About Veteran Assist

This site exists because one Australian veteran has spent a long time fighting the Department of Veterans’ Affairs — on delays, hardship and Acute Support Package, household services and attendant care, medical evidence and impairment, incapacity offsets, FOI, Ombudsman complaints, CDDA, and communication restrictions — and watched too many others get lost in the same fog.

Veteran Assist is that map, written so you can find the next useful action without paying a consultant or waiting for Facebook advice that is a year out of date. It is independent of DVA and Defence. It is not Open Arms, not an ex-service organisation, and not a law firm. The person who writes this site is not named. They are not an Australian legal practitioner and this site is not an ATDP practice.

Each page that quotes a figure carries its own last-checked date. That date is for that page, not for the whole site. MRCA payment rates were last checked 19 October 2026 (they apply 20 September 2026 to 31 December 2026). Review clocks were last checked 19 October 2026. Processing times were last checked 19 October 2026 (DVA’s figures are as at 30 September 2026). Office-holders were last checked 19 October 2026. Personal claim numbers, medical files, and staff names are not published. Time limits and rates change — read your decision letter. If this site and an official page disagree, the official page wins. Use an ATDP-accredited advocate on a live claim if you can.

Full terms — including that this is general information, that we do not lodge anything for you, and the limits on liability the law allows — are on the terms of use page. They are part of using the site.

Where an argument is contested — for example whether Douglas v Commissioner of Taxation [2020] FCAFC 220 changes incapacity offsets — we say so, and we put DVA’s counter-argument on the same page. Being agreeable at the cost of being correct is a failure.

Privacy: letters, Pathfinder, My file, the WPI calculator, and the postcode lookup stay in your browser. We do not keep a server copy of what you type, and nothing is sent to an AI company. Full privacy page.

The site is free. If an optional hosting contribution is open, it is a voluntary chip-in toward running costs. It is not a donation, not a charity, and not tax deductible, and collection stops once the month is covered. Hosting this month.

If you are in crisis, skip this site: Open Arms 1800 011 046 or 000.