ESO Round Table Summary
DVA’s ESO Round Table (ESORT) is a regular forum where
national ex-service organisations meet with DVA and discuss
current issues of concern and interest to Australia’s
veteran community.
At the most recent meeting on
10 August, ESORT heard an address from the Minister for
Veterans’ Affairs, Dan Tehan, about the Government’s
election commitments to veterans, including veterans’ mental
health and veterans’ employment.
Chief of the Defence Force (CDF), Air Chief Marshal Mark
Binskin AC also attended the meeting.
The CDF outlined several key focus areas in his role, such
as the health and wellbeing of ADF members and their
families.
Integral to that focus includes the following initiatives:
the ADF’s mental health strategy, the Transition and
Wellbeing Research Programme, annual mental health checks
for serving members and working with DVA on suicide data
matching.
Following the CDF’s address, both the Minister and CDF held
a round table discussion with members.
Other updates provided to members covered:
- the Department’s Transformation initiatives, which
included a tour of the Veteran Centric Reform Lighthouse
Project
- the evaluation of the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)
Trial for Veterans’ Review Board (VRB) hearings. The trial
was evaluated by Mr Stephen Skehill. Members declared the
trial a resounding success and supported the full
implementation. The ADR will be rolled out in a staged
manner starting in 2016-17
- progress of the Advocacy Training and Development Program
(ATDP). As of 1 July 2016, the ATDP commenced managing
advocacy training previously provided by the Training and
Information Program (TIP). TIP courses will continue to
operate while they are progressively replaced with the ATDP
courses over the next six to 12 months.
A full summary of the ESORT meeting is now available at
http://goo.gl/CxTjjE
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First World War exhibition launched in Townsville
The Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Dan Tehan, launched
the Spirit of Anzac Centenary Experience travelling
exhibition in Townsville on Friday 2 September.
More than 200,000 people have visited the exhibition, which
features more than 200 artefacts from the Australian War
Memorial, rarely seen outside Canberra.
Around 25,000 people are expected to visit the exhibition in
Townsville to honour the more than 57,000 Queenslanders who
enlisted between 1914 and 1918.
Mr Tehan toured the exhibition, which features recreated
trenches on the Somme, a captured German Field Gun from the
Western Front and the casing of the last shell fired at
Gallipoli.
The travelling exhibition is designed to increase our
understanding of Australia’s wartime experience, its impacts
and its lessons, to carry forward the Anzac spirit and
values.
It is a free exhibition that every Australian, young or old,
should visit to give them an insight into what Australians
experienced more than a century ago.
A virtual reality Spirit of Anzac 360 degree app has also
been developed so that anyone, no matter where they are in
the world, can view the exhibition on a mobile phone or
tablet device.
The exhibition also includes a community zone that contains
local artefacts from the First World War.
The Spirit of Anzac Centenary Experience is the flagship
community event of the Anzac Centenary national program.
It provides an opportunity for people in cities and regional
Australia to mark the most significant commemorative period
in our nation’s history.
Townsville is the 14th of 23 locations the Spirit of Anzac
Centenary Experience will visit between September 2015 and
April 2017.
The exhibition moves to Darwin in October, Port Augusta in
November and Perth in late November/early December.
The exhibition is free, but bookings are essential at
www.spiritofanzac.gov.au
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Praise for volunteer veterans
Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Dan Tehan praised veterans
who volunteer their time to support other veterans with
mental health issues as he toured the Peer to Peer Support
Network pilot program in Townsville earlier this month.
Mr Tehan visited the premises of Mates4Mates to meet
volunteer mentors taking part in a mental health support
trial and to listen to former Defence personnel talk about
their experiences.
The program trains veterans with experience of mental
illness to be mentors to other veterans seeking help with
their mental health.
"We know that veterans experiencing mental health issues who
feel supported during their treatment are more likely to
make a complete recovery," Mr Tehan said.
"A veteran who has served their country and faced mental
health challenges can provide valuable insight and support
to another veteran who is just starting their journey to
recovery.
"The mentors and the veterans share a common experience and
a common language.
"These mentors can look a veteran in the eye and say, ‘I
know what you are going through and there is hope,’ which is
a powerful message to deliver."
Townsville is one of two centres hosting a 12-month peer to
peer pilot program to improve veterans’ mental health.
"The Government is also developing a Suicide Prevention
Trial Site in Townsville that will be rolled out through the
North Queensland Primary Health Network.
"As part of its work, the trial will focus on veterans’
mental health," Mr Tehan said.
If you are interested in taking part in the Peer to Peer
Support Network pilot program as a Peer Mentor or a Peer and
would like further information on how to become involved,
please contact Mental Illness Fellowship on (07) 4725 3664
(Townsville) or DefenceCare on (02) 8088 0388 (Sydney).
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