Page 5381 - Week 14 - Thursday, 30 November 2017
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
employment contributes significantly to being connected and feeling valued in the community.
We also know that veterans leave the Defence Force with valuable training and experience. Australian Defence Force separation data shows that exiting Defence Force personnel in the ACT have a diverse range of skill sets, with the highest proportions of people being in areas such as information technology and engineering, firefighters and police, and trades like mechanics and communication technicians. Additionally, veterans have significant training to be leaders in a wide variety of fields, often having to perform complex and technical roles under intense pressure.
We understand that the average age of personnel separating from the Defence Force is around 31 years. These veterans have the potential to go on to apply the training and experience that they have received through the ADF to the benefit of the local economy for their remaining decades of employment. Assisting veterans’ transition to civilian employment will provide a boost to the ACT’s skilled workforce and will provide an overall net benefit to the ACT economy. Connecting and supporting veterans into compatible civilian roles not only makes good policy; it also makes good sense.
Despite their experience and their skills, veterans can sometimes face challenges in their transition to civilian employment. For example, the process of applying for either private or public sector jobs may be unfamiliar, and it can sometimes be challenging to translate from military-speak to civilian-speak. Businesses in the ACT, and the ACT public service, need to be able to identify the applicability of veterans’ work experience to relevant civilian roles, and veterans may need some assistance to be able to describe the relevance of their skills and experience to roles within the civilian workforce.
In response to these challenges, the ACT government veterans employment strategy was launched on 13 September 2017 to provide a focus on the government’s efforts to assist veterans as they transition out of the Australian Defence Force into civilian employment. As a first step to this work, an ACT public service staff survey is currently being conducted to determine the number of veterans who are already part of the public service and to gain an understanding of their experience of entering the ACT public service. The survey closes today, and I look forward to receiving the results shortly so that we can plan for our next steps.
The results of the survey will inform further actions for the ACT public service. Possible further work may include: flagging job vacancies where Defence Force experience may be desirable; engagement with ADF transition seminars to provide background on the variety of work undertaken within the ACT public service; developing information on conditions of employment and promoting employment possibilities; establishment of mentoring support for veterans in the initial phase of their employment with the ACT public service; and a rank-level match matrix to compare levels of ADF experience with ACT public service capabilities. The ACT public service HR system has been updated to enable self-identification of existing employees who are veterans, which, together with the survey, will assist us to know how many ACT public servants are veterans.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video