Interim payment trial offers veterans invaluable support

VETERANS will be able to access financial assistance and medical treatment while their claims are being processed, in a move to support them and their families.

The Department of Veterans’ Affairs has implemented the Veteran Payment and the Provisional Access to Medical Treatment Trial ( PAMT), which ends next June.

The payment provides an interim income support to vulnerable veterans until their claim for a mental health issue is decided.

A DVA spokeswoman said the initiatives served as part of the Government’s response to the report of the Senate Inquiry into Suicide by Veterans and Ex- Service Personnel.

The DVA will also pay for the medical treatment for 20 common conditions.

The spokeswoman said the department knew of common conditions and the need to start treatment immediately to begin recovery.

She said the trial would be evaluated and would inform DVA policy in meeting the needs of veterans and the community.

Herbert LNP candidate and veteran Phil Thompson said he thought the trial would be a great benefit to ex- personnel in the largest garrison city in the country.

“I welcome it. There will be a review process and that’s how we get better in delivering services,” he said. “Veterans have come to me about the bureaucracy and wait time and the Government has seen there are large wait times and so introduced these initiatives to cut through that and streamline the process.”

“The department is going through a transformation so it is relevant to the clientele which they serve.

“There’s a changing cohort and it’s paramount to helping the veterans’ community.”

Herbert MP Cathy O’Toole said she looked forward to seeing the outcome of the trial when it ended mid- next year.

“This is about people who give selflessly to ensure we have the freedoms that we do,” she said. “We owe them the very best support, it’s just unacceptable and not right that they wouldn’t receive the services they need.”

Ms O’Toole said she had fought hard to keep the DVA office in Townsville.

“It’s a fight I took up and we won hands down,” she said.

For details about the trial visit: dva. gov. au/ health- andwell b e i ng/ s e r v i c e - a nd- s upport- trials/ provisional- accessmedical- treatment- trial.