Veteran Beneficiaries in Commonwealth Electoral Divisions

Research Note Index 2001-02

Research Note no.36 2001-2002

Veteran Beneficiaries in Commonwealth Electoral Divisions

Geoff Winter
Statistics Group
14 May 2002

Introduction

A major component of Australia's income support system is the provision of benefits for veterans (people who saw active service in wartime, usually overseas) and their dependants. This component is not administered by CentreLink but by the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA). It provides income support and compensation payments and medical treatment. This note shows the numbers of pensioners and treatment cardholders in each Commonwealth Electoral Division.

Pensions, etc.

There are several different financial payments to which veterans and their dependants may be entitled. These are:

Service pension: payable on the grounds of age (similar to but payable five years earlier than the social security age pension) or invalidity (payable at any working age). They are paid to eligible veterans and their partners.

Disability pension: previously known as war pensions, these payments are in the form of compensation for injuries or diseases caused or aggravated by war. They are paid according to the level of disability suffered as a result of the injury or disease.

War widow(er) pension: payable to the partners of deceased veterans who have died as a result of war or eligible defence service.

Income support supplement: payable where the recipient of a war widow(er) pension is (otherwise still) of limited means as defined.

Social security age pension: payable where a veteran is not entitled to a service pension but receives another DVA payment.

Orphan pension: payable to orphans of veterans and their partners, where the veteran's death was caused by war or eligible defence service.

It is quite common for a veteran to receive more than one DVA pension. For example many service pensioners also receive a disability pension. Thus the table overleaf shows the number of people who receive one or more of the DVA payments available, i.e. 'net' pensioners. There is also a range of special purpose allowances payable to veterans in addition to the DVA payment(s) listed above. These include decoration allowance, attendant allowance, clothing allowance and recreation transport allowance.

Treatment

Veterans are entitled to medical treatment at the expense of the Commonwealth in certain circumstances. Eligibility for the various forms of treatment depends on the treatment card a beneficiary holds. These are:

Gold card: provides free unrestricted medical treatment; can be held by veterans and their dependants.

White card: provides free medical treatment for war or service-related conditions, and certain other conditions, for veterans only.

There is also a pharmaceutical benefits (only) card (orange card). The 'treatment population' shown overleaf is the sum of gold cardholders plus white cardholders.

A small number of gold and white cardholders in each electoral division do not also receive any payment or allowance from DVA, so the total number of DVA beneficiaries in each electoral division (not shown in this note) is slightly higher than the number of net pensioners.

Figures shown overleaf are as at 1 December 2001. They are estimates derived from postcode data.

The full set of data from which these figures are taken is available through the Statistics Resources Guides page on the intranet at: http://libiis1/services/statistics/index.htm

Veteran Beneficiaries: 1 December 2001

Electoral division	Net pensioner population	Treatment population	Electoral division	Net pensioner population	Treatment population
Adelaide (SA)	3 216	2 374	Hunter (NSW)	2 509	1 891
Aston (Vic.)	1 958	1 392	Indi (Vic.)	3 965	3 083
Ballarat (Vic.)	3 543	2 601	Isaacs (Vic.)	3 110	2 219
Banks (NSW)	3 855	2 708	Jagajaga (Vic.)	3 202	2 477
Barker (SA)	4 153	2 844	Kalgoorlie (WA)	1 090	851
Barton (NSW)	3 168	2 369	Kennedy (Qld)	2 581	1 903
Bass (Tas.)	2 993	2 140	Kingsford Smith (NSW)	2 601	1 979
Batman (Vic.)	2 804	2 062	Kingston (SA)	3 018	1 720
Bendigo (Vic.)	3 999	3 073	Kooyong (Vic.)	2 636	2 466
Bennelong (NSW)	3 207	2 512	Lalor (Vic.)	1 739	1 194
Berowra (NSW)	2 313	1 873	La Trobe (Vic.)	2 118	1 485
Blair (Qld)	3 312	2 433	Leichhardt (Qld)	2 157	1 680
Blaxland (NSW)	3 085	1 841	Lilley (Qld)	4 801	3 670
Bonython (SA)	2 454	1 201	Lindsay (NSW)	2 058	1 475
Boothby (SA)	4 926	3 421	Lingiari (NT)	543	443
Bowman (Qld)	3 857	2 703	Longman (Qld)	4 509	3 115
Braddon (Tas.)	2 650	1 773	Lowe (NSW)	1 949	1 562
Bradfield (NSW)	3 193	3 042	Lyne (NSW)	5 482	3 912
Brand (WA)	2 968	1 919	Lyons (Tas.)	3 529	2 444
Brisbane (Qld)	3 151	2 496	Macarthur (NSW)	1 196	865
Bruce (Vic.)	2 058	1 425	Mackellar (NSW)	4 174	3 431
Burke (Vic.)	1 898	1 382	Macquarie (NSW)	2 840	2 103
Calare (NSW)	2 481	1 877	Makin (SA)	2 418	1 404
Calwell (Vic.)	1 173	765	Mallee (Vic.)	2 656	2 093
Canberra (ACT)	3 049	2 753	Maranoa (Qld)	2 780	2 198
Canning (WA)	2 067	1 320	Maribyrnong (Vic.)	1 489	913
Capricornia (Qld)	2 653	1 953	Mayo (SA)	2 669	1 798
Casey (Vic.)	2 252	1 589	McEwen (Vic.)	2 386	1 840
Charlton (NSW)	2 950	2 034	McMillan (Vic.)	2 396	1 663
Chifley (NSW)	1 426	962	McPherson (Qld)	5 717	4 070
Chisholm (Vic.)	3 518	2 657	Melbourne (Vic.)	1 250	1 035
Cook (NSW)	2 992	2 176	Melbourne Ports (Vic.)	1 696	1 392
Corangamite (Vic.)	4 390	3 201	Menzies (Vic.)	1 946	1 470
Corio (Vic.)	2 901	2 017	Mitchell (NSW)	1 825	1 442
Cowan (WA)	1 945	1 280	Moncrieff (Qld)	2 853	2 064
Cowper (NSW)	4 257	2 970	Moore (WA)	2 053	1 394
Cunningham (NSW)	2 407	1 605	Moreton (Qld)	3 932	2 823
Curtin (WA)	3 596	2 964	Murray (Vic.)	3 387	2 592
Dawson (Qld)	2 453	1 857	Newcastle (NSW)	3 125	2 271
Deakin (Vic.)	2 949	2 198	New England (NSW)	3 963	3 132
Denison (Tas.)	3 616	2 685	North Sydney (NSW)	2 486	2 276
Dickson (Qld)	3 355	2 558	O'Connor (WA)	2 637	1 900
Dobell (NSW)	5 348	3 811	Oxley (Qld)	2 999	2 127
Dunkley (Vic.)	4 129	2 894	Page (NSW)	5 233	3 846
Eden-Monaro (NSW)	3 449	2 540	Parkes (NSW)	2 777	2 177
Fadden (Qld)	3 649	2 513	Parramatta (NSW)	2 518	1 843
Fairfax (Qld)	3 672	2 476	Paterson (NSW)	4 858	3 555
Farrer (NSW)	5 340	4 115	Pearce (WA)	3 071	2 021
Fisher (Qld)	6 209	4 247	Perth (WA)	2 625	1 782
Flinders (Vic.)	5 917	4 112	Petrie (Qld)	5 660	4 081
Forde (Qld)	3 532	2 462	Port Adelaide (SA)	4 033	2 617
Forrest (WA)	2 906	1 939	Prospect (NSW)	1 777	988
Fowler (NSW)	1 872	672	Rankin (Qld)	1 941	1 351
Franklin (Tas.)	3 128	2 189	Reid (NSW)	2 488	1 681
Fraser (ACT)	3 094	2 725	Richmond (NSW)	6 180	4 356
Fremantle (WA)	2 884	1 969	Riverina (NSW)	2 940	2 307
Gellibrand (Vic.)	2 167	1 437	Robertson (NSW)	5 422	3 927
Gilmore (NSW)	5 260	3 707	Ryan (Qld)	2 745	2 174
Gippsland (Vic.)	4 101	2 949	Scullin (Vic.)	1 335	928
Goldstein (Vic.)	4 358	3 661	Shortland (NSW)	4 241	2 973
Grayndler (NSW)	1 311	929	Solomon (NT)	860	757
Greenway (NSW)	1 438	1 006	Stirling (WA)	3 349	2 238
Grey (SA)	2 717	1 959	Sturt (SA)	3 592	2 629
Griffith (Qld)	3 878	2 886	Swan (WA)	3 380	2 395
Groom (Qld)	3 402	2 637	Sydney (NSW)	1 540	1 244
Gwydir (NSW)	3 376	2 730	Tangney (WA)	3 174	2 165
Hasluck (WA)	1 877	1 156	Throsby (NSW)	2 003	1 202
Herbert (Qld)	3 714	2 953	Wakefield (SA)	3 706	2 456
Higgins (Vic.)	2 348	2 184	Wannon (Vic.)	3 432	2 643
Hindmarsh (SA)	4 953	3 459	Warringah (NSW)	3 399	2 967
Hinkler (Qld)	3 423	2 387	Watson (NSW)	2 439	1 709
Holt (Vic.)	1 220	764	Wentworth (NSW)	1 828	1 733
Hotham (Vic.)	3 438	2 449	Werriwa (NSW)	1 704	1 117
Hughes (NSW)	1 677	1 180	Wide Bay (Qld)	4 930	3 411
Hume (NSW)	4 153	3 140	Wills (Vic.)	2 788	2 062

Source: Department of Veterans' Affairs.