The Coalition of Veterans' Voices is meeting with federal parliamentarians to oppose treatment funding changes in the May budget.
The group has three demands: to scrap a $5000 annual threshold for allied health services, allow veterans to choose their own assessment providers and overhaul a claims system it says is leaving veterans waiting too long.
Among the campaigners is Julie-Ann Finney, one of the country's most prominent advocates for veteran healthcare, who was clutching a framed portrait of her son David.
Mr Finney died by suicide in 2019, two years after he was medically discharged from the Royal Australian Navy.
Standing next to his mother, Liberal Jess Collins blamed the government's lack of positive action for the death of Mr Finney and dozens like him.
"It is abundantly clear that the system is broken. People are not only hurting, but they're dying. They're not dying because they want to. They're not dying because it's an accident," Senator Collins said.
She backed in plans from Nationals leader Matt Canavan to introduce legislation before the end of the sitting fortnight to scrap the cap.
"We have the numbers in the parliament between ourselves and the government to change this," he said.
Highly decorated veterans earlier laid down their medals at Federation Mall in protest at the cap.
The group voiced their concerns to Veterans' Affairs Minister Matt Keogh, before meeting with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese later on Monday.
It fell within the week of the second anniversary of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide being handed to the governor-general.
The $5000 annual threshold for allied health services is set to take effect from mid-2027.
It would impose a limit on the amount of funding veterans can access for services including rehabilitation and physiotherapy unless it is deemed clinically necessary.
The Department of Veterans Affairs claims the measure would address overservicing and comes amid a major uplift in overall spending on veterans' access to allied health.
Health Minister Mark Butler defended the change, saying the government would consult extensively with veterans.
"I get there's a lot of concern and anxiety about this," he told ABC Radio.
"These changes aren't scheduled to take place until mid next year, and we want to make sure that the changes operate in the best interests of veterans."
But Coalition of Veterans representative Tim Nelson, a medical doctor, said the government was "defiant" in its approach.
"There was no consultation at all with any practitioners like myself who look after hundreds, if not thousands of veterans," he said.
"Even if you are not personally affected yourself, you will know a mate, you will know a colleague, you will know a family member of a friend who is affected by it, and you will go into that for them."
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