Frustrated past and present defence members are facing increasing delays, with potentially fatal outcomes, while dealing with the Department of Veterans' Affairs, an inquiry has been told.
Department secretary Elizabeth Cosson on Thursday gave evidence to the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, agreeing there was an "alarming" growth in claims in recent years, creating a backlog of more than 60,000.
The backlog was one of the many challenges within the DVA's system, which was not fit for veterans' needs, she said.
Ms Cosson said the backlog of 60,101 claims was linked to a raft of "veteran-centric" reforms in 2018 that made it easier to make claims for compensation and injuries.
This included the introduction of My Service, enabling online lodgement.
"It is quite an alarming growth in those claims that haven't been determined over about 2.5 to three years," counsel assisting the commission Peter Gray said.
"It is a considerable growth, absolutely," Ms Cosson replied.
The DVA was "not good at forecasting" and had failed to anticipate the full impact of the reforms and did not have the capacity to handle the scale of current claims, she said.
"In your opinion, are delays in claims processing at DVA capable of raising the risks that veterans making those claims could take their own lives?" Mr Gray asked.
"I believe that the claims backlog could be a contributing factor, absolutely," Ms Cosson replied.
Ms Cosson said the DVA did prioritise claims where the claimant was assessed to be in urgent need of assistance.
Veterans transitioning out of defence were generally given priority over those still in service, and had access to support services including medical treatment, she said.
But asked if the if the DVA measured whether their "triage" system was effective, Ms Cosson conceded there was no formal process of assessment.
"You haven't evaluated, have you, how effective those prioritisation measures are in addressing risks to mental wellbeing?" Mr Gray asked.
"I would say no," Ms Cosson said.
The hearing continues.
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