prisoners of war should receive the same compensation payment of $25,000 as Ex-Prisoners of War of the Japanese.

GOLD CARD ELIGIBILITY

General Entitlement (909) - Gold Card should be extended to all veterans or certain categories of veterans who do not presently qualify, in recognition of their service. Note, a large proportion of these are also counted in the count under "World War II service".

A large proportion of the (268) submissions that raised entitlements for veterans who served with an Allied or British Commonwealth force (generally in WWII) and have since become Australian citizens indicated that these veterans should receive a Gold Card.

Gold Card for spouses (176) - Spouses supporting veterans (of varying degrees of disability, though mainly a TPI or EDA) should receive a Gold Card.

Importance and recognition of carers (41) - the carers of disabled veterans provide a valuable community service and should be recognised, eg by Gold Card entitlement.

SPECIAL RATE AND OTHER RATES OF DISABILITY PENSION

There is an overlap of counts between these issues.

Pension Rates (353) - disability pension levels are generally considered to be too low (pension levels should be increased) or comments on some aspects of rates or anomalies with them (not necessarily including requests for Gold Card).

TPI (284) - Comments on some aspects of the Special Rate entitlements (TPI).

TPI Rates (209) - specific comment on TPI rates and that the Special Rate has eroded against community wage benchmarks (particularly loss of parity with average weekly earnings over the last few decades).

EDA (130) - comments on some aspect of EDA entitlements.

EDA Rates (102) - specific comment on the EDA rates and anomalies in various entitlements.

EDA Entitlements compared to Special Rate (93) - comment on the EDA rate vis a vis the TPI rate; comment about the eligibility criteria for TPI rate and that the criteria for EDA are more stringent than for Special Rate; comment that it is difficult to obtain the TPI rate once the applicant is over 65 years; and, comment that in fact EDA veterans are often older and more infirm than Special Rate recipients.

Pension payments from Centrelink (190) - Veterans without "qualifying service" who are seeking or receiving income support pensions from Centrelink wish to have their DVA disability pension disregarded under the income test.

Rent Assistance (25) - The rent assistance income test should be changed so that disability pension is not regarded as income in determining eligibility. Alternatively, some other housing assistance should be provided to Disability Pensioners.