A Lot Landing at Once

National President Peter Tinley speaking with members.

There is a lot to cover this issue, so stay with me.

I'll start where most of us started two weeks ago. At the kitchen table, reading about the Budget.

The Government tabled the largest single uplift to veteran allied health fees in over twenty years. $169.7 million. Welcome. Long overdue. We took the moment for what it was on the night. We will take it again here.

But the next morning, a number caught my eye further down the page. Nearly $780 million in offsetting savings sitting inside the same package.

And another date. 1 July 2027. Fourteen months before the allied health uplift actually starts, and when the proposed $5,000 annual cap on allied health services for Veteran Card holders comes into effect.

That is the difference between a Budget headline and a Budget reality.

We are now in the business of asking, plainly, where the savings come from, whether 2027 is the right starting line for fees that should have moved years ago, and the details around the cap.

Thirty-seven days from this newsletter, the way Australia compensates and supports veterans changes more than at any point in my service career. One Act replaces three. The new Veteran Wellbeing Agency opens its doors. It is the most significant reform to the veteran support architecture in a generation, and it lands on the same day the new claims framework starts.

I welcome it. The RSL has spent twenty years arguing for it in one form or another. But relief is not victory.

There are three things I am watching. Whether DVA has the staff on the front desk to absorb a transition while 96,966 claims still sit on hand. Whether the new Wellbeing Agency has an operating budget that matches its ambition. And whether the Inquiry into Military Sexual Violence, which the Government has confirmed will commence in the second half of this year, lands on a survivor-centred footing. You will hear from me on each.

This issue is the explainer I think you deserve. Story by story. What changes. What does not. Where to go if 1 July lands badly on a particular veteran.

A few other things worthy of noting:

RSL Australia is in Perth for the Indian Ocean Defence and Security (IODS) conference from 26-28 May. We have a panel session, “The Human Dividend: Australia’s 580,000 Veterans as Sovereign Capability for the AUKUS Workforce”, making the case for veterans as sovereign capability. This is the first time the RSL has commanded a stage at these Defence and Industry conferences. If you are in WA, come along. You’ll also find us on the floor with Legacy Australia. I will report back on how it went in the next newsletter, with some pictures.

The National Board of the RSL will also be meeting in Perth.

There are two new appointments worth knowing about:

Penny McKay has been confirmed as the inaugural Commissioner of the Defence and Veterans’ Service Commission, on a five-year term starting 1 June. The DVSC oversees suicide and suicide-risk matters across the ADF and the veteran community, and is where the Inquiry into Military Sexual Violence will sit.
Nick Booth MVO is leading the design of the new peak body for veteran service organisations in response to Recommendation 89, with his options paper due to Government in mid-August. Our position will be on the record before it lands.

If you have a a story we should be telling, a sub-branch volunteer worth knowing about, or something on your mind, let me know. I’m always on the lookout to talk about and share what’s important to you.

We are moving fast this year. Stay with me.

Cheers,

Pete.

Know someone who'd value this newsletter?

Forward it to them!

THEY CAN SUBSCRIBE HERE

Thirty-Seven Days

If you are a veteran considering a claim, or your family is, the next thirty-seven days matter.

On 1 July, three pieces of legislation collapse into one. The Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986, the DRCA and the MRCA are replaced by a single ongoing Act, an improved version of the MRCA. Every new claim lodged from 1 July onwards will be assessed under that one Act.

A few things worth noting.

If your claim is lodged before 1 July, nothing changes. You stay under the current arrangements. If you receive income support, the service pension, the income support supplement, or the Veteran Payment, that does not change either. DRCA incapacity recipients move across to MRCA automatically and no one lodges again.

DVA estimates around 10,000 veterans and their dependants will be directly affected in the first year.

The practical advice. If you are thinking about a claim, and you think the current system suits your circumstances better than the new one, talk to a free advocate or your sub-branch before 30 June. DVA's BEST Grants program, which funds free advocates, was substantially expanded in this Budget round. It’s there to be used.

Also on 1 July, the new Veteran Wellbeing Agency opens its doors with $78 million in establishment funding. Its job is to coordinate the front door for veterans and families in distress, and to co-design programs with the sector rather than impose them from above.

Funeral benefits have also lifted. $3,000 is now automatic. Up to $14,062 is available for service-related deaths.

DVA will run explainer material across June. I will keep you updated in this newsletter as detail lands.

The Half-Loaf Budget

A quick read on what the 2026-27 Budget actually delivered, and what it did not.

The big number was $770 million in additional Royal Commission funding. Within that, $169.7 million for allied health provider fees over five years. The largest investment in those fees in over twenty years. An extension of the Provisional Access to Medical Treatment program to the end of 2027. Funding for the new National Veterans' Data Asset. Funding for the Inquiry into Military Sexual Violence. And the $78 million we already knew about for the new Wellbeing Agency.

That is the half we welcome. The fine print is where members deserve to know what we are asking.

The allied health uplift starts on 1 July 2027 - 14 months after the claims system harmonises. A veteran waiting on a specialist appointment today is not helped by a fee schedule that lifts in fourteen months.
On the same date, the new $5,000 annual cap for allied health services comes into play. More detail about this is in the section below.
Almost $780 million in offsetting savings sit inside the same package. We have asked the Government, in writing and in public, where those savings come from and whether they touch frontline services.
The specialist medical fee uplift we asked for, the one that would have aligned DVA rates with the NDIS framework, was not delivered in identifiable form. Specialist wait times of nine months persist.
And a clear staffing line for DVA to land the 1 July transition was not separately identified. 96,966 claims on hand at the end of March will not absorb themselves.

We have three asks on the record:

Ring-fenced operational staffing for the 1 July stand-up.
An early-2027 review of the specialist fee schedule against the NDIS benchmark.
Operating-budget transparency for the new Wellbeing Agency before it opens.

We will keep this in market until it is answered.

The Allied Health Cap

People with their backs towards the camera, shoulder to shoulder

The Budget announcement included a $5,000 annual cap on allied health services for Veteran Card holders, covering physiotherapy, psychology, occupational therapy, podiatry and exercise physiology, starting 1 July 2027.

The Government’s reason is because of overservicing by some providers. That may be real in parts of the system, but many veterans live with complex, chronic conditions where this care is not discretionary. It is what keeps them functional.

The Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) will fund services above the cap where there is a valid clinical need, but the exemption process is not yet designed or public. We have written to the Minister about this, and we are working across Parliament so non-Government parties understand the real impact.

There is a Senate Estimates hearing on 2 June that will give Senators the chance to question DVA directly. We will be listening carefully and will report back.

Legislation is still required to implement this, and we are pushing for a targeted approach that deals with overservicing without punishing veterans who depend on these services.

Read about what we’re doing and have your say. Your story is what moves decision-makers.

MORE INFORMATION

Update: Defence Estate Divestment

A selection of photos from the 2026 Japan-Australia Grassroots Exchange Program

The battlegrounds are shaping up as the Government prepares to divest 67 Defence properties around Australia. I recently gave evidence to the Senate Committee Inquiry into the management of the divestments, where I reinforced there had been no consultation with the veteran community prior to the decisions.

I made the point that, without open and transparent decisions, properties of historic and strategic value will be lost forever and there will be long term consequences for recruitment, with so many local Reserve and Cadet training grounds included in the divestment list.

The Government has made it clear that community consultations now underway will not change decisions already made. That has been backed up with the announcement of the transfer of ownership of the Derwent Barracks to the Tasmanian Government and release of housing plans for that estate.

In response, RSL Australia and State Branches are supporting communities that are organising around important sites, including in Tasmania, Victoria Barracks in Sydney and others around the country.

I encourage you to consider the sites that are important to you, your family and your community and to get involved in actions to save those sites from divestment..

I want to start this one with a name. Tony Stevenson OAM from the Salisbury RSL Sub-Branch, Queensland. Tony is approaching 90. Single-handedly, year in and year out, he runs his sub-branch's Anzac Day and Remembrance Day services.

He is also a 2026 Anzac of the Year recipient.

There is nothing unusual about Tony, and that is the point. In more than 1,100 sub-branches across Australia, members like Tony are why the doors are still open.

Last week was National Volunteer Week, and 2026 is the United Nations International Year of Volunteers. Veterans volunteer at 19% against 14% in the general population. 40% of veterans are active in clubs and associations against 29% in the general population.

These are not footnotes. This is what sovereign capability looks like when the uniform comes off. But Tony is not alone, there are six other outstanding RSL volunteers worthy of a mention.

The Anzac of the Year Awards are presented ‘to recognise the efforts and achievements of Australians who have given service to their fellow Australians and to the community in a positive, selfless and compassionate manner.’

Together with Tony, the 2026 Anzac of Year recipients are:

Angela McCann OAM of New South Wales
Patsy Edwards OAM of New South Wales
Douglas Henderson OAM of Queensland
Michael Sherlock BM of South Australia
Betty Crittenden of Victoria
Paul Prickett CSM of Western Australia

I will be sharing their profiles and stories in coming issues.

In the meantime, if you know someone like Tony, your sub-branch president, a member who keeps showing up, a partner who carries the load, tell me about them. Reply to this email.

Nominations for the 2027 awards open in November, but the stories matter more than the timeline.

On the Anniversary: Coral and Balmoral

Between 12 May and 6 June 1968, 26 Australians were killed at two fire support bases in War Zone D, north-east of Saigon. Almost 100 wounded. 25 days of close-quarter fighting against regimental-strength North Vietnamese assaults.

It is the largest and most sustained battle the Australian Army fought in Vietnam. And, until 2018, when our forces were finally awarded a Unit Citation for Gallantry, it was the most under-recognised.

Coral was the first base, established 12 May. The first NVA attack came in the early hours of 13 May. Nine Australians killed in the first night. The Australian guns were temporarily overrun and recaptured the same night.

Balmoral was established 4.5 kilometres to the north on 24 May. The heaviest single attack of the battle came on 28 May, when armour from the 1st Armoured Regiment broke up an assault that would otherwise have been the costliest of the war.

We mark the anniversary every year because the men who fought there have asked us to. Some are still with us, many are not.

A note ahead. 2026 is the 60th anniversary year of the Battle of Long Tan. Vietnam Veterans' Day on 18 August will carry particular weight. If your sub-branch is planning a commemoration, please contact the National Office early so we can support the day at scale.