Veterans’ Disability Pension Budget Disaster – Media Statement

31 Aug 2014

The National spokesman for the Alliance of Defence Service Organisations (ADSO), David Jamison, stated today that the leaders of the national veterans’ organisations are bewildered by the Government’s budget proposal to wind back the level of indexing the Veteran Disability Pension to the pre 2007 formula of CPI only. This proposal to apply from 2017 and which we utterly condemn is at odds with the statements made by parliamentarians from all side of politics acknowledging that CPI is simply not the right index to keep pace with the cost of living.

This proposal to exclude the Public Beneficiary Living Cost Index (PBLCI) and the Male Total Average Weekly Earnings (MTAWE)from the indexation formula for Veteran Disability Pensions, means the incomes of our most disabled will no longer keep pace with community income standards.

Speaking on behalf of the ADSO Alliance, David Jamison said that, “while most in the ex-service community understood the Government’s need to bring budget spending under control, there was no justification for this unfair proposal because after all, the Veteran Disability Pension is a long-recognised compensation entitlement not a social security payment”.

The national ex-service organizations’ leadership has written to the PM asking for this proposal to be dropped and calls on all parliamentarians to reject it in the name of fairness for our disabled veterans.