The backflip was a win – repatriation reform is the bigger job

Dear Editor,

The government’s decision not to proceed with the proposed $5000 veterans’ allied-health threshold was a win.

But one backflip did not fix the machinery that produced it.

Modern repatriation is spread across DVA, the Repatriation Commission, hospitals, contracts and private providers. A veteran can receive several official yeses and still end up with a practical no.

Reform is not about rebuilding the old repatriation hospitals. It is about making every part of the system answer to one principle:

If you send them and you bend them, you mend them.

Veterans should not need another national campaign every time that promise breaks.

Read or listen to my full argument at markcroxford.net/read

Mark Croxford
Founder, Veterans Count
20-year Navy veteran, and
former media and political adviser to a Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Minister for Defence Personnel

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