Press conference, Southeast QLD Veterans’ and Families’ Hub and passing of Senator Jim Molan AO DSC

E&OE transcript
Press conference
Caboolture, Queensland

Southeast Queensland Veterans’ and Families’ Hub and the passing of Senator Jim Molan AO DSC

Minister Keogh: It’s wonderful to be here today in Caboolture announcing the Australian Government will be funding Lives Lived Well to deliver our new Veterans’ and Families’ Hub up here in the north of Brisbane, servicing the northern parts of Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast and surrounding areas. This will be a $5.4 million grant to Lives Lived Well to develop the Families’ and Veterans’ Hub, which is going to provide services supporting veterans in employment, in housing, mental health services, advocacy. Providing a place as well for veterans to come together, to meet one another, to build those connections, to access services in person, as well as providing the opportunity for telephone delivery of service as well as the opportunity for online service delivery.

This will be a Hub that joins our network of Hubs across the country. Here in Southeast Queensland, we’ll see new Hubs developed not just here in Caboolture but also in Ipswich, and a Hub to service the Gold Coast and Tweed region. And they will join the existing hub, The Oasis Centre, that we have up in Townsville and that is part of our broader network of Veterans’ and Families’ Hubs supporting veterans and families across the country. We’ve already got a few open now and we’ll be rolling out even more over the next few years as part of how we the Australian Government are providing a better future for our veterans and families. And the inclusion of families there is very important because we know that families are often the first responders to our veterans. They are impacted by veterans’ service, they serve alongside and supporting our veterans when they’re in the defence force as well. I’m now going to hand over to Mitchell from Lives Lived Well to say a bit more about the service that will be delivered here from Caboolture.

Thanks, Mitchell.

Mitchell Giles: Thank you very much, Minister. Thank you to you and to the Government and to the Department of Veterans’ Affairs for the confidence in Lives Lived Well in offering this service. We’re doing that in partnership with Vietnam Veterans’  Association Australia and Darryl Shipp is here and he’s going to talk a little bit about our vision for that service.

Darryl Shipp: Thank you, Minister. Thank you, Mitchell. Yes, I’m Darryl Shipp from VVAA Queensland and I look after a homeless shelter at Burpengary for veterans and their families. We run a support centre there already and people probably ask “why did I select LLW?” Well, I looked closely at it and looked at their network and felt this network could actually benefit veterans and their families right across Queensland and New South Wales. So I looked hard at it and then I spoke to all the veterans in Queensland that I look after and they agreed to me to go ahead and do it. And the vision is that I’m hoping that all the veterans and their families can come here for their support in all issues, that we can actually – sort it out ourselves through the Hub or through the referrals if we’re not doing that part. Thank you.

Journalist: Thank you, Minister Keogh can you give us your thoughts on the late Jim Molan, who has just passed away.

Minister Keogh: It’s a tragic news we’ve received today, the passing of Senator Jim Molan, a longstanding Senator who made a lot of – a huge contribution to the national security debate in our Parliament. But, of course, as a Major General in our defence force, serving for 40 years across Papua New Guinea, East Timor, Iraq. He had a huge involvement and contribution to the defence of our nation and the work that our defence force did around the world. It’s a very sad day and I pass on my condolences to his wife, his family, his colleagues in our Parliament and, of course, his former colleagues across the defence force who are all grieving today.

Journalist: Thank you very much. That’s great.

[End]

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