Tasmania Senator and veteran Jacqui Lambie says she is \u201cbegging\u201d the Prime Minister not to follow through with a $5000 cap on allied health services in an emotional plea, as Veterans Minister Matt Keogh faces calls to be \u201csacked\u201d. <\/p>\n
From July 2027, veterans will be capped at $5000 per year for allied health services. A change, the government says, will cut down on unnecessary services. <\/p>\n
In an emotional speech before question time on Wednesday, Senator Lambie said about six months earlier her vagina had begun to prolapse, which she said was connected to her time in the military.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause there is such limited access to quality progesterone in regional areas like Tasmania, I was looking at waiting for months for an appointment and that\u2019s the private system in Tasmania. Just to see a gynaecologist,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Senator Lambie said she put in a claim with the Department of Veterans\u2019 Affairs, but ultimately came to Canberra to have the $7000 procedure. <\/p>\n
She told the Senate a survey of almost 500 female veterans found 2\/3 of women reported pelvic pain.<\/p>\n
Their treatment, she said, was either inadequate under what was being funded by the DVA, or not classified.<\/p>\n
She continued: \u201cI would like to ask the Prime Minister, Minister Marles, and Minister Keogh what they would do if their penis was hanging by a thread.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat would they do with treatment for that injury, directly connected to their military service, was denied by the Department of Veterans Affairs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWould they say, okay, no worries, I don\u2019t really need my penis. I don\u2019t think so. I don\u2019t think so. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m asking you once more. I\u2019m begging you, Prime Minister. We are already suffering enough. Drop the bloody cap.<\/p>\n
\u201cVeterans have had enough. Leave us alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Later, speaking to an urgency motion she moved calling on the government to scrap the cap, Senator Lambie said she believed it would result in veteran suicides.<\/p>\n
Speaking separately in the House of Representatives, Veterans Minister Matt Keogh said his government had moved quickly to address recommendations of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veterans Suicide, and was working on implementing more. <\/p>\n
He said the DVA was now the \u201cbest funded in three decades\u201d.<\/p>\n
Herbert MP and veteran Phillip Thompson said a veteran had told him he had his hearing aids maintained and a psychology appointment, which totalled 80 per cent of the cap.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, what do I drop off? Just my psychology?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mr Thompson said Mr Keogh did not address the cap and that veterans had \u201clost faith\u201d in the Minister.<\/p>\n
Minister defends job<\/p>\n
Veterans Minister Matt Keogh was forced to defend his job as pressure mounts over the temporary snubbing of an ex-servicemen\u2019s group in Canberra to protest plans to cap allied health services at $5000 per year. <\/p>\n
Mr Keogh was asked five times \u2013 and Anthony Albanese once \u2013 about the Monday meeting with the Coalition of Veterans\u2019 Voices during question time on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The minister\u2019s office had initially told the group Mr Keogh did not have time to meet them; however, under pressure, he eventually did so.<\/p>\n
During question time on Tuesday, Mr Keogh admitted he \u201cgot it wrong\u201d by not agreeing initially to met with the ex-servicemen.<\/p>\n
However, Mr Keogh continued to face a grilling over the meeting on Wednesday, with opposition spokesman Michael McCormack asking how Mr Keogh could continue in the role if he \u201ccannot uphold Defence values\u201d.<\/p>\n
He quoted former navy diver and Fair Care for Veterans spokesman John Armfield who said after the meeting that \u201cI enlisted under the navy values of courage, honour, honesty and loyalty, yet you fail to display any of niece values, minister\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Keogh said he had heard Mr Armfield\u2019s evidence before the Royal Commission into Defence and Veterans Suicide, and had engaged with him \u201cabout the circumstances he had to confront, (which) were tragic and terrible\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can very much understand why he would feel that there has been a breach of faith with him in terms of the upholding of the Australian Defence Force values and his commitment. And, so I understand that,\u201d Mr Keogh said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry that he holds that view about this, and all I can do is I try to do each and every day is to make sure that we\u2019re continuing to the work of improving the system that exists to support our serving personnel and our veteran community and their families, so that they get the service and the support that we all agree that they deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Keogh denied on Tuesday he had been disrespectful to the cohort on Monday.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Herbert MP and veteran Phillip Thompson asked if by making that claim he was called former fighter pilot Tim Nelson a \u201cliar\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI meet with many veterans, veteran family members, defence personnel on a regular basis and with I respect every position that they put to me in what they can say and describe,\u201d Mr Thompson said. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut, I also am not in the habit of repeating the content in detail of those conversations and meetings in the parliament every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anthony Albanese was forced to step in to defend Mr Keogh after questioning from Opposition Leader Angus Taylor. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhy won\u2019t the Prime Minister sack this incompetent and disrespectful minister?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
In response, Mr Albanese said he had \u201cevery confidence in the Minister\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI consider it to be one of the great privileges of my time in this place \u2026 to engage with those men and women who wear our uniform,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey serve in our name and deserve our total respect at all times for that they do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Albanese began laying into the former government, before being cut off.<\/p>\n
The Veterans\u2019 Minister has been under pressure over the cap, which was not a recommendation of the Royal Commission.<\/p>\n
The government claims it will help cut down on unnecessary services, while advocates have blasted it as \u201ccruel\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tasmania Senator and veteran Jacqui Lambie says she is \u201cbegging\u201d the Prime Minister not to follow through 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