Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to ask the minister questions around the 2016-17 portfolio budget statement for the Department of Veterans' Affairs, which states:

DVA recognises that our client base is unique and crosses the age spectrum, from those in their later years of life such as widows of First World War veterans, to infants of contemporary servicemen and women. We aim to be a responsive and flexible organisation, and to efficiently deliver high quality, connected services to all generations of veterans and the wider veteran community.

Part of the critical services which DVA is responsible for delivering is around the Veterans' Access Network offices, or the VAN offices, which provide frontline services for veterans and their families. Minister, can you advise how many Veterans' Access Network offices have closed since September 2013? What happened to the staff of these offices? Are they still employed by DVA? Have any staff moved into the co-located DHS-Centrelink offices? Can the minister also advise whether there is a dedicated support officer for veterans at those offices where VANS have been co-located to DHS-Centrelink? Is there a DVA or DHS staff member and, if so, does the minister believe that DHS have the targeted skills to help veterans?

Can the minister advise if those men and women who have served our country should have to stand in line at Centrelink to seek veterans' services? Can the minister advise if there are any plans to close down any more Veterans' Access Network offices? Does the minister have any more plans to move veterans' services to DHS? More specifically, can the minister provide further reassurance to the veterans and families of Newcastle, in my electorate, that their office will not close down? Can the minister provide a detailed breakdown of the cost per annum of each open, standalone Veterans' Access Network office?

The costs that I am seeking are the costs per annum to keep open, including the rent per annum for each office, staff numbers and full-time equivalents, stationery costs and other miscellaneous items.

The minister will appreciate that this is a very topical issue in my community of Newcastle. For a number of months now there have been rumours that the VAN office is about to close when the lease terminates next year, in 2017. There are very strong views around the co-location of these offices in Centrelink. Indeed, veterans who have come to see me, particularly those from the Vietnam veterans community, have some grave concerns. There is a co-located Vietnam veterans counselling service with the VAN office in Newcastle and there are a number of shared facilities, including the boardroom and kitchen facilities. There are grave concerns about what will happen to those veterans who rely on the counselling services there and to groups, like the Men's Health Peer Education, which are running important mental health and counselling services from those offices. Members of the TPI Association and many other ex-service organisations in my electorate have come to me deeply worried about the stories they keep hearing about the closure of the VAN office in Newcastle.

In my area I have the Williamtown RAAF Base, with some 3½ thousand personnel to the north, and I have some 29 ex-service organisations in my electorate. It is a very active community. This group of people fought very hard to get services into those communities of need in the first place and they are deeply worried about any potential for closure of the VAN office in Newcastle. I seek your assurance on all of those questions I have just asked, Minister.

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