Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Cyber Security) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to thank the member for Banks for his question and acknowledge his ongoing support for our defence personnel and veterans. As the Prime Minister has said, the best way we can honour the service and sacrifice of the diggers of 100 years ago is to make sure that we're looking after the veterans of today. The Turnbull government is continuing to work to improve the transition of our separating ADF personnel and to ensure that they have meaningful opportunities in civilian life.

Veterans are some of the most highly skilled members of the workforce and have much to offer the business community. They bring not just their technical skills but also values such as leadership, resilience, agility and the ability to operate in complex environments. The Prime Minister's Veterans' Employment Initiative, announced in November 2016, with the support of the opposition—and we thank them for that—helps industry recognise and connect with that talent. This is not charity; this is about encouraging business to make a smart business decision.

Yesterday, the chair of the program's industry advisory committee, George Frazis, and the Prime Minister launched the inaugural Prime Minister's Veterans' Employment Awards to celebrate Australian businesses and the veterans who are making a significant contribution to their workplace. The awards include nine categories covering businesses of all sizes, employees and businesses employing our ADF spouses—a very important category. We also launched a practical toolkit to support veterans to enter the Australian Public Service. After all, government has a role to play in this program as a significant employer in Australia, as well. The government has already added a 'Defence Force experience desirable' flag to the jobactive website, resulting in more than 1,500 jobs being advertised.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the industry advisory committee for their ongoing work in this area, and I look forward to continuing to work with them. I would also like to thank the opposition for their bipartisanship on this issue. As they have said, this program is a long-term legacy, to be continued by all governments in the future. In particular, I'd like to thank—she's not here—the shadow minister, who has offered to send out the shell press release to all the members on that side as well, so that we can have all members in this place advertise this initiative right round Australia. For those who want to learn more about the program, go to veteransemployment.gov.au. Prime Minister, I commend you for this initiative and the announcement yesterday. It tops off what I think has been an excellent week.

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