Press Conference: Government funding to establish Veterans’ and Families’ Hubs in Tasmania

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
PRESS CONFERENCE
WEDNESDAY, 28 JUNE 2023

CATRYNA BILYK: I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the lands on which we meet and pay my respect to the elders past, present and ongoing. My name is Catryna Bilyk, I'm a Labor Senator for Tasmania and it's my great pleasure today to introduce who we've got with us. We've got Brian Mitchell, the member of Federal Member for Lyons. Julie Collins, the Federal Member for Franklin. Matt Keogh, the Federal Minister for Veterans’ Affairs. And also, we've got to acknowledge Andrew Wilkie, the member for Clark, Dean Young, who's representing Guy Barnett, the State Minister. Have I missed any politicians in the room? I don't think so. Look, thank you. I'm not going to talk too much, I'm going to hand over to the Minister. But thank you for your attendance today in regarding this important announcement, Minister.

MINISTER KEOGH: Thank you Catryna. And it's great to be here in Hobart, Tasmania, with Catryna Bilyk and Julie Collins and Brian Mitchell and Andrew Wilkie, the local member here, as well as John Hardy from RSL Tasmania and everyone else, there's a big crowd here you can't see. But for an important announcement here today, which is all about supporting our veterans and their families here in Tasmania. We have been in the process of rolling out Veterans’ and Families’ Hubs across Australia and today we're very pleased to be announcing a $5 million grant to the Tasmanian RSL to roll out the hub here in Tasmania.

Now, we have placed a lot of importance on the need to make sure that hubs that we're rolling out across the country meet the needs of veterans in those locations. Making sure that we recognise that different places need a different model, might need different types of supports or operations for a hub. And some significant research was undertaken here in Tasmania looking at the best model for rolling out a hub. And the Tasmanian RSL has really jumped on board to support that model for a hub here in Tasmania. So, we won't just see as part of this Veterans’ and Families’ Hub for Tasmania, just one location here in Hobart, for instance, though that will certainly be the hub, but it will be a ‘hub and spoke’ model. So, we will see not just a facility here in Hobart but the uplifting of a number of different facilities located around Tasmania that will join the already upgraded RSL sub-branch in Launceston that will join the Burnie Hub that we've already been working on as a network of a hub and spokes across Tasmania to support the veterans and families across Tasmania. Making sure that they get coordinated service provision that will support them.

We know that Tasmania has a disproportionately high number of veterans compared to its population. And they're not just in the capital city, they're not just in the major centres of Tasmania, they are spread out throughout this great state and making sure that every veteran and family is able to access service provision is incredibly important, making sure that that is a coordinated process. So, being able to come in to one of these hubs, as part of the hub and spoke network, being able to access services remotely as well, making sure that that is a coordinated service provision. So, if the services aren't available in that hub, they can be connected to the services that they need wherever they are available through Tasmania, whether that's the offer of service through the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, through the RSL, through other ex-service organisations and support agencies that may provide that support. And what's critically important, especially now, as part of the hub and spoke model that has been developed here by Tasmanian RSL, is that we'll also include provision for housing to support our veterans because we know housing is a critically important issue across the country, for the entire country. But we'd certainly see it being very important to support our veteran community who may be at risk of, or are experiencing homelessness or need that additional support.

And the model that Tasmanian RSL has put forward to enable that infrastructure to also support service delivery on an ongoing and sustainable basis is incredibly important and indeed innovative. And we're very pleased to see that. So, we're very pleased to be providing the $5 million to Tasmanian RSL to support the veterans and families hub here in Tasmania using a hub and spoke model. And I'd like to hand over to the RSL now to explain a bit more about how that's going to operate and the different locations that they were providing this out to. Thank you very much. Cheers.

JOHN HARDY: Hello. Well, I'm a hands in pockets guy, so that's what you're going to get. Okay, so, first of all, I think it's fair to say that we do need to thank a few people in the room. First is the Commonwealth Government, because without their bravery, we couldn't have done this. What do we mean by bravery? This is a pretty unique model. We aren't going for one building, we're going to enhance seven and we're going to enhance it with the same amount of money that other hub and spokes have got or other hubs have got. So, it's quite a different concept. The second people we would like to thank is obviously the State Government, Guy Barnett, who can't be here, dues, where due is due, as my Yorkshire father would say. I did do a fair bit of work in the background to make sure that Tasmanian got their proportion of this grant. So, those are the two organisations, or two Government organisations that we do need to put front and centre. That is only right.

Okay, VeteranHub. So, VeteranHub will see a hub and spoke model. There'll be two hubs. There'll be one in Launceston, which is currently there, but will be continuously developed, and there'll be one in Hobart. There'll then be a series of spokes. The spokes will be spread about the whole country. So, across the top, they'll be in Wynyard, Devonport, Georgetown, they'll be in Launceston, they'll be in Queenstown, they'll be in Swansea, they'll be in Hobart and obviously they'll be in the Huon Valley in Huonville. Okay, so we are also returning to areas where we've left for a while. For instance, Huonville has been adrift for a while and we're bringing it back into the club.

This is quite brave for RSL. RSL understands that some veterans are turned off by the RSL. We get that it's a very old organisation that has all the idiosyncrasies of an organisation of such age of the RSL. So, that's why we're calling this VeteranHub. We also understand to do this we have to be very selfless. And being selfless is also very brave because we will give up land to build accommodation for veterans, but also to build accommodation where people from other countries can come, come and stay in our accommodation. So, we also generate revenue. This grant is not something where we just fire and forget and at the end of it, it shouldn't work. The criteria is very clear. At the end of the grant, we need to be able to stand on our own two feet. So, it is a mix of accommodation for veterans, but it's also a mix of how we gain funds later on through renting out that accommodation. RSL Tasmania already has accommodation in Tasmania. So, the concept is based around VeteranHub. And this is the last time that we'll discuss RSL with you. It'll always be VeteranHub going forward, but we need all organisations to get on board. So, if you are a not-for-profit organisation, a business, if you are a Government organisation, if you are a primary health frontline provider and many others, we now need you in phase one to go online to Veteranhub.org.au and register what you do, your business, your organisation.

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