Media Release: PREMIER RECEIVES LANDMARK STUDY OF VICTORIAN VETERANS

FROM THE OFFICE OF THE PREMIER

DATE: Friday, June 27, 2008

PREMIER RECEIVES LANDMARK STUDY OF VICTORIAN VETERANS

A landmark new study of Victoria’s veterans will become a valuable resource for the Brumby Government as it continues taking action to support veteran communities across the state.

Premier John Brumby said the Veterans Sector Study was the first of its kind in Victoria and would be an important government tool in addressing the challenges faced by veterans now and in the future.

“The Victorian Government is committed to supporting our veteran communities and this new study provides a unique and comprehensive snapshot of the challenges facing Victorian veterans, their families and the organisations to which they belong,” Mr Brumby said.

“Victoria has led the way in its support for our veterans – we were the first jurisdiction in Australia to create a Veterans Affairs ministry at a state level; a ministry headed up by the Premier, we’ve formed the Victorian Veterans Council and we commissioned this landmark new study.”

The Veterans Sector Study was commissioned by the Brumby Government and prepared by the Victorians Veterans Council, a recently established independent advisory body.

The Council was asked to identify the main issues facing the Victorian veteran community, their families and ex-service organisations and to make recommendations to Government. Council chair, retired Major General Peter Haddad, presented the study to Mr Brumby today.

The Veterans Sector Study outlines 11 recommendations across four major themes which are:

· The sustainability of ex-service organisations and options for support to build their capacity to meet veterans’ welfare needs;

· The well-being and social engagement of veterans war widows, including access to housing, transport and health care;

· The community’s understanding of Australia’s war-time history;

· Improving collaboration throughout the veteran community by sharing information and better co-ordination.

Mr Brumby said the study highlighted some important challenges, particularly around the impact of age, health, mobility and declining veteran numbers.

“The challenges facing Victorian veterans, their families and the organisations to which they belong are due, in large part, to the ageing of the veteran population which is forecast to thin substantially across the next 10 years,” he said.

“That’s why our Government is taking significant action to address the health issues faced by veterans – we’ve injected $15.5 million to upgrade the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital, including redeveloping the Veterans’ Psychiatry Unit to establish a Centre for Trauma-Related Mental Health Services to provide a 20-bed unit for inpatients and outpatients,” he said.
“And in this year’s State Budget we provided a further $1.4 million towards a project to preserve the stories and first-hand experiences of veterans for future generations.

“This is great project which involves ex-service organisations, the Shrine of Remembrance and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) is recording the experiences of Victoria’s veterans – particularly those involved in World War II, and the conflicts in Korea, Malaya, Borneo and Vietnam.

“But there is always more to do and our Government will be considering carefully the recommendations contained in this study will respond by the end of this year.

“I congratulate the Victorian Veterans Council on its hard work in delivering this significant study which provides a unique snapshot of the challenges facing our veteran communities.”