Labor's campaign to protect the pensions of 5000 ex-service personnel today gained support from the Senate when it voted in favour of the ALP's call for the Government to exempt their disability pension from the Centrelink means test.

"Ex-service people in receipt of pensions from both the Department of Veterans' Affairs and Centrelink have been discriminated against by the Howard Government for many years," Mark Bishop, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs said today.

"The DVA disability pension is paid for service-caused injury and illness. Its exclusion from the means test would result in the restoration of up to $60 per fortnight for T&PI pensioners, and $10 per fortnight on average for ex-service age pensioners at the single rate and where there is no other income.

"The repeated refusal of the Howard Government to honour its 1996 election undertaking to remove this anomaly is costing these pensioners dearly.

"This is also the second time the Senate has moved to have the Government remove the discrimination against these people. The Government's excuse has been that it can't find the required $20 million per year. This is laughable against the backdrop of increases to the DVA budget of $2.6 billion over the last 5 years.

"These people do not qualify for the service pension from DVA because they did not serve overseas. They rely on welfare benefits from Centrelink, and are being unfairly penalised by this discriminatory policy because if they received a DVA service pension their disability pension would not be the subject of means testing. They deserve better after a career of service in the armed forces, particularly where they have been discharged medically unfit and have families to rear.

"The Labor Party will not give up in having this grossly unfair policy changed."