John McVeigh (Groom, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My constituency question is to the Minister for Veterans' Affairs. Could the minister please advise that House how the government plans to harness the skills and increase employment of veterans in our communities.

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

I would like to thank the member for Groom for this question and for his interest and advocacy for the defence community in his electorate. Groom is home to nearly 2,000 veterans and their families and it has a strong military presence at Oakey and at Cabarlah.

Two weeks ago, the Prime Minister launched the Prime Minister's Veterans' Employment Program. This was an initiative which the Prime Minister was happy to put his name to. As a matter of fact, he showed his keen interest in making sure that this initiative would be a success by first announcing it in the cabinet room, when he invited ex-defence service organisations into the cabinet room to explain to them what he would like to do. Two weeks ago, he invited leaders of industry and representatives of business both large and small to Kirribilli to launch this program. It is an incredibly important program. I recognise the opposition spokesperson for defence, Richard Marles, who came along and made this launch a bipartisan initiative.

The best thing that we can do for our veterans when they leave serving is to make sure that they can transition to a job and this is what this program is all about. Ensuring that the men and women who serve in our defence forces this can transition to a job is absolutely vital and it will require the support not only of government but also the support of industry and the community to make sure that we can get this right.

Our defence personnel, when they leave the military, as we have seen, can go on to be Governor-Generals. They can go on to serve in this place. They can go on to be captains of industry. They can go on to head small businesses, large businesses because they bring with them skills such as discipline, such as teamwork, such as hard work. All of those skills are absolutely vital for our businesses. Can I appeal to every member in this House that every time that you are meeting with business leaders, please encourage them to remember the skills that our Defence Force personnel can bring to their workplaces. Because, if they do that, they will be doing what the Prime Minister has said on a number of occasions: the best way that we can pay homage to those who served in 1916, the best way we can commemorate their service is to ensure that we look after the defence personnel and the veterans in 2016.