Independent Member for Clark, Andrew Wilkie, says it’s way beyond time for the Federal Government to stop fiddling around the edges and commit to raising the rate of the TPI payment.
“For years I have been arguing the case for a fair deal for TPI veterans and all the while our most injured vets have been falling even further behind financially,” Mr Wilkie said. “What is it going to take for the Federal Government to act?
“In 2019 the Prime Minister explicitly stated the TPI Federation had a ‘compelling case’ to restore the eroded compensation of Australia’s 28,000 Totally and Permanently Incapacitated veterans. More recently a Senate inquiry into the matter recommended ‘that the Australian Government consider an increase in the TPI payment’ to arrest and remedy the seven-decade decline in the real value of compensation.
“All Scott Morrison could offer today in response to my question to him in the Parliament about when the delays, rhetoric and obfuscation on this issue will end was a limp line about the Government ‘considering future policy options’. These options apparently include changing the rules around rental assistance. That’s not good enough.
“It’s way beyond time the Government really listened to the concerns of the TPI Federation, and indeed the wider community, and adjusted the TPI rate to recognise the terrible cost of their service and to allow them to live with dignity.”