The Families of Veterans Guild says today’s backdown on the proposed $5,000 veteran allied health threshold is a direct result of sustained community pressure, but the fight to protect veteran health care is not over.
Sydney, 17 September 2026 – The Federal Government has today abandoned its proposed $5,000 annual threshold on allied health services for Veteran Card holders, confirming the associated increase to allied health provider fees announced in the 2026–27 Budget will proceed without the threshold attached. The Minister for Veterans’ Affairs said the Government had been listening to concerns raised through consultation and was, “taking the proposed $5,000 threshold off the table.”
Alongside many other people and organisations in the veteran community, the Families of Veterans Guild (the Guild) has campaigned against the cap since it was first announced on 12 May 2026, warning it would leave the community’s most vulnerable people, including ageing war widows managing chronic conditions and families of veterans with complex health needs like children of deceased service members, worse off. Since then, the Guild has briefed and met with parliamentarians across the political divide, engaged directly with Senators Jacqui Lambie, David Pocock and David Shoebridge, stood alongside advocates including Phillip Thompson OAM MP, taken the issue to national media including Sky News and ABC Radio Sydney, and written to every member of the House of Representatives and the Senate calling for the cap to be scrapped.
“This is what happens when a community refuses to quietly accept bad policy,” said Renee Wilson, CEO of the Families of Veterans Guild. “Veterans, war widows and families told the Government very clearly that a spreadsheet limit on healthcare was no way to decide whether someone could keep seeing their physiotherapist or psychologist, and today the Government has listened. That is a win for every person who wrote a letter, made a call, or shared their story over the past four months.”
The Guild recognises that this outcome reflects the effort of the whole veteran community, including the Coalition of Veterans’ Voices, Senator Lambie’s cross-bench bill, and the many veterans, widows and families who added their voices to the campaign.
Today’s statement leaves open how the Government intends to protect system integrity and manage over-servicing without a numerical cap, and how the removal of the 12-session treatment cycle, which is still proceeding, will work in practice. The Guild will continue to engage with the DVA through the current consultation, closing 30 October 2026, to ensure whatever replaces the cap is simple, transparent, and does not shift new administrative burden onto unwell veterans, widows and families. Furthermore, war widows and the children of deceased veterans must not be overlooked in any future design.
“Scrapping the cap is the right call, and the Government deserves credit for listening,” Ms Wilson said. “But our community will keep watching closely as this policy is redesigned, because the same principle applies: veterans, war widows and veteran families should never have to fight this hard for care they have already earned.”
