"To the Honourable President and members of the Senate in Parliament assembled:

The petition of the undersigned shows:

That Schedule 1 of the Veterans’ Affairs Legislation Amendment (Omnibus) Bill 2017 [Provisions] would erode veterans’ rights by amending the Veterans’ Entitlement Act 1986, creating a new section 155(8A), which will permit a single member of the Veterans’ Review Board (VRB), that being the Principal Member, to summarily dismiss a veteran’s application prior to a hearing by three member of the VRB Board.  This is inconsistent with why the VRB was first created in 1986 and will likely cause unintended consequences to vulnerable veterans who lodged applications with the VRB.

That the Senate omit Schedule 1 of the Veterans’ Affairs Legislation Amendment (Omnibus) Bill 2017 [Provisions] in order to protect vulnerable veterans’ access to the VRB.”

There is wide support for this cause  as indicated below: 

Senator Jacqui Lambie of Tasmania has opposed this and wrote a dissent in the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee report which is available at: http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Foreign_Affairs_Defence_and_Trade/VeteransOmnibusBill/Report

The RSL has opposed the newly proposed section.  The RSL’s submission to the Senate FADT Committee is available at: http://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=0708e697-92d1-4cb8-93b7-3698e022e4d6&subId=511237

 Military compensation law expert Brian Briggs has opposed the newly proposed section.  Mr Briggs’ submission to the Senate FADT Committee is available at: http://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=89be49ee-2c77-424b-a7b8-89568cf7b0c0&subId=511117