advocacy - Families of Veterans Guild

A cap on allied health is blunt and poor policy

Kelly Taylor — Thu, 21 May 2026 23:00:03 +0000

Allied health care is essential — and veterans, widows and families deserve certainty

On 12 May 2026, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) announced a $5,000 annual monetary limit on allied health services for Veteran Card holders as part of the Federal Budget.

The proposal

Taking effect on 1 July 2027, the cap on allied health services will cover services such as physiotherapy, psychology and occupational therapy. From the Government’s perspective, the policy is intended to reduce overservicing. At the same time, the Budget announced an increase in fees paid by DVA to allied health providers, described as “the largest investment in allied health fees for veterans in over 20 years.”

This proposal has drawn significant criticism and concern within the veteran community, including from war widows who hold DVA treatment cards.

To date, DVA has confirmed that card holders requiring care beyond the $5,000 limit will not be cut off. Funding may be extended above the cap where there is a valid, ongoing clinical need. However, what this means in practice remains unclear. It also appears that approval for funding beyond the cap may need to be renewed annually through a GP.

While the cap has been announced alongside a long-awaited increase in allied health provider fees—bringing DVA fees in line with the NDIS—there is a significant tension between these two policy settings. That tension has the potential to leave veterans, their families and widows worse off.

Allied health services are essential

Allied health services provided to veterans and widowed partners—such as physiotherapy, psychology and occupational therapy—are not discretionary supports; they are essential to maintaining independence, managing chronic conditions, and supporting quality of life.

While we acknowledge the Government’s investment in increasing allied health provider fees, the introduction of a $5,000 cap on services raises significant concerns.

Based on the announcement, the annual cap appears to apply not only to veterans, but to anyone with a DVA health care card, including widowed partners. Many of these widows are older, managing multiple chronic conditions, and increasingly reliant on allied health care to remain independent. For this cohort, allied health care is often preventative and maintenance-based—reducing hospitalisation, preserving mobility, and helping people remain out of aged care. Data from our recent Veteran Families Survey indicates that 51% of war widows already experience difficulty accessing health care services, 27% have experienced mental health challenges in the last 12 months, and 40% have experienced difficulty accessing mental health care. The proposed cap on allied health services is likely to further exacerbate these challenges for the widows of our veterans.

Census data indicates that veterans are four times more likely than the general population to have a long-term health condition, including arthritis and mental illness. Placing limits on allied health services that help veterans live with these long-term conditions as a result of their service is a poor way to express our nation’s gratitude. When long-term conditions are not well managed or supported, stress and pressure on veteran families also increase—particularly given that veteran families are already twice as likely as the general population to experience mental health challenges.

While we accept that there may be some overservicing occurring in the sector, a blanket cap on services is not the right way to address it when the evidence shows that need remains high. Although there appears to be a mechanism for DVA to approve service levels above the financial cap, we are highly concerned that this requirement will introduce additional administrative burden, often falling to the unwell individual or their family at a time when their capacity to navigate complex systems may already be limited.

The lack of clarity around how “clinical need” will be defined and approved may lead to delays, disrupted treatment pathways, and increased anxiety for widows and families seeking to maintain continuity of care. For those in regional and rural areas, where access to providers is already constrained, these challenges are further amplified.

We are also concerned that the policy may inadvertently increase the burden on families and informal carers. Where care is delayed, reduced or uncertain, families are often required to fill the gap—impacting their own wellbeing, financial security and ability to continue providing support.

Finally, this is a confusing policy that sends mixed signals to the community. On one hand, it says fees paid to allied health providers are being increased to improve access to services; on the other, it places an annual cap on the value of services a person can access. These two elements work against each other and may have the net effect of reducing the number of sessions a veteran or widowed partner can access from 1 July 2027.

Reforms to accessing allied health care for veterans and widowed partners must be designed in a way that reflects the lived experience of veterans, widows and their families, and does not compromise the stability of the care they rely on to live well and remain connected in their communities.

What we want to see

First, we want to see the annual monetary limit removed from the policy altogether. If that does not occur, the annual monetary limit should, at a minimum, be removed for Gold Card holders. If the Government proceeds with the policy, we must see the following safeguards:

Continuity of care safeguarded – ensuring there is no interruption to clinically endorsed treatment once it has been established.
Streamlined approval pathways – multi-year or standing approval pathways for veterans and widowed partners with chronic health conditions or high support needs, particularly for ageing veterans and widows and for veterans who meet the threshold for a Gold Card.
Minimise administrative burden – ensuring DVA designs and delivers a process that does not rely on family or carer intervention and is simple, timely and transparent.
Clear operational guidance – publishing clear criteria on what constitutes a “valid clinical need”, who determines it, and the relevant approval timeframes and review processes.
Ongoing monitoring and transparent reporting – regular reporting from DVA on implementation of the policy, including key metrics such as whether it is reducing overservicing, approval rates, access issues, and the impact on older veterans, regional veterans, and widowed partners.

We encourage all in our community to write to the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs to request the removal of the annual monetary limit.

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Building capability on broken foundations: where are veteran families in this budget?

Caroline Kirche — Wed, 13 May 2026 05:09:03 +0000

This week’s Federal Budget once again failed to commit any funding to supporting Australian veteran families, a community that hasn’t seen a substantive policy update since 1986.

While the Government touts a record $53 billion Defence package, the limited funding flowing into the veteran portfolio is being funnelled into the most inefficient part of the ecosystem: government bureaucracy. The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide identified that it is this part of the sector that veteran suicide, yet this budget doubles down on it instead of allocating any funding to the community organisations proven to actually make a tangible difference. While funding is needed to build the future state – funding is needed now in the community.

With the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs also being notably absent from the Cabinet table, this Budget – where veterans and their families are barely mentioned – reflects how low down the priority list we are. The Royal Commission acknowledged that supporting families is a direct investment in Defence capability. A high-tech force cannot be built on the backs of families who are quietly breaking.

The Government may point to the establishment of the new Veteran Wellbeing Agency as a solution, but this group likely won’t be ready to start allocating funding for at least another 12-18 months. And with conflict continuing to brew in the Middle East, we cannot afford to wait. Our modest $5.17 million we requested for trauma-informed crisis support, career development for partners, and our vital War Widows Program was ignored.

While we’re devastated by this result, the Families of Veterans Guild will be working even harder to advocate for our communities’ wellbeing. Because without our support, we will see:

Increased isolation: Vulnerable war widows nationwide will face loneliness without expanded peer-support.
Economic Strain: Veteran partners will remain three times more likely to be under- and unemployed, with less support to reclaim their careers.
Ongoing and widening Mental Health Gaps: Families will continue to struggle through trauma and grief without specialist intervention.

You cannot ask families to sacrifice their stability for national security and then offer nothing in return. We will not stop advocating until every veteran family member is thriving.

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No deterrence without retention: National Defence Strategy

Kelly Taylor — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 03:46:59 +0000

By Renee Wilson, CEO, Families of Veterans Guild

Yesterday the Australian Government announced the biggest peacetime defence spend in our nation’s history. Nuclear submarines. Ghost Shark drones. Hypersonic missiles. A strategy built for what is looking to be the most challenging era since World War II for our nation.

Buried deep in the document, there is a short section about people — our “most important capability” — with a thank you to ADF members and their families for their “continued commitment and service.” A thank you. After everything they give and will be expected to give. I am sure it is appreciated, but where is the firm commitment of an investment in people and their families in the $53bn boost to defence?

The 2026 National Defence Strategy set out yesterday should be a wake-up call for Australia. We are living in dangerous times and need people willing to stand in the path of that danger. Their families will also need to make extraordinary sacrifices so Australia can remain strong, peaceful, and secure — these families will carry the long-term consequences of their loved ones’ service. In the 98-page document families are only mentioned four times.

Meaningful action for families is a national imperative

Like in the Strategy, people are repeatedly described as Defence’s most important capability, yet they remain chronically underinvested in. While the rhetoric around people and defence and veteran families is shifting — with families finally starting to receive more airtime in Defence and veteran circles — it is time to move beyond words and turn that recognition into meaningful action and investment.

Meaningful action has been lacking for defence and veteran families for some time because the system of care and its key players assume:

Family support must be conditional on what has happened to a veteran.
Families are supported when the veteran is supported.
Families do not need support because they did not serve.

Our 2025 Veteran Families Survey conducted by YouGov, which spoke with nearly 600 family members of current and former ADF personnel, tells a different story. More than half (52%) of Australian defence and veteran families experienced mental health challenges. Anxiety. Depression. PTSD. They are twice as likely to face these challenges as the average Australian. Yet only 36% believe Australia’s mental health services service their unique needs.

Almost half also reported difficulties accessing basic healthcare. GPs. Specialists. Hospitals. Not specialist trauma care — basic healthcare. Furthermore, a third of those with a person with disability in their household couldn’t access the services they needed.

And Veteran families aren’t just sacrificing their health; they’re sacrificing their livelihood as well. Our survey showed they experience unemployment at more than three times the rate of the general population. Three times. Unsurprisingly, more than half are worried about their finances, which no doubt is being exacerbated by the current impact of the fuel crisis on our economy.

These are not edge cases. These are the families of the people we are now asking to crew our submarines, operate our drones, and staff the force that will supposedly deter conflict across the Indo-Pacific.

A self-reliant Australia must support defence and veteran families

The 2026 National Defence Strategy speaks of self-reliance. Of denial. Of deterrence. But there is nothing self-reliant about a force whose families are quietly breaking under the weight of service. There is no deterrence without retention. And there is no retention without genuinely supporting the people who sit at home through deployments, pack up their lives for the fourth posting in six years, and watch their own careers slowly disappear.

The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide was explicit: families are central to the veteran system and are under-supported. That was not a suggestion. It was a finding.

We have the evidence. We have the data. We have the voices telling the government exactly what they need. What we do not yet have is veteran and defence families being recognised as the defence capability priority that they should be — not a welfare afterthought, but a core pillar of current and future capability.

The Families of Veterans Guild is calling, again, for a Ministerial Advisory Body dedicated to the needs of veteran and defence families. We are calling for the Veteran White Card for mental health to be extended to immediate family members. We are calling for family support to be named — explicitly, funded, and measured — in the next iteration of this strategy.

The Strategy and Integrated Investment Program contain a very serious $425 billion commitment to keeping Australia safe. We do not dispute the need. But you cannot build a force of that scale and ambition while continuing to treat its families as an afterthought or feel-good statement.

The families of our veterans and serving members enable defence. They champion it. They dedicate their lives to it. It is time the defence and its strategy said so — and tangibly proved its commitment.

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Why is veteran family policy stuck in the 1950s?

Kelly Taylor — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 01:51:11 +0000

By Renee Wilson, CEO, Families of Veterans Guild

This blog post first appeared in The Canberra Times’ opinion column on 2 March. Read it on the Canberra Times’ website.

Global tensions are escalating and Australia is ramping up its defence spending to record levels, the associated rhetoric from the Albanese Government is clear: people are our most important asset. And on paper, the commitment to the entire defence community appears to be there. Just last week, the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs announced a $739.2 million investment to improve veteran and veteran family wellbeing through proactive treatment and rehabilitation: “The Albanese Government is prioritising the health and wellbeing of our veteran community, with a commitment to providing more effective and efficient support to veterans and families of veterans.”

Rhetoric vs. reality

My initial thought when this news broke was, finally! Finally veteran families, whose support and engagement within the veteran system has been limited – and largely unchanged since the end of WWII – have some real support to look forward to.

I read on and the excitement disappeared. Despite the inclusive headline statement, there is no new wellbeing support, services or funding in this package for veteran families. The funding will provide, “…provision of the treatment and rehabilitation for veterans to reduce the impact of injury on them and improve their lifetime wellbeing…” and “…support for medical practitioners.”

This is great news for veterans, and after working on veteran policy for many years in the DVA, I am pleased to see new and emerging treatments being embraced. However, as the CEO of an organisation representing veteran families in Australia, and a veteran spouse myself, I’m devastated. Once again, veteran families are seen just as extensions of the veteran in policy, rather than real people whose health, wellbeing and livelihood is heavily impacted as they support their loved ones who serves. They are expected to absorb career setbacks, ill mental health, children heavily affected by the instability and trauma of military life, and costly access to treatment, all while being a lifeline for their veteran.

1950s policy for families in 2026

So, why are veteran families invisible to the system? Unfortunately, the reality is our veteran support system is an archaic framework built on traditional patriarchal style values, meaning it’s built and run largely by male veterans with limited diversity in its establishment or design, as a result it views the system through a narrow, veteran-first policy lens.

War widows were first enshrined in policy in the 1950s, but only as ‘dependent caregivers’. Benefits were strictly tied to a widow’s age or her status as a mother, cementing the idea that a partner’s only value was her service to the veteran and his children. When the Veterans’ Entitlements Act was passed in 1986, it was a golden opportunity for reform. Instead, it froze the family support model in time. While veterans’ clinical needs were updated, this legislation largely preserved the old repatriation mindset: families only exist in the eyes of the government if the veteran is either 100% incapacitated or deceased. Even the new Veterans’ Entitlements, Treatment and Support (VETS) Act, which comes into effect in 2026, fails to break this cycle. While it aims to simplify a complex system, it effectively perpetuates the status quo for families.

There has been no substantive policy update for veteran families since 1986. It’s 2026. For the 700,000+ veteran families living today, the system is operating on a seventy-year-old assumption that families benefit from veteran entitlements, a very passive approach to policy design and one that results in thousands being left behind and disadvantaged because their loved one serves Australia.

The system hasn’t kept pace with the changing impacts of war, military service and public policy changes. It hasn’t kept pace with changing needs, demographics and around four generations of families. The result? If you are the family member of a living veteran, your support pathways in the Australian system are limited, and your experiences largely unseen.

The unseen cost of service on families

Our 2025 Veteran Families Survey revealed that veteran families have significant, independent wellbeing needs that cannot be met simply by treating the veteran. Veteran family members are twice as likely as the general public to face mental health challenges, and three times more likely to experience under- and un-employment. Despite these findings, the government is yet to respond or offer a plan to support these needs and offset the costs, and sacrifices, of defending Australia borne by families.

The 2021 Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide was also explicit in its findings: families are central to the veteran system and are under supported. Lieutenant General Natasha Fox, Chief of Personnel, acknowledged that families enable military service, “…you recruit the soldier, but you retain the family”, yet it is not reflected in how we spend our money, or how we care for our veteran communities.

You can see why my hopes were high when I started to read that media release: maybe it was time, maybe after all these years families would finally be seen. They weren’t.

Talk to any veteran and they will tell you how much they rely on their family. They are acutely aware of the sacrifices their families have made for them. They want their families supported, not as a byproduct of their own treatment, but as a priority in their own right. That’s why we’ve been advocating for change and building services in response to these unmet needs for the last 5 years.

We want to take our support further; we want families to know they have a place, and a voice in the veteran system. We want them to know there is an organisation standing up for them. In this way we can help the Government put some meaning behind their headline, “…more effective and efficient support to veterans and families of veterans.” We can help Australia take care of families, and in doing so support the whole family unit, not just part of it.

It’s time to invest in veteran families

The Families of Veterans Guild has put forward a pre-Budget submission for $5.17 million over four years to support families. In the context of a $739 million announcement for medical practitioners, our ask is small. For $1.29 million a year, we can provide specialist social work, career upskilling, and crisis support for over 5,000 family members annually. That is just $223 per family member to keep the unit from reaching a breaking point. By empowering community-led organisations rather than expanding government bureaucracy, we can deliver impact at the speed families actually need.

It is time to put some meaning behind the headlines. It’s time we saw and supported the wellbeing needs of the families of veterans, not as a bi-product of improving support and treatment pathways to veterans, but open the pathways to them as well. Because defending Australia has real impacts, beyond the veteran.

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Positive progress but defence and veteran families need more than words

Caroline Kirche — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 05:55:26 +0000

Close but not quite

A message from our CEO, Renee Wilson.

On Thursday 04 September 2025 The Hon. Matt Keogh MP made this speech to the Parliament, addressing the progress made since the Royal Commission handed over its final report on 4 September 2024.

Minister Keogh used the opportunity to address the Senate Inquiry into the establishment of the Defence and Veteran Services Commission and noted that:

“I want to acknowledge the recent Senate inquiry report into the legislative basis for the commission and thank the senators, for their work, and those that gave evidence. It has always been the government’s view that the commission would be best provided for in its own standalone legislation, something that was not procedurally possible for us to do at the beginning of this year. We will do this. The commissioner will be appointed by the Governor-General, to provide greater independence, and we will ensure there is appropriate inclusion of defence and veteran families in its functions.”

Progress here is positive however when comparing Recommendation 2 from the Senate’s report to the response here we are not confident this will be implemented.

Recommendation 2 says:

“The Committee recommends that the Australian Government considers amending Schedule 9 of the Veterans’ Entitlements, Treatment and Support (Simplification and Harmonisation) Act 2025 to include a reference to veterans’ families for the purpose of the Defence and Veterans’ Services Commissioner’s functions.”

Ensuring there is appropriate inclusion within functions of the Commission doesn’t create the obligation to include them, to investigate matters that affect them nor recommend system changes to better support them.

For families, it means they can expect much of the same. Their needs remain unseen and under-supported. They will remain on the periphery of a support system that expects them to look after our veterans forsaking their own health and wellbeing in the process.

We want to see them included in legislation because this is what creates the duty to support them. Words and promises fall well short of what is required here to build trust within this fundamental element of the veteran community. They need to see real commitment, real progress and real action.

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Enhancing mental health for NSW veterans and their families

Kelly Taylor — Thu, 04 Sep 2025 04:05:04 +0000

Our submission to the Mental Health Commission dedicated to veterans and their families

In June 2025 the Mental Health Commission of NSW released a consultation paper to assist in the development of their new Strategy for mental health and wellbeing in NSW.

With 26% of Australian veterans calling NSW home and an estimated 246,000 families of veterans in NSW, and families of veterans more likely to experience ill mental health than the general population, it is important that the Mental Health Commission understands what we currently know about the impacts of Defence service on these groups.

Unique risk factors for veterans

Our submission to the Commission highlights the work of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide from 2021-2024 and points to the unique risk factors experienced by the veteran population including:

Disrupted healthcare journeys.
The presence and prevalence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) within military populations, and the close linkage between TBI/CTE and suicidal ideation and death by suicide.
The combination and accumulation of multiple stressors experienced within military communities; and
The injury burden experienced by our current and former serving Defence force members and their families.

The Submission also highlights what is currently known about the mental health and wellbeing of veteran families pointing to the findings of the 2019 Family Wellbeing Study, which show there are negative impacts of Defence service on the families of veterans. In particular, spouses, children and parents.

Calling for support in the improvement of veteran family wellbeing

Our submission makes the call for a stream of work dedicated to improving the mental health and wellbeing of veteran families in NSW within the new strategy and suggests options to the mental health commission to include – such as:

Including a role of the NSW Office for Veterans
Funding the delivery of programs and services through the National Centre for Veterans Health Care which mitigate the unique risk factors associated with poor outcomes for veterans and their families
Improving military cultural competence of mental health providers within the state
Screen for adverse childhood experiences and report the findings
Deliver SafeTALK training within community sector organisations working in NSW; and
Conduct research into the Defence family population in NSW.

We look forward to hearing what the Commission thinks and working with them to support the families of veterans in NSW.

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