Doorstop Interview - Veteran and Family Wellbeing Agency launch, Parliament House, Canberra

E&OE 
DOORSTOP INTERVIEW, VETERAN AND FAMILY WELLBEING AGENCY LAUNCH
PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA

WEDNESDAY, 1 JULY 2026 

SUBJECTS: New simpler veteran entitlement system; Veteran and Family Wellbeing Agency

MATT KEOGH, MINISTER FOR VETERANS’ AFFAIRS AND DEFENCE PERSONNEL: Today is a very significant milestone in providing better service and support to our veteran community across Australia and their families. From today, we move from a complex, three different system model of supporting our veterans with healthcare, rehabilitation and compensation to having one simplified and harmonised scheme to support claims to DVA from our veteran community. This will mean that veterans and their families will be able to know what they're entitled to more easily. It means they'll be able to navigate DVA more simply. And it means that DVA will be able to process their claims more quickly, instead of having to work across three different schemes, which some veterans were covered by all three schemes before. We're also today starting the new Veteran and Family Wellbeing Agency. This is an agency that will be looking across the broader suite of wellbeing support to make that available to our veteran community and their families. DVA primarily focuses on healthcare, rehabilitation and compensation. But we know from the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide we need to better connect our veterans and their families to those other wellbeing areas, be that employment, education, housing, a whole range of different supports that are out there in the community, being provided by ex-service organisations, veteran service organisations, and to the general public. But veterans have found it very difficult, understandably, to know where to start, how to access those supports that are there. And so the Veteran and Family Wellbeing Agency will provide that connection through an online hub, a website where people can search for those services that are close to them that they need. It'll also have wellbeing resources, and it'll provide connection to our already existing and expanding Veteran and Family Hub network on the ground in the areas where we've got the highest concentrations of veterans across the country. The Veteran and Family Wellbeing Agency will also be supporting veterans transitioning from Defence service as they move from full-time Defence life into civilian life, sometimes gaps can open up between what supports they have through Defence, what they may be able to get through DVA, and other supports in the community. This agency will help support those veterans, not just at the point of transition, but also after transition as well, where they may need that extra support sometime down the track. The other thing that starts today to support our veteran community is additional payments that will be available for GPs and psychiatrists to support them in better supporting the mental health of our veteran community. Being able to receive extra payments to support them building Mental Health Care Plans and coordinated support for their veteran patients, making sure that our GPs and psychiatrists are recognised for the extra time that it takes to make sure that they properly understand the support a veteran needs and making sure that they can build that into the right plan to support our veterans. So a big day in improving support for veterans. A single scheme going forward, legislative scheme in how veterans make claims to DVA, making it easier and simpler. Better connection for our veterans and families to a broad suite of wellbeing supports across the country through the new Veteran and Family Wellbeing Agency. And enhanced supports to our GPS and psychiatrists to provide those Mental Health Care Plans and coordinated support when our veteran community need it. Brendan, did you want to add anything else?

BRENDAN COX, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, VETERAN AND FAMILY WELLBEING AGENCY: Thank you, Minister. Ladies and gentlemen, the responsibility that the agency, and the success of the agency, will be defined by the collaborative efforts of those that wish to support our veterans and their families. The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide gave us some clear challenges to stop the fragmentation. And how do we do that? Through collaboration. The agency is not here to recreate any new service. It is not here to compete. It is here to coordinate. It is here to say what you do as part of a solution for full wellbeing for veterans and their families. I look forward to working with the sector. I look forward to working with Defence. I look forward to working with the Department to ensure that we provide our future veterans and families transitioning from defense into community with a clearer pathway. With navigation support and maintain a continuity of care that they deserve for serving our nation. Thank you

REPORTER: For veterans to actually find their way through their payments, what services are available?

COX: Transition is a unique experience for every individual based on their needs. Many transition harmoniously back into community because they're returning to family. But some transition into a new community where there is no social identity, no anchor point. And all they need is some support through those who know. So this is where Veterans Hubs, where ESO’s can support them in identifying where do you want to express your needs in this new community. So we have to be adaptive. It is through the collaboration and the networks that we create to want to give that wellbeing focus on the veteran and their family to ensure that continuity of care where required is actually delivered.

REPORTER: And how will you be able to reach out to homeless Defence veterans when they've been lost in the system?

COX: So, once again, there are great ex-service organisations out there, including the Salvos, RSLs, that identify these homeless veterans on the streets and have provided them support. Once we identify them, this is where the agency can support on how do we navigate them back into a more community-oriented living style and wellbeing style. So this is a really key point. The Agency is not replicating or duplicating, it is coordinating. We have silos of excellence in veteran and family support out there in the community. Our challenge as an Agency is to now connect them all together. So it's more of a pathway approach, as opposed to an individual agency approach.

ENDS

Open Arms – Veterans & Families Counselling provides 24/7 free confidential crisis support for current and ex-serving ADF personnel and their families on 1800 011 046 or the Open Arms website. Safe Zone Support provides anonymous counselling on 1800 142 072. Defence All-Hours Support Line provides support for ADF personnel on 1800 628 036 or the Defence Health Portal. Defence Member and Family Helpline provides support for Defence families on 1800 624 608