Page 3754 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 26 August 2009
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important role in looking after veterans. On my count there are 41 ex-service organisations in the ACT. You probably know many of them. There are organisations such as Legacy, who look after the widows and the dependants of ex-service personnel. Indeed, you will probably see all the adverts that are starting to appear on television calling on people to support Legacy, which nationally currently looks after 115,000 widows and 1,900 children. In the ACT it supports many hundreds of Defence Force dependants.
The Australian Federation of Totally and Permanently Incapacitated Ex Servicemen and Women obviously looks after those that cannot look after themselves because they are no longer in a physical or mental condition to do so. The Defence Force Welfare Association looks after members currently serving in the Defence Force and also those in retirement. It advises and assists those personnel with their needs. There are organisations like the Malaya and Borneo Veterans Association.
Another one is well known to us all—the Returned and Services League of Australia. I believe Mr Coe will be talking about that as an ex-employee of the RSL. They have a number of sub-branches across Canberra looking after the welfare of veterans. They look after advocacy issues, commemoration and remembrance services and so on. Other organisations include the Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia, the Vietnam Veterans Federation, the Korea and South East Asian Forces Association of Australia, the War Widows Guild of Australia, the Australian Army Training Team, the HMAS Sydney, Escorts and Vietnam Veterans Logistic Support Veterans Association and the Canberra Services Club.
In all, there are 41 that I have been able to get in contact with, working on a national level but based here in the ACT, that are specifically looking after the needs of ACT residents. The question then is: are we doing enough to support those organisations and are we doing enough to support our veterans in the community?
As you would be aware, on 24 April this year the opposition created a position in our shadow cabinet—the position of shadow minister for veterans’ affairs—and called on the government to do something similar and appoint a minister. We are now the only state or territory not to have its own minister for veterans’ affairs. Having engaged with many veterans organisations and individuals, it is clear that there is widespread support for a minister to be appointed in the ACT government specifically to address veterans issues. In the words of a letter I received from a veteran just recently:
I appreciated our short chat at the association meeting the other night and applaud your party for promulgating a shadow minister for veterans affairs in the assembly.
I now turn to a letter that I received from the President of the National RSL, Major General Bill Crews. Many of your would be aware of him. He is essentially the premier spokesman for many defence ex-service issues in Australia. I quote:
I am mindful that the ACT Government did not choose to follow the lead of other States in instituting a Veterans Affairs’ Ministerial responsibility. However, it is of great assistance that you have taken on this role on behalf of the ACT Opposition, and we look forward to the support you are able to give our ACT-based veterans.
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