In Senate Estimates last night, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) revealed that a $1.3 million review of its claims processing by consultants McKinsey interviewed only two families, receiving only three submissions and 33 emails from the public.

When the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Andrew Gee announced his “overhaul” of the veteran welfare system in October last year, he said McKinsey would deliver an action plan to him in December and reform would start immediately.

Instead, in Senate Estimates, DVA officials revealed that the Minister is sitting on the review and there were no results to speak of. With no public findings, no public recommendations and an apparent lack of credible evidence, this whole exercise has been an expensive waste of time.

In his announcement of the review, the Minister said he wanted to see immediate progress so that veterans and their families can receive the support they deserve, however the latest evidence shows the situation is not improving.

In response to Labor’s questions in last night’s Senate Estimates hearing, DVA confirmed that waiting times for assistance and the backlog of claims remain unacceptably high.

The time taken to process claims at DVA has doubled in two years to an average of about 200 days, with some claims taking up to two years, and only 28 per cent were being processed within the 100-day target.

In addition, there is a backlog of more than 50,000 claims – more than double the number compared with two years earlier.

This is consistent with evidence at the Royal Commission into defence and veteran suicide, which has heard veterans are suffering serious psychological harm as they wait up to receive much-needed benefits.

The situation recently embarrassed Coalition MP and veteran Philip Thompson so much he was forced to join calls for more permanent staff in DVA to clear the growing backlog of claims.

Labor was always sceptical of the McKinsey review as it failed to look seriously at the issue of chronic staff shortages in DVA, which is the key driver of the long claim processing times and backlogs.

The Labor-initiated Senate Finance and Public Administration Committee inquiry into the public service last year found that the long delays with veteran claims are a direct result of the government’s cap on permanent public servants, which has forced DVA to rely on high levels of poorly trained labour hire contractors.

The inquiry found that DVA was one of the highest users of consulting services in the Australian Public Sector, with the department spending more than $14 million on external consultants in 2021.

This latest debacle with the much-vaunted McKinsey review is just another broken promise to Australian veterans from the Morrison-Joyce Government.