Interview, ABC Radio National Drive with Laura Tchilinguirian

E&OE transcript
Radio Interview
ABC

LAURA TCHILINGUIRIAN, HOST: Well the Federal Government is looking to better utelise the skills and experience of our veterans. As the country continues to grapple with a serious worker shortage. It has held the first of two veterans employment round tables ahead of next month’s jobs and skills summit, looking for practical solutions to get more Australian veterans into mainstream work. Matt Keogh is the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Defence Personnel and joins me now. Good afternoon, Minister. 

HON MATT KEOGH MP, MINISTER FOR VETERANS AFFAIRS AND DEFENCE PERSONNEL: Good afternoon, great to be with you.

TCHILINGUIRIAN: Why are these roundtables necessary to help our veterans find work and careers?

KEOGH: Well, the roundtables are important in the lead up to our Jobs and Skills Summit which, of course, is addressing some of the critical issues that we’re experiencing in our economy, bringing together labour, businesses, not-for-profits, academics and Government to look at how can we resolve issues like the skills shortages that we’re confronting. And we know that we see sometimes difficulty in veterans being able to get access to employment as they leave Defence, but also, we know that they represent a great capability to support our economy moving forward. Being able to fill some of those skills gaps for people that have left Defence, who are looking to leave Defence, making sure we smooth that pathway for them to be able to be great contributors to our economy, bringing their skills to bear. We invest so much in them and when they choose to leave, we want to make sure that they can provide the greatest benefit to businesses, making sure that businesses understand the great benefit that our veterans can provide. Whether it’s in their leadership skills, their teamwork capacity, their analytical skills, their ability to work under pressure and to be agile are all critical skills in the modern economy now for any business. And so, making sure that our community is aware of the great benefit that veterans can bring to business is important.

TCHILINGUIRIAN: Is there an understanding of why they are sometimes being overlooked for job opportunities in mainstream careers?

KEOGH: Well, sometimes there can be too much of a focus on some of the things that say don’t work for veterans. Sometimes they haven’t had a good experience in Defence, and they do have issues that they need to deal with – whether it’s physical injury or mental injury, that they have to deal with as they leave Defence. But too much focus on that overlooks the great contribution that people can provide to our community and to our economy once they transition out of Defence. So, having a roundtable meeting with the organisations that assist people that are looking to leave - get into employment, other employment providers, but also the financial services sector, the IT sector, the construction sector, and how they are benefiting from engaging with veterans and actually seeking out veterans because they understand the value that they can bring to their businesses, and we want to promote that more to the business sector, that veterans are a great opportunity to employ because of the skills that they can bring.

TCHILINGUIRIAN: So, what have you learnt so far from the first roundtable today?

KEOGH: Well, certainly from the first roundtable, it was clear that there’s great skills, and the focus on soft skills was very interesting – that we should not just look at, say, the trades that people develop while they’re serving in the Defence Force, and they do develop great technical skills, but also those soft skills around leadership, around teams, around having agility in the workplace being critically important. But also to understand that often partners, spouses, families are not able to pursue their careers as they move around the country, and what can we do to help them continue to contribute to the workforce; because we want to see those skills being tapped no matter where people are located around the country with various postings, that their families are also able to work and contribute to meeting the needs of the economy as we experience these skill shortages right now.

TCHILINGUIRIAN: How important is employment when transitioning from the Defence Force into civilian life, Minister?

KEOGH: Employment is fundamental for everybody, but we do know that if we can ensure that people have a job to go to when they decide to leave the Defence service, that they are set up for success, they are in the best position then to rejoin civilian life in a successful way, and that is the best way to make sure they have good protective measures around mental health, for example, because if you have that job and that sense of purpose, when you’re serving in Defence, the sense of purpose is there and it is very important for serving personnel, and people want to be able to find that in their job when they leave Defence service as well. So, having a job and being able to pursue a career once people leave the service is terribly important.

TCHILINGUIRIAN: And I guess also continuing to provide that support for them in the way of psychological support, mental health support, in that regard?

KEOGH: Absolutely. Being in a job removes a whole heap of stress on a veteran, as it does for anyone in the community, and so it’s very helpful in terms of maintaining good mental health and, of course, when supported, if there is mental ill health, when supported by services like Open Arms and other services provided through the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, means that we’ve got such amazing great capable workers coming out into the workforce and we want to make sure we get the best opportunity for employment for them, for their families, and also to help us in the economic growth we need to see as we go through this skills crisis at the moment.

TCHILINGUIRIAN: Well, and that’s the thing too. We’re looking in about a week or so at this Jobs and Skills Summit. There’s a lot of talk about it. The focus is not only on Defence but Defence spouses and their family members who are also being underutilised. Why is that?

KEOGH: It can be a function of Defence personnel being reposted every few years, which means it’s very hard to find a good ongoing job as a Defence spouse or family member if you are having to relocate yourself. But also being able to sell to and have businesses understand, look, even if this person is only going to be here for a short time, they are going to provide huge value for you. And if there’s a way for us to assist people in being able to pursue and continue to pursue their career in the area that they are a professional in or have a trade in or have developed a career as they move around the country, that’s both important for them as a family unit and for the individual, but it’s also important in making sure that we are getting the best value and outcome from people in the workforce.

TCHILINGUIRIAN: Okay. And you’ve got the second roundtable in Perth on Monday. I expect you’re hoping for similar conversations to be had and more solutions.

KEOGH: Absolutely. And I think one of the key things that I’ve also been able to see is how veteran businesses have been a great contributor. So we’ve seen lots of veterans set up their own businesses, employing other veterans, contributing often through, say, through defence industry, and I’ve been out with one business like that today here in Sydney, that are able to contribute back to Defence by building a business that contributes in capability for our nation, and they’re great success stories that we should continue to share and promote to people across the country as well as for people that may be looking to leave Defence in the future.

TCHILINGUIRIAN: Minister, thank you for speaking with me.

KEOGH: Thank you.

TCHILINGUIRIAN: That’s the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Defence Personnel.

END

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