From the Assistant Minister
The Hon Matt Thistlethwaite MP
Assistant Minister for Defence
Assistant Minister for Veterans’ Affairs
It has been a busy time in the Defence and Veterans’ Affairs portfolios since I last penned this column, and I am pleased to share with you some of the achievements that I am proud to have been able to contribute to support our veteran community.
In October this year, I introduced a Bill into Parliament to amend the Defence Home Ownership Assistance Scheme. The legislation will upgrade the scheme, providing greater support for serving and ex-serving members of the Australian Defence Force to purchase their own home.
It will also make access to the scheme easier, and reduce the qualifying period for permanent serving personnel to two years. Importantly, we're removing the post-service cap, so veterans and families will be able to access this scheme at any time after they’ve completed service, rather than the current five years.
Reforming the scheme was one of my key priorities coming into Government.
Veterans’ mental health is a key priority. I was pleased to announce in August that Open Arms – Veterans & Families Counselling is offering a new treatment for posttraumatic stress called RESTORE – Rapid Exposure Supporting Trauma Recovery, which compresses the normal ten-week course of prolonged exposure therapy into just two weeks. This followed a successful trial that was a partnership between DVA, Defence and Phoenix Australia Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health. It found that intensive exposure therapy is equally as effective as standard therapy, and participants were nearly four times less likely to drop out of therapy compared with those engaged in the 10-week treatment.
In November, I had the pleasure of opening the new Melbourne office of Open Arms on Collins Street. It had already been open for two years but due to COVID, no official opening had been possible. It was a great opportunity to meet some of the service’s dedicated staff, which you can also do via DVA TV (youtube. com/dvatvaus). I also launched a superb DVA TV video about the 40th anniversary of Open Arms, which I encourage you to watch.
The October Budget saw a further $409,000 committed to the Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway in Sydney over the next four years. The additional funding will contribute to the ongoing operations and maintenance costs, including staffing, gardening, repairs and general maintenance.
I visited the Walkway and saw how impressive it is when I opened the Bruce Kingsbury VC memorial garden and launched a digital honour roll of those Australians killed in the campaign. Private Kingsbury laid down his life at the battle of Isurava.
I very much look forward to 2023, as we strive to further the interests of the veteran community. In the meantime, I wish you a peaceful and restful Christmas. To all those who have served, thank you for your service.