Defence failed wounded diggers

Australian veterans wounded in wars over the past decade have not been adequately supported by the Defence system, a review has claimed.

Defence failed when it came to rehabilitation, transition to normal life and compensation for soldiers wounded in Iraq, Afghanistan and other warzones.

But they were good at providing immediate medical care to wounded troops, the 280-page review, obtained by Fairfax under Freedom of Information, claims.

The review of the Support for Injured or Ill Project, conducted from August to December 2010, found many troops wounded in Afghanistan were falling through the cracks by late 2010 due to complex bureaucratic systems.

Poor communication between Defence and Veterans’ Affairs was also highlighted in the review as a major problem.

The findings will be publicly released on Monday, the newspaper reports.

Since the review, Defence has begun streamlining its bureacratic systems to improve effeciency and cooperation between it and Veterans’ Affairs.

Among the 31 recommendations made in the review were an overhaul of IT systems that failed to record case management effectively; the Defence review board, which decides whether a soldier should be retired; and an extremely slow claims processing system.

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