__________________________________________________________
PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION
COMPENSATION AND REHABILITATION FOR VETERANS
MR R FITZGERALD Commissioner
MR R SPENCER, Commissioner
TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS
AT MERCURE BRISBANE, 85-87 NORTH QUAY, BRISBANE
ON THURSDAY 28 FEBRUARY 2019 AT 9 AM
Compensation and Rehabilitation for Veterans
28/02/19 Brisbane
© C'wlth of Australia
, INDEX
Pages
MAURICE BLACKBURN LAWYERS 1210 - 1221
ANGELA RAINBOW AND LISA SMITH 1222 - 1232
DEBORAH MORRIS 1232 - 1245
4 AUSSIE HEROES FOUNDATION 1246 - 1255
LIBERAL NATIONAL PARTY OF (QLD) 1255 - 1269
NAVAL ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA (QLD) 1269 - 1280
DAVID PETERSEN 1281 - 1291
JOHN HENEY 1291 - 1298
AUSTRALIAN REHABILITATION PROVIDERS 1298 - 1318
ASSOCIATION (WORK REHAB & EASEC)
ROSEMARY MOUNTFORD 1319 - 1322
Compensation and Rehabilitation for Veterans
28/02/19 Brisbane
© C'wlth of Australia
, COMMISSIONER FITZGERALD: Good morning, everybody. We
might start. Our first participant is here, I think. I'll just read a formal
statement, because many people in the audience are new today. So
welcome to the second day of public hearings in Brisbane in relation to
5 the Productivity Commission's inquiry into veterans' compensation and
rehabilitation. And obviously, this follows the release of our report in
December. I'm Robert Fitzgerald, I'm the presiding Commissioner, and
my colleague is Commissioner Richard Spencer.
10 So the purpose of these public hearings is to facilitate public scrutiny of
the Commission's work, and obviously to get comment and feedback on
our draft report. We're immensely grateful to all of those that have
participated in these hearings and provided submissions. We know it's an
exceptionally large and complex report, and you had very limited time to
15 respond to it, and so we're especially grateful that so many have
contributed.
Following these hearings in Brisbane, we'll be in Townsville tomorrow,
and potentially Rockhampton later in the month. So far, we've held
20 hearings in Sydney, Melbourne, Wagga Wagga, Hobart, Adelaide, Perth,
Darwin, and they've been very well attended in all of those particular
venues.
We will be working towards completing the final report, which will go to
25 Government in the last week of June of this year, and that will consider
the evidence presented at these hearings and in submissions, as well as
other informal discussions that we will be holding. Participants and those
who have registered their interest in the inquiry will automatically be
advised of the final report's release by Government, and the governments
30 are required to release our report in full within 25 parliamentary sitting
days after the completion of our report.
We would like to conduct these hearings in a reasonably informal manner,
but I remind participants that a full transcript is being taken. For this
35 reason, comments from the floor can't be taken, but at the end of today's
proceedings, I'll provide an opportunity for any person who would like to
make a brief statement or a brief presentation. And if you would like to
do so, please see either Jared or Aaron, our staff, sometime during the
morning.
40
Participants are not required to take an oath, but the Productivity
Commission Act does require that participants must be truthful in their
remarks. Participants are welcome to comment on issues raised in other
people's submissions. The transcript will be made available to all
45 participants, and will be available from the Commission's website
1209
Compensation and Rehabilitation for Veterans
28/02/19 Brisbane
© C'wlth of Australia
, following the hearings. Submissions which are currently being sought are
also available on the website, and if you haven't yet put in a written
submission and you would like to do so, I would encourage you to do so
within the next couple of weeks. The deadline officially is today, but we
5 are aware that some people will just need a couple more weeks to do that.
I would also like to note that a counsellor for Open Arms is in attendance,
and if you require their services, please see our staff, and they'll refer you
to that individual. Just in relation to workplace health and safety, the exit
10 is in the door that you came through in the front of the room, and you'll
need to follow the instructions of the hotel staff should you be required to
evacuate.
The way the hearings are conducted is we'll ask each of the participants to
15 make a brief opening presentation, around ten minutes or so, and then
Richard and I will have a bit of a chat, questions and answers, and that's
the format we'll hold for all the participants going through the day. And
we'll finish sometime early to mid-afternoon, so it will go for most of the
day, but we'll conclude around 2.30. So I would just like to call our first
20 participant, Georgia Plunkett-Scott, please. Good. So, Georgia, if you
could give your full name and the organisation that you represent.
MS PLUNKETT-SCOTT: Georgia Plunkett-Scott, representing
Maurice Blackburn Lawyers.
25
COMMISSIONER FITZGERALD: Good, thank you very much. And
if you could just give us the key points in about ten minutes or so, that
would be terrific.
30 MS PLUNKETT-SCOTT: Certainly. So Maurice Blackburn represents,
and have in the past represented veterans to access benefits under the
Military Compensation Scheme, and my perspective will be from that of a
veteran advocate.
35 The veteran community is unlike any other group that Maurice Blackburn
works for. They are men and women who have chosen a vocation which
is typified by high-risk activity, subject to frequent locations, and requires
a level of mental and physical fitness far above that of the average
Australian worker. We ask veterans to risk their lives and put themselves
40 in significantly greater risk of injury and illness to serve for our country.
Today, we will highlight why that risk is just not worth it for veterans, due
to the existing compensation scheme, despite many, or some of the
recommendations put forward by the Productivity Commission. The
45 unique nature of the work requires a unique compensation and
1210
Compensation and Rehabilitation for Veterans
28/02/19 Brisbane
© C'wlth of Australia
PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION
COMPENSATION AND REHABILITATION FOR VETERANS
MR R FITZGERALD Commissioner
MR R SPENCER, Commissioner
TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS
AT MERCURE BRISBANE, 85-87 NORTH QUAY, BRISBANE
ON THURSDAY 28 FEBRUARY 2019 AT 9 AM
Compensation and Rehabilitation for Veterans
28/02/19 Brisbane
© C'wlth of Australia
, INDEX
Pages
MAURICE BLACKBURN LAWYERS 1210 - 1221
ANGELA RAINBOW AND LISA SMITH 1222 - 1232
DEBORAH MORRIS 1232 - 1245
4 AUSSIE HEROES FOUNDATION 1246 - 1255
LIBERAL NATIONAL PARTY OF (QLD) 1255 - 1269
NAVAL ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA (QLD) 1269 - 1280
DAVID PETERSEN 1281 - 1291
JOHN HENEY 1291 - 1298
AUSTRALIAN REHABILITATION PROVIDERS 1298 - 1318
ASSOCIATION (WORK REHAB & EASEC)
ROSEMARY MOUNTFORD 1319 - 1322
Compensation and Rehabilitation for Veterans
28/02/19 Brisbane
© C'wlth of Australia
, COMMISSIONER FITZGERALD: Good morning, everybody. We
might start. Our first participant is here, I think. I'll just read a formal
statement, because many people in the audience are new today. So
welcome to the second day of public hearings in Brisbane in relation to
5 the Productivity Commission's inquiry into veterans' compensation and
rehabilitation. And obviously, this follows the release of our report in
December. I'm Robert Fitzgerald, I'm the presiding Commissioner, and
my colleague is Commissioner Richard Spencer.
10 So the purpose of these public hearings is to facilitate public scrutiny of
the Commission's work, and obviously to get comment and feedback on
our draft report. We're immensely grateful to all of those that have
participated in these hearings and provided submissions. We know it's an
exceptionally large and complex report, and you had very limited time to
15 respond to it, and so we're especially grateful that so many have
contributed.
Following these hearings in Brisbane, we'll be in Townsville tomorrow,
and potentially Rockhampton later in the month. So far, we've held
20 hearings in Sydney, Melbourne, Wagga Wagga, Hobart, Adelaide, Perth,
Darwin, and they've been very well attended in all of those particular
venues.
We will be working towards completing the final report, which will go to
25 Government in the last week of June of this year, and that will consider
the evidence presented at these hearings and in submissions, as well as
other informal discussions that we will be holding. Participants and those
who have registered their interest in the inquiry will automatically be
advised of the final report's release by Government, and the governments
30 are required to release our report in full within 25 parliamentary sitting
days after the completion of our report.
We would like to conduct these hearings in a reasonably informal manner,
but I remind participants that a full transcript is being taken. For this
35 reason, comments from the floor can't be taken, but at the end of today's
proceedings, I'll provide an opportunity for any person who would like to
make a brief statement or a brief presentation. And if you would like to
do so, please see either Jared or Aaron, our staff, sometime during the
morning.
40
Participants are not required to take an oath, but the Productivity
Commission Act does require that participants must be truthful in their
remarks. Participants are welcome to comment on issues raised in other
people's submissions. The transcript will be made available to all
45 participants, and will be available from the Commission's website
1209
Compensation and Rehabilitation for Veterans
28/02/19 Brisbane
© C'wlth of Australia
, following the hearings. Submissions which are currently being sought are
also available on the website, and if you haven't yet put in a written
submission and you would like to do so, I would encourage you to do so
within the next couple of weeks. The deadline officially is today, but we
5 are aware that some people will just need a couple more weeks to do that.
I would also like to note that a counsellor for Open Arms is in attendance,
and if you require their services, please see our staff, and they'll refer you
to that individual. Just in relation to workplace health and safety, the exit
10 is in the door that you came through in the front of the room, and you'll
need to follow the instructions of the hotel staff should you be required to
evacuate.
The way the hearings are conducted is we'll ask each of the participants to
15 make a brief opening presentation, around ten minutes or so, and then
Richard and I will have a bit of a chat, questions and answers, and that's
the format we'll hold for all the participants going through the day. And
we'll finish sometime early to mid-afternoon, so it will go for most of the
day, but we'll conclude around 2.30. So I would just like to call our first
20 participant, Georgia Plunkett-Scott, please. Good. So, Georgia, if you
could give your full name and the organisation that you represent.
MS PLUNKETT-SCOTT: Georgia Plunkett-Scott, representing
Maurice Blackburn Lawyers.
25
COMMISSIONER FITZGERALD: Good, thank you very much. And
if you could just give us the key points in about ten minutes or so, that
would be terrific.
30 MS PLUNKETT-SCOTT: Certainly. So Maurice Blackburn represents,
and have in the past represented veterans to access benefits under the
Military Compensation Scheme, and my perspective will be from that of a
veteran advocate.
35 The veteran community is unlike any other group that Maurice Blackburn
works for. They are men and women who have chosen a vocation which
is typified by high-risk activity, subject to frequent locations, and requires
a level of mental and physical fitness far above that of the average
Australian worker. We ask veterans to risk their lives and put themselves
40 in significantly greater risk of injury and illness to serve for our country.
Today, we will highlight why that risk is just not worth it for veterans, due
to the existing compensation scheme, despite many, or some of the
recommendations put forward by the Productivity Commission. The
45 unique nature of the work requires a unique compensation and
1210
Compensation and Rehabilitation for Veterans
28/02/19 Brisbane
© C'wlth of Australia
