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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Caitlin Cassidy

Veterans’ affairs minister told Barnaby Joyce he was quitting due to budget ‘disgrace’

Andrew Gee
The veterans’ affairs minister, Andrew Gee, says the budget originally failed to tackle a backlog of 60,000 compensation claims, which he described as a ‘national disgrace’. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

The Australian veterans’ affairs minister, Andrew Gee, was on the cusp of offering his resignation from cabinet following a major stoush over department funding days out from the federal budget.

In a major attack on the federal government, Gee called a press conference on Saturday morning to announce he would quit the frontbench after being refused $96m in funding before the deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, finally intervened.

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