A national plan to connect services to support veterans and their families better is being considered by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.
Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Darren Chester said a feasibility study would inform the next phase of the plan to better connect services nationally.
Mr Chester said the plan would build on the network of six Veterans’ Wellbeing Centres across the nation, which provide an opportunity to integrate government and non-government support and create a streamlined approach to accessing services for veterans and their families.
“Results from this feasibility study, which will investigate the establishment of a national research and tele-health hub in the ACT, will support the health and wellbeing of our veterans across Australia,” Mr Chester said.
He said the study would include stakeholder engagement, data collection and consideration of potential connection with research institutions to provide support to veterans.
He said the selection of Canberra as the base for the proposed services hub was due to the capital’s high concentration of serving and former serving men and women, with data indicating there were around 26,000 veterans living in the ACT.
ACT Minister for Seniors and Veterans, Gordon Ramsay said the study was a step in the right direction for nationally coordinated veteran support.
“We are excited for the opportunity this presents to work with the Australian Government to increase available services and supports to the veteran community, both here in the ACT and nationally,” Mr Ramsay said.