E&Oe transcript
Radio interview
Subjects: Wodonga Veterans' and Families' Hub

SANDRA MOON: Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Defence Personnel is in Wodonga today, Matt Keogh, to open the new Veterans and Family Hub. I spoke with him a short time ago.

MATT KEOGH: So the Veterans and Family Hub that we’re opening today, which is going to be named in honour of Tim Fischer, is an important part of the infrastructure to support our veterans. And it’s about creating a place, a hub – would you believe – where different services are available across a different range of things. So whether it’s across mental health support, education access, access to employment services, support for family and children, a whole range of different things all in one location, a location where people feel safe and secure as a veteran, where families feel welcome as well and can come together and build community as well as access a whole range of different services.

SANDRA MOON: That’s important, too, isn’t it – you mentioned families and obviously, you know, they’re going to be affected by the different issues and things like that. And it’s very important that there’s, I guess, that sort of holistic approach.

MATT KEOGH: It absolutely is. When someone signs up to be our Defence Force their family ends up serving alongside them. And they are often the ones providing the primary support to a veteran and seeing where they might not be doing as well as they should be or could be. And making sure we support families is, therefore, very important.

But what we also find is that with these sorts of hubs is that if there are services that support the family, it’s quite often the spouse and maybe the kids that are doing things there that then are able to engage the veteran in coming in to access services as well.

SANDRA MOON: And do we have any idea about, you know, the number of veterans and their families that, you know, we’re expecting will actually use this hub?

MATT KEOGH: Well, across the Albury-Wodonga region we’ve got about 4,000 veterans plus their families. So it’s a significant concentration of veterans, which is why it’s so important to have a hub like this located in Wodonga. And I have no doubt that we will see a significant number of people accessing the various different services that are available at the hub as well as other services that the hub may refer people to. And having that there accessible in the community I think will be – make a huge difference for those veterans and their families.

SANDRA MOON: Is that because sometimes there is a barrier to actually going and sort of seeking help?

MATT KEOGH: There certainly can be a barrier to people seeking help. And we need to create environments where people feel comfortable going to access those services, but an environment that’s also welcoming of people for other reasons – an environment where people feel like they want to be there where they don’t feel threatened in any way, that it’s not just all about things that are of a military nature and where people feel comfortable to sometimes open up or identify that, “Oh, I see there’s that service. Can you tell me more about that? That might be able to help me.” Because they might go there for one thing but then they find the other things that are there to help as well.

SANDRA MOON: The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide was just down the road in Wagga. When will that Royal Commission actually wrap up?

MATT KEOGH: So the Royal Commission will be providing its final report in the middle of 2024. They provided an interim report to Government just back in August of this year, and we provided a response to all 13 recommendations in that interim report in September. And we’re cracking on now with implementing those. Some of the recommendations from that interim report have already implemented and are in the process of implementing others.

So the final report is due middle of 2024, and as you would imagine, the hearings are something we’re paying a lot of attention to in terms of understanding the issues that are being unpacked by that Royal Commission. It’s a very, very serious issue – defence and veteran suicide – and something we need to make sure we’re doing everything we can to make sure that we’re not seeing unnecessary deaths.

SANDRA MOON: Yeah. I’ve also seen reports that the Department of Veterans’ Affairs have made changes to their tender process for veteran rehab services, only offering big providers. Is that correct, and why the change?

MATT KEOGH: Look, I can’t get into the detail of the tendering processes, but we’re always looking to make sure that we’re getting the best efficiency in service provision but also being able to cover as many areas across the country as possible. And so a key part of what we’re trying to do is making sure that we’ve got that flexibility in being able to get the providers and the sort of support staff and everything else that you need into all the different regions where we’ve got veterans, because they’re not all just in capital cities. As we’ve just been discussing, we’ve got 4,000 out in the Albury-Wodonga region alone. So sometimes that can lend itself to certain sized providers that are able to build in more of that flexibility. But it’s not about excluding; it’s more about making sure we get the best service provision that our veterans need.

SANDRA MOON: Well, a good day today – you’ll be doing the official opening. That will be happening a little later this morning.

MATT KEOGH: Absolutely. We’ll be there early afternoon for the official opening for this service, which I think will provide such great benefit to veterans and families across the region.

SANDRA MOON: Matt Keogh, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Defence Personnel, and the Tim Fischer Veteran and Family Wellbeing Centre, or hub, is at 149 High Street in Wodonga and officially opening this afternoon.

Just a reminder that there is the 24-hour crisis support number, Open Arms. That’s for veterans and family counselling. And that number is 1800 011 046.

END

Authorised by The Hon Matt Keogh MP

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