Government agencies meant to help veterans act more like an insurance company and people are treated differently depending on where they live, says Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.
Mr Andrews used his appearance at the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide on Wednesday to call for an Australia-wide plan on caring for former members of defence forces.
He said states did not have a clear picture of veterans in their populations because they can only access de-identified data through the 2021 census.
A national body also needs to be set up to make sure recommendations from the inquiry are acted on instead of being left to gather dust, he said.
The premier described systems offered by the Department of Veterans' Affairs as impregnable and challenging to navigate.
"For many veterans there is a sense that they are not believed, a sense that they are second guessed," Mr Andrews told the commission.
"Agencies that ought to be working for them are operating more like an insurance company, and not an especially good insurance company, than an agency that's there to provide support."
Mr Andrews is the first premier to address the commission, which was established in 2021 to examine how the system is failing Australian Defence Force members and veterans.
He called for veterans' affairs to be on the agenda at national cabinet and for the creation of an opt-in information system to give states basic details about veterans.
Accessing information such as names and addresses would allow local officials to approach veterans individually to help them access entitlements, he said.
"We don't believe veterans, we try and manage their claims away," Mr Andrews said.
"We do not have the kind of presumptive rights ... a system that presumes that they are telling the truth."
Victoria recently introduced a veterans card, which offers a range of benefits including discounted car registration, and Mr Andrews said the program helped give a clearer population picture.
Some 8000 out of 105,000 Victorian veterans identified in the last census have signed up for the card, said Anthony Plummer from Victoria's Department of Families, Fairness and Housing.
Royal commission chair Nick Kaldas has said at least 1600 Australian veterans died by suicide between 1997 and 2020, about 20 times those who died while on duty.
A spokesman for the Department of Veterans’ Affairs said it was already working to implement recommendations from the commission's interim report and the inquiry is a chance to strengthen the approach to mental health and welfare.
Interim recommendations included simplifying veteran compensation schemes and reducing the backlog of claims.
The inquiry will shift to Sydney in November and a final report is due in mid-2024.
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