Jacqui Lambie has slammed Labor over its controversial $5,000 cap for allied health services for veterans, and accused it of a “callous disregard for veterans’ health and wellbeing”.
The independent Tasmanian senator told the Senate in a fiery speech on Wednesday of her own medical battles, and said the department of veterans affairs had shown “no duty of care”.
Labor announced the cap earlier this year, which would take effect from 1 July 2027, but veterans will be able to apply for more funding. The changes also include an increase in fees for allied health providers supporting veterans.
Lambie said the cap was unfair, and urged the prime minister to scrap it.
“I’m begging you, prime minister. We are already suffering enough. Drop the bloody cap. Drop it, mate,” Lambie told the Senate.
“It is so unfair. It is what we do not need. It is enough. Veterans have had enough. Leave us alone.”
Lambie said six months ago her vagina started to prolapse, and three months later it took her “bladder with it”. She said it was directly connected to her back injuries sustained during her time in the army.
“If I was like the majority of female veterans, I would have had to wait for DVA [the department of veterans’ affairs] to approve my claim and then I would have had to search and hope – hope like hell – that there would be a gynaecologist who would accept the low rate that was paid by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs,” she said.
“That’s how much they care about our vaginas.”
On Tuesday night, Lambie told the story of another veteran, Kate, who had also suffered a vaginal prolapse and had to wait three years because “she couldn’t find a gynaecologist who was happy with the low prices DVA pay”.
“If I didn’t have a good job, that could have been me … I put my claim into DVA over a month ago – crickets. There was no duty of care from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, absolute zero. So I came to Canberra to get the operation. I paid $7,000, so I wouldn’t end up like Kate.”
Lambie said there is limited accurate data of how many Australian women suffer from prolapse. According to the Continence Foundation of Australia, one in two women who have had a baby experience some level of prolapse. Prolapse can occur during childbirth and menopause but other common causes are from excessive weight lifting.
Lambie told the Senate she had asked the then chief of the defence force, Angus Campbell, whether there was scientific evidence that women could carry the amount of weight they were required to in the defence force. She said, “he admitted they hadn’t even bothered to look into it, and they still have not.”
“I would like to ask the prime minister, minister [Richard] Marles and minister [Matt] Keogh what they would do if their penises were hanging by a thread, and what would they do if treatment for that injury directly connected to their military service was denied by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs,” she said.
“Would they say, ‘OK, no worries. I don’t really need my penis’? I don’t think so.”
The government has been under increasing scrutiny over the $5,000 cap, with the Coalition on Wednesday calling for the veterans affairs minister, Matt Keogh, to be sacked.
Keogh had initially refused a meeting with veterans in Canberra earlier this week advocating against the cap, but folded after political pressure. Veterans at the meeting accused him of rolling his eyes at them and refusing to shake their hand.
The veterans affairs minister told question time on Tuesday he would not have characterised the meeting in that way. He conceded he had made the wrong call, but the government has made no indication yet it will reconsider the cap.
“I acknowledge that I got it wrong in not agreeing to meet with them last week when that initial request came in. I own that.”
