RSL Stand To Newsletter Jun-Jul 09

NUMBER 144 June–July 2009

Politicians thank troops in Afghanistan

Pictures: Corporal (CPL) Ricky Fuller

The Minister for Defence, Senator the Hon. John Faulkner, thanks Australian Defence Force personnel in the Middle East for their continued efforts.

Minister at front The Minister for Defence, Senator Faulkner, visited Australian troops in Tarin Kowt, Afghanistan on June 14.

He was accompanied by Chief of Defence Force Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston AC AFC; Defence Secretary Nick Warner; and the Commander of Joint Task Force 633, Major General Mark Kelly AO. In addition to briefings, Senator Faulkner took the time to sit and talk with Australian troops. When addressing the Australian forces at Tarin Kowt, Senator Faulkner thanked the men and women on the ground for their tireless work and dedication.

“I did want to say to you all how much we appreciate and respect what you are doing and thank you for the commitment you all make. The work that you do is absolutely critical and you all do your country proud.”

Senator Faulkner received briefs from the Australian Headquarters in the Middle East as well as Australia’s Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force and Special Operations Task Group.

This visit followed meetings between Senator Faulkner and coalition defence counterparts including the Secretary of Defence of the United States and United Kingdom and the ministers of

defence of the Netherlands, Canada and New Zealand.

The meetings were held near Maastricht, in the Netherlands, and at NATO HQ in Brussels in mid-June.

As part of the International Security Assistance Force, Regional Command (South) is responsible for military operations in southern Afghanistan, including in Kandahar, Helmand, Oruzgan, Nimruz and Zabul provinces.

Senator Faulkner said, “This meeting provided an opportunity for me to highlight Australia’s enhanced commitment to Afghanistan and to coordinate this deployment with our partners in the south. I also welcomed the United States’ increased troop presence.

“The increased security presence will assist the international community to reinforce the conditions required for reconstruction and development in Afghanistan and the successful conduct of the forthcoming elections.”

Senator Faulkner also had discussions with NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and Afghan Defence Minister General Wardak.

“It has been of great benefit to meet with my international counterparts to discuss these important issues,” he said.

Reseal report makes suggestions — Page 2

Fears about 1915 ANZACs — Pages 3–4

Warrant Officer Class 2 Jeramie Faint (centre right) answers a few questions from Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull (left) about the new Counter IED Training Facility built in Tarin Kowt during his visit to the province.

New but familiar face takes over

J

ohn King is the new president of the ACT Branch of the RSL. He began his career in the Australian Army as a National Serviceman in January 1971. In 1997 he transferred from the RAInf to the Army’s Intelligence Corps. During the next 15 years John held many operational, instructional and staff appointments in Australia and with the United Kingdom Landforces, specifically in the counterintelligence and security fields.

In 1992 John left the Army to take up the appointment as the Program Security Manager, Force Executive, with the Office of the Chief of the Defence Force.

The same year he transferred to the Army Reserve, where he has served in a variety of appointments. In 2005 John transferred to the Standby Reserve where at present he holds the rank of Major.

In 1996 John moved to CSIRO where he is the National Manager, Security and Fraud Control.

His qualifications include a Diploma of Information Management and Analysis from the Defence Department and a Diploma of Security Risk Management from the Canberra Institute of Technology.

He is also a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Professional Intelligence Officers.

Apart from being President of the ACT State Branch John is Deputy President of the Tuggeranong Sub-Branch.

In addition he is the President of the Board of Management at the Sir Leslie Morshead Home for Veterans and Aged Persons in Canberra.

Bill Crews’s farewell to ACT mates — Page 6

Emergency booklet — Centrefold

John King

Stand To, June–July 2009

2

F-111 ‘sealing’ inquiry calls for action T

he report of the Inquiry into RAAF F-111 Deseal-Reseal workers and their families, tabled in Parliament on June 25, recommended that approximately 2,000 Defence personnel who worked in the F-111 fuel tanks be included in the F-111 ex-gratia scheme as recognition of their working conditions.

The Chairman of the inquiry, Arch Bevis MP, said, “The recommendations of this inquiry, if adopted, will rectify the shortcomings of the Howard Government’s 2005 scheme, which ‘was born of fuzzy logic, shrouded in misleading spin and then administered in confusion’.

“Those workers involved in running repairs of the fuel-tank leaks undertook work known as ‘pick and patch’.

“Without explanation, the 2005 scheme provided assistance to workers who did pick and patch in the formal deseal/reseal programs but not to about 2,000 other Defence personnel in three other squadrons who undertook the same duties.

“The recent inquiry recommends that those 2,000 forgotten F-111 Defence personnel receive the appropriate exgratia payments and other assistance.

“The report also makes recommendations for assistance to be provided to the long-suffering families of those affected, improved communication with the wider F-111 fuel-tank repair community and improvements in the handling of occupational medicine and OH&S issues within the wider Australian Defence Force.”

The inquiry concluded that there was a lack of clear evidence to prove that certain chemicals used in the F-111 deseal/reseal programs were the cause of widespread health problems in the F-111 fuel-tank repair community.

However, the report’s 18 recommendations are wide-ranging and cover ex-gratia payments, health matters and processes.

They include: • The recommendations seek to ensure that access to the ex-gratia scheme is based on the work undertaken in the tanks, not the unit nor the year in which the work was undertaken. As a result, about 2,000 RAAF personnel would qualify for the scheme; • Increased counselling support for families is recommended to help those affected move on with their lives; • The Committee will seek regular reports on the progress of civil legal action taken by F-111 personnel in the hope that these can be concluded in a reasonable time; • An urgent increase in the number of occupational medicine specialists.

Amazingly, the Australian Defence Force has only one full-time person in this role;

PP299436-00118

STAND TO Stand To is published four to six times a year.

The Returned & Services League of Australia ACT Branch is incorporated under ABN 61 268 362 646.

Technology to keep divers safer

MPs act on disability discrimination

B

oth Houses of the Federal Parliament have passed the Disability Discrimination and Other Human Rights Legislation Amendment Bill 2008.

The Attorney-General has announced also that the Australian Human Rights Commission will be given specific responsibilities for monitoring Australia’s implementation of the international Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Amendments to the federal Disability Discrimination Act respond to findings by a Productivity Commission inquiry that stronger measures to ensure economic and social inclusion for people with disabilities are not only necessary but also make good economic sense.

The Minister for Defence Personnel, Materiel and Science,Greg Combet AM MP, and the Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Russ Crane AM CSM, observe Navy Clearance Diver Able Seaman Dave Wyatt, using the wrist-mounted computer.

N

ew technology that promises to significantly reduce the risks for Navy divers is among seven technological proposals to be funded by Defence.

One of the proposed pieces of technology, by Sydney company Blue Glue, was demonstrated at the Sydney Aquarium — a wrist-mounted computer that monitors a diver’s vital signs from the surface to enhance safety during operations.

Others include: • enhanced surveillance technology

for unmanned aerial vehicles (BAE Systems); • a high-powered, low-frequency underwater acoustic system for minesweeping (Thales Australia); • a secure hard drive for protection and movement of classified data (Secure Systems); and • a system to detect potential threats from moving and static ground vehicles (Sentient Vision Systems).

More information on the seven new CTD projects is available at http:// www.dsto.defence.gov.au/ctd13/

Battlefield compo scheme T

he Defence Legislation Amendment Bill (No.1) 2009 has introduced a Tactical Payment Scheme to • Further research into the health implications of working with aviation fuels is also recommended.

Mr Bevis added: “My hope is that the report’s release brings some closure to those affected by working in the F-111 fuel tanks, some of whom have waited many years for recognition.”

The Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Alan Griffin, has welcomed the tabling of the report.

Downloadable copies of the report are available on the Committee’s web site at: http://www.aph.gov.au/house/ committee/jfadt/deseal_reseal/index.htm

RSL registered offices Australian Capital Territory Canberra Services Club Cnr Canberra Ave & Manuka Circle CANBERRA ACT 2603 Postal address: PO Box 708 CANBERRA ACT 2601 Tel: (02) 62606344 Fax: (02) 62951928 Email: manager@actrsl.org.au Web site: http://www.actrsl.org.au NSW ANZAC House 245 Castlereagh Street SYDNEY NSW 2000 Telephone: (02) 9264 8188 Facsimile: (02) 9264 8466 E-mail: statsec@rslnsw.com.au

provide a means for making no-liability payments to people adversely affected

by ADF activities abroad.

Greg Combet, Minister for Defence Personnel, Materiel and Science, said, “The ability to make timely and responsive payments to persons adversely affected by Australian Defence Force activities is critical for maintaining local community support and thereby ensuring the safety of our troops overseas.”

The Tactical Payment Scheme will operate independently from the Act of Grace provisions which are unsuitable in operational environments.

The scheme will be managed

by Defence and, like the Act of Grace provision, will be bound by strict transparency, accountability and reporting.

Queensland PO Box 629 Spring Hill, Qld 4004 Telephone: (07) 3634 9444 Facsimile: (07) 3634 9400 Email: enquiries@rslqld.org Victoria ANZAC House 4 Collins Street MELBOURNE VIC 3000 Telephone: (03) 9655 5555 Facsimile: (03) 9655 5500 E-mail: rslvic@rslvic.com.au SA/NT ANZAC House, Torrens Training Depot, Victoria Drive ADELAIDE SA 5000 Telephone: (08) 8232 0322

$90,000 allocated to support Defence families

D

efence family community groups across Australia will receive more than $900,000 in Family Support Funding grants over the 2009–10 financial year.

The Defence Family Support Funding Program was introduced to provide grants for Australian Defence Force family groups for projects that will connect the families with their local communities, enhance the families’ self-reliance and improve their over-all well-being.

This financial year, forty-seven Defence family support groups in all states and territories, as well as in Papua New Guinea and Malaysia, will benefit from the grants, which help Defence family support groups to make appropriate use of neighbourhood houses and community centres as well as undertake programs and activities such as craft groups and playgroups.

They also help in other ways such as assisting children with special needs and producing local newsletters.

Training death An Australian soldier was killed in a training accident at Puckapunyal, Victoria, on June 26 when a single M113A1 Armoured Personnel Carrier holding four troops overturned whille in a training exercise. Another soldier was injured in the accident and was flown to hospital in Melbourne for treatment.

Facsimile: (08) 8232 0377 E-mail: admin@sa.rsl.org.au Western Australia PO Box 3023 Adelaide Terrace PERTH WA 6832 Telephone: (08) 9325 9799 Facsimile: (08) 9325 7432 E-mail: rslwahq@iinet.net.au

RSL National HQ Cnr Constitution Ave and Blamey Cres Campbell ACT 2601 Postal address: GPO Box 303 CANBERRA ACT 2601 Ph: (02) 6248 7199, Fax (02) 6247 7637 E-mail national.nhqadmin@rsl.org.au Web site: http://www.rsl.org.au

Tasmania 68 Davey St, Hobart TAS 7000 Telephone: (03)) 6224 0881 Facsimile: (03) 6223 1229 E-mail: rsltas@southcom.com.au

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Stand To, June–July 2009

3

The ANZAC tradition of Australian mateship EVACUATION OF GALLIPOLI

Not only muffled is our tread — To cheat the foe.

We fear to rouse our honored dead — To hear us go.

Sleep well, old friends, the keenest smart Which more than failure, wounds the heart, Is thus to leave you, thus to part.

— Comrades, farewell!

A.I Guppy.

CQM, 14th Battalion A.I.F 1887-1917 ANZAC Day — April 25, 2009

By Anne Fairbairn AM

W

hile outwardly supportive of our troops’ role in World War I, the former Australian Premier of New South Wales, Prime Minister of Australia and then first High Commissioner to London (for two terms) during World War 1, Sir George Houstoun Reid, my grandfather, held private reservations about the ANZAC deployment to the Dardanelles in 1915.

He received a letter at the time from his friend, the First Sea Lord in the British War Cabinet, Lord “Jackie” Fisher, who resigned from his position in disgust because of what he saw as the misguided push by the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, for the ill-fated Dardanelles campaign.

Reid had travelled to Egypt in early 1915 and inspected the Australian troops and had been hugely impressed with their standard of training before they embarked for the Dardanelles.

However my father, Clive Reid, George Reid’s younger son, who was

Sir George Reid, High Commissioner for Australia in England, addresses the 1st Light Horse Brigade, commanded by Colonel H G Chauvel, at Maadi camp, Egypt, on New Year’s Day, 1915. He is standing up his Rolls Royce. a young boy at Westminster School in London at the time, told me that his father, George Reid, was extremely concerned about the concept of the Dardanelles because he believed it was a misguided attempt to fight the Germans through the back door and was not sufficiently thought through.

Part of the basis of Reid’s and Fisher’s friendship was Reid’s agreement with Fisher that the war could have been shortened considerably if Fisher’s plan — to invade German soil from the Baltic and thus divide the enemy forces — had been put into action instead of the Dardanelles venture.

It is perhaps not historically recorded but my father always said that his father had many worries about this and he certainly discussed his concerns confidentially with close friends, including Lord Fisher.

Fisher wrote to Reid when the tragedy of the Dardanelles was unfolding with huge Australian casualties.

I found this letter in my parents’ attic in their Sydney home when my mother died in 1987 and I had it verified by the present Lord Fisher; it is now in the National Library in Canberra.

Fisher stated in his letter: “…The inexcusable criminal disaster of the Dardanelles and no punishment for the butcher politicians — Yours till hell freezes.” (signed) Jackie Fisher.

He also wrote at the end of his letter “Please burn and destroy.” One would only write this kind of confidential letter to a close friend.

George Reid, as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, would have been acutely aware of the growing number of casualties among the Australian forces on the peninsula.

According to my father, his older brother, Douglas, always maintained that their father was convinced that the whole purpose of the Dardanelles venture was to endeavour to weaken the Turkish army so that a victory could be achieved in the Middle East.

Ironically, since Fisher, as first Lord of the Admiralty, had changed the British fleet from coal to oil several years before the war, it seems clear that the top echelons of the British Government were very well aware of the vast oil reserves in the Middle East.

Thus the Turks were defeated and, in the view of many, the Arabs, who had been promised their freedom from Ottoman domination, were betrayed and the area was controlled by the British and French to serve their own interests.

Continued next page

ACT Branch Sub Branch Offices BARTON-CAPITAL PO Box 5131 Lyneham, ACT, 2602 President: Mrs June Healy OAM Secretary: Mr Dave Mills 1st Tues each second month (from Feb) at 5:30pm Canberra Services Club Jun & Aug meetings at 12:30pm BELCONNEN PO Box 147 Jamison Centre, ACT, 2614 President: AVM Mac Weller AM (Retd) Secretary: Mr Dennis Wilkes 2nd Tue each month at West’s Rugby Union Club 7.30pm Oct-Apr, 11am May-Sep BRITISH 11 Hopetoun Circ Deakin, ACT, 2600 President: Mr James Cullens MBE (02)6282 1407(H) Treasurer: LTCOL B.P. (Paddy) Mahony (Retd) (02)6254 3934(H) 3rd Wed each month, 2pm Canberra Services Club

CAMPBELL-RUSSELL PO Box 461 Civic Square, ACT, 2608 President: Mr Robin Vickery Secretary: Mr Tom Roberts Last Thu each month, 12:30pm Yowani Country Club, Northbourne Avenue CITY OF CANBERRA 27 Bragg Street, Hackett, ACT 2602 President: Mr Jan Paulga Secretary: Mr Paul Bohun Third Wed each month 11am at The Cottage,The Braddon Club, Cnr Donaldson & Torrens Street, Braddon, ACT GUNGAHLIN 11 Mawalan St, Ngunnawal, ACT, 2913 President: Mrs Christine Coulthard OAM Secretary: Mr Rod Bennett First Wed each month 7:30pm Lakes Community Club HELLENIC 136 Lambrigg St, Farrer, ACT, 2607 President: Mr Peter Tsikleas Secretary: Ms Katie Toulkidis Third Tue each month at 7:30pm Hellenic Club, Woden

PEACEKEEPERS C/- Branch HQ President: Mr Greg Lovell Secretary: Position vacant Periodically at the Canberra Services Club, Manuka TUGGERANONG PO Box 351, Erindale, ACT, 2903 President: Mr John Giersch Secretary: Mr Graeme Slattery First Wed each month, 7pm Erindale Rugby Union Club VIETNAMESE PO Box 7107, Canbera Mail Exchange ACT, 2910 President: Mr Thi Van Truong Periodically at the Migrant Resource Centre WODEN VALLEY PO Box 1637 Woden, ACT, 2606 ph.(02) 62851931 http://www.rslwoden.org.au/ President: Mr Peter Collas Secretary: Mr Ross Thomas Last Tue each month 7pm Yamba Sports Club, Phillip.

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Help the RSL help veterans. To sponsor a Stand To page, contact M. Michaelis, 0488 998 381 or michaelis@netspeed.com.au

Stand To, June–July 2009

4

Battles of Mainland Greece and Crete remembered

T

he memorial service for the 68th anniversary of the battles of Mainland Greece and Crete, held on May 25 at the National Australian Hellenic Memorial by the ACT Hellenic RSL Sub-Branch, was attended by political, diplomatic and defence force representatives of Australia, Greece, NZ, UK, Cyprus, European and World War II veterans.

The Greek Defence forces were represented by the Deputy Chief of the Hellenic Armed Forces, Lt General Konstantinos Kalamatas, and by Commander Leonidas Tsiantoulas HN. Official representatives of the Greek Government visited Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra as well as Wellington, NZ, as part of their itinerary before returning to Athens on May 27.

Amongst the official party laying wreaths were the Minister for Veter-

ans Affairs, Alan Griffin, the Chief of the Australian Defence Forces, Air Chief Marshal Angus Huston AO ASC and Brig J M C Robins, representing the UK High Commissioner.

Others to attend included His Excellency Mr George Zois, Ambassador of Greece, and His Excellency Mr Yannis Iacovou, High Commissioner for Cyprus, NZ High Commissioner Dr John Larkendale, accompanied Ms Kate Skandret for the Chief Minister of the ACT, Senator Gary Humphries, RSL National President Major General Bill Crews AO MC, Mr Bruce Tunnah OAM (ACT Branch RSL), Mr Speros Vardos OAM representing the WWII Veterans and Mr George Kathakakis for the Cretan Association.

Veterans of the Greek and Crete campaign friends and relatives included

The Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Alan Griffin (left) greets Lieutenant General Konstantinos Kalamatas, Deputy Chief of the Hellenic Armed Forces, at the memorial service.

Frank Atkins, Les Cook, Keith Hooper, Ron Metcalfe OAM, Norm Simper, Irene Lind and Paul Taylor.

Anger at incompetence in Gallipoli policy

Lord “Jackie” Fisher (portrait detail) Continued from previous page

T

he official history of the Dardanelles disaster was recorded in detail by Australian historian Charles E.W. Bean, who was permitted to be present at the landing at ANZAC Cove and during the continuing battles, by the strident intervention of Reid (as Australia’s High Commissioner to the UK) with the British authorities.

He was to stay on the peninsula for the whole of the campaign, the only correspondent to see it from beginning to end and having, as he hoped, a perfect vantage point for recording the Australians in action. Day after day, night after night, he set down in his diaries what he was seeing and hearing and what men said when he asked them about their experiences. Like everybody else on both sides he got little sleep in the first week of the struggle.

Bean rejects, with uncharacteristic vehemence, a common British view that Australian troops had “advanced in an ill-disciplined rush far beyond the positions they should have occupied” (page 602 in Bean’s official history of the war). “The Australian soldier,” Bean declares, “has scattered to the winds, once and for all, the notion, often reiterated, that an Australian force would be ineffective through lack of discipline.”

Indeed, Bean insists that Australians displayed a remarkable kind of selfdiscipline, which obliged every man to pay no heed at all to shell fire “even so

The Australian Federation Guard provided both the flag and catafalque parties.

By Anne Fairbairn AM, continued from Page 3

Winston Churchill circa WWI

Sir George Reid

Charles E.W. Bean

much as by turning a head or by lowering the pannikin from which he was drinking.”

The landing dissolved all doubts about the relations between the Australian men and their officers, since the appointed leaders revealed “character and competence”.

Bean resolved from the beginning to offer as a memorial to the soldiers a full and accurate account of what they had done, conceiving it to be his duty, as he puts it in the preface, “to record the plain and absolute truth so far as it was within his limited power to compass it”.

The modesty was genuine but he knew that he was uniquely well-placed to do the job, having observed the men of the AIF at close hand for four years.

The odds must have been long against his surviving it all to become their historian. Bean was struck in the leg by a stray Turkish bullet, while following the column of Brigadier General Monash’s 4th Infantry Brigade at the start of the Battle of Sari Bair. Despite the wound, he refused to be evacuated from the peninsula. He left Gallipoli for good on the night of 17 December, two nights before the final evacuation.

He would return in 1919 with the Australian Historic Mission.

As an Australian journalist, war correspondent and historian who is renowned as the editor of the 12-volume Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918, Bean wrote Volumes I to VI himself, which dealt

with the Australian Imperial Forces at Gallipoli, France and Belgium. Bean was instrumental in the establishment of the Australian War Memorial and the creation and popularisation of the ANZAC legend.

My father joined the Australian army in World War II. Bean told him, many years later, that he was hugely appreciative of George Reid’s assistance in arranging for him to be present during the Dardanelles campaign. He also said that eventually the Australian forces would be also fully recognised — not just for their role at the Dardanelles but also for their immense efforts in Northern France. This is something which is now certainly deeply appreciated by the people of Villers-Bretonneux.

After the war he often discussed with Bean the concept of the Sydneyto-Canberra Remembrance Driveway, which my father helped create because he felt so deeply about the losses suffered by Australia in both World Wars.

Also his older brother, Douglas lost his two sons, Bruce and Ian Reid, in World War I. My mother’s two brothers, Colin and Keith Ross Munro, were killed in World War II. One result of Australia’s faithful and sacrificial effort to the cause of World War I was an enhanced international status. After the war, the question of dominion independence arose. As Australia developed a diplomatic service, the Government pressed for more autonomy from Britain in enacting laws.

The Statute of Westminster 1931 (UK)

was passed by the Imperial Parliament in the UK and established legislative equality between the self-governing dominions of the British Empire. In effect it gave the dominion parliaments equal status with the British Parliament established that the dominions were under the authority of the Crown as opposed to the Government of Britain.

Australia finally ratified this law in the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act of 1942.

I am certain that my grandfather would have been extremely proud of the positive symbolism of ANZAC mateship, galvanised in horrendous circumstances, which has emerged as symbolic of our Australian way of life.

I never knew my grandfather — I was born many years after he died. He married my grandmother, Dame Flora Reid, when he was over 50 and she was 20. I have done quite a lot of research into his life and written about his contribution to Australia. Flora was one of the first women to receive the title of Dame; this was bestowed for her huge contribution in caring for wounded Australians in the UK, where she was living during World War I as the wife of Reid, the High Commissioner. According to my father, she always spoke of the strong spirit of “mateship” that existed among all the men she helped.

I trust today all Australians will remember this and never seek to vilify their fellow Australians, especially those who are of non-Anglo-Celtic background.

Help the RSL help veterans. To sponsor a Stand To page, contact M. Michaelis, 0488 998 381 or michaelis@netspeed.com.au

5

Stand To, June–July 2009

DVA’s ‘no’ to cost of most robotically assisted surgery T

he Department of Veterans’ Affairs does not accept financial responsibility for robotically assisted surgery, whether requested by a doctor or a hospital, except in rare cases in which significant clinical evidence has been provided to support its use as the only viable treatment option, according to the Latest News from DVA. The department says, “We have received a number of requests for robotic assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy. In 2006, the Medical Services Advisory Committee (MSAC — the body that advises the Government about items on the Medicare Benefits Schedule) evaluated the use of robotic assisted surgery compared [with] open radical prostatectomy in terms of safety, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness.

“The MSAC review concluded that there was uncertainty about the comparative cost-effectiveness of robotic laparoscopic surgery as a shorter period of hospitalisation does not offset the additional costs involved.

“MSAC also noted that there was insufficient evidence on long-term outcomes compared [with] an open radical prostatectomy — that is, the remission rates associated with incomplete removal of the cancerous tissue. Open radical prostatectomy is still considered the ‘gold standard’ for this type of procedure.

“Consequently, DVA does not accept financial responsibility for robotic assisted surgery, whether requested by a doctor or hospital — except in rare cases [in which] significant clinical evidence has been provided to support its use as the only viable treatment option. Any request for exceptional circumstances to support the funding of robotic surgery is considered on a caseby-case basis and should be submitted to DVA for approval [before] the surgery takes place.

“This request must be made by the treating doctor. DVA will not fund robotic laparoscopic prostatectomy on the basis of veteran’s or surgeon’s personal preference for this procedure. If the robotic assisted surgery is provided without DVA approval — either not obtaining it or proceeding having been rejected by DVA — then DVA will only fund the surgery at the equivalent DVA fee for the open radical prostatectomy.

“In terms of requests from hospitals, DVA will not fund requests for the same reasons outlined above.

“DVA’s decision in this matter reflects a departmental position to fund the requested treatment. It is not a direction to the treating doctor on whether to undertake the surgery, which is clearly a medical judgment.”

“Any difficulties ... you may experience should be referred to your nearest Welfare Officer or Advocate.”

Other DVA information The latest issue of e-News, produced by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, covers: • the new DVA web site live; • the new Australian War Memorial London web site; • single claim form trial begins; • details of the Repatriation Medical Authority web site; and • coming anniversaries

ARC among the big guns of choirs

Members of the Australian Rugby Choir outside the Australian War Memorial with one of HMAS Australia’s big guns, now on permanent display in the grounds of the AWM.

T

he Australian Rugby Choir (ARC) continues its close association with the Australian War Memorial and ex-service ceremonies in 2009 after a great year in 2008, during which it participated in two international performances.

On October 29 last year the ARC was invited to support the international star Aled Jones in his recital at the Canberra Theatre to a packed house.

Again, on November 22, in a first for Canberra, the Male Choir Association of Australia (MCAA), conducted by the distinguished Welsh conductor Alwyn Humphries MBE, fielded a male choir of 300 voices in Llewellyn Hall.

Mr Humphries was recently named Conductor Emeritus and received several international awards.

This festival of male voices (of which the ARC contributed more than 50 members) again performed to a capacity house.

The money raised was donated to a fund for the treatment of prostate cancer and combating depression, both diseases prevalent among exservicemen.

As a result, the ARC has been invited to participate fully in future performances, in Sydney or Canberra.

For the remainder of 2008, the choir performed at more than 50 presentations including several plaque dedication ceremonies at the Australian War Memorial, all Rugby Union fixtures in Canberra involving the Brumbies team and several presentations at senior-citizen and ecumenical church functions.

Additionally, the ARC participated in five concerts, including a second massed-choir presentation at the Syd-

Australian Rugby Choir’s links with AWM and veterans grow year by year ney Opera House and an international gathering in September 2008 at Carnegie Hall, USA. As will be appreciated, 2008 was a most successful year and 2009 seems likely to match it.

The choir resumed in February ths year and so far has continued to perform at all plaque-dedication ceremonies with the Royal Military College Band.

The two most recent performances were a commemorative service to recognise the dedication and service of members of No. 3 Company AASC on March 6.

Brigadier David Saul AM, Head of Corps RACT, gave the address and also unveiled the commemorative plaque, accompanied by Mr Kevin Connelly, President No 3 Transport Association.

The second ceremony was the Annual Veterans’ Community Aged Care wreath-laying ceremony on April 1.

The Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Alan Griffin, gave the commemorative address.

The National President of the RSL, Major General Bill Crews AO, recited

the Ode. The director of the AWM, Major General Steve Gower AO, emphasised the significance and value of these commemorative dedication ceremonies and expressed the appreciation of the AWM for the continuing support of the Royal Military College Band and the Australian Rugby Choir.

As in the past, the ARC was fully involved musically in the ANZAC Day Service at the AWM. The ARC has a number of exservice members, some of whom were marching with their units in the parade.

At the conclusion of the ceremony these members usually attend at their respective service reunions, including those held by the Vietnam Veterans’ Federation, RAAF Association and others, to celebrate and remember in the traditional manner.

These members contributed a few informal songs later at such welcoming venues as the Irish Club, Weston.

Clearly the ARC continues to have a full program for 2009.

Included was the annual ARC Fund Raising Concert, held at the Hughes Baptist Church on June 20, in company with the Woden Valley Youth Choir.

The ARC presented a comprehensive repertoire including selections from their appearances in late 2007 at the Sydney Opera House and the Aled Jones Concert in November 2008 in Canberra.

Any ex-service member interested in joining the ARC can contact the ARC Liaison Officer, John Prout, at (02) 62583151— email jmprout@bigpond.net.au

Help the RSL help veterans. To sponsor a Stand To page, contact M. Michaelis, 0488 998 381 or michaelis@netspeed.com.au

Stand To, June–July 2009

National President addresses ACT State Congress

O

pening the ACT State Branch Congress, RSL National President Major-General Bill Crews said: It is always a pleasure to be able to address the Congress of my home state.

Thank you for inviting me to join you all again and, on this occasion, according me the honour of opening proceedings.

I am often asked which is the best Congress to attend. My evasive answer is that they are all wonderful experiences and each one quite different.

There are, however, some things in common with all of our state congresses: • the considerable effort put into their organisation by the state branch executive and staff and, in most of the states, the hosting sub-branch; • the wonderful hospitality we all enjoy; and • the fellowship which is an essential ingredient in all the League’s gatherings: renewing friendships and making new friends; catching up since we last met; sharing in the common bond we have of Defence Force service.

This morning [June 12], some of us gathered at the Australian War Memorial to pay our respects to all Australians who have lost their lives in the service of our nation or subsequently.

It was a brief but moving ceremony so central to our core purpose as an organisation. We are fortunate in Canberra that we have, in addition to local memorials, the Australian War Memorial and the commemorative avenue, ANZAC Parade. In all respects, we serve as custodians of these great national institutions and memorials Of course, our principal purposes in meeting remain: • receiving reports from our office bearers and holding those we elect to account; • receiving briefings on matters of interest to us; and • discussing the issues of concern to us in an effort to improve either our internal management or governance arrangements or our broader range of entitlements.

Let me say that I am encouraged by the diverse nature of the motions put before this Congress and I feel sure that as you discuss them you will come to a sound consensus about what you might wish to do about them — so it can be a fairly busy day but, above all, let us not be overwhelmed by the business of Congress. Most of us here are volunteers but, irrespective, it is quite important that our experience together here at the Hellenic Club is an enjoyable and rewarding one.

Have fun; and let us appreciate each other’s company and in the process do what we have come here to do on behalf of our sub-branches.

Let me now make sure that I do what I have been asked to do this morning, before I move on to my annual report to you.

Let me declare this 82nd Annual ACT State Branch Congress Open.

ACT Aspects If I could reflect briefly, firstly, on our work here in Canberra, I would suggest that the League’s principal objects are being well satisfied:

Major-General Bill Crews, National President, and Lieutenant Colonel John Merrick, Immediate Past President of the ACT State Branch, lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in a ceremony associated with the ACT Congress in June.

• our engagement in commemorative activities remains strong. I continue to be impressed by Woden Valley SubBranch’s Annual Schools and Peace Ceremony at Eddison Park leading up to ANZAC Day; • our two Day Clubs offer fantastic support to elderly veterans, widows and others living alone; • essential welfare and pension work continues under the watchful eye of Arthur Craig and the many other volunteers who give so freely of their time for hospital visitations and the conduct of all too many funerals; and • while all sub-branches play a key role in supporting local community groups and schools in their areas, I note that Belconnen, Tuggeranong, Woden Valley and Gungahlin SubBranches are also listed as Friends of Legacy.

So let me take this opportunity to thank all of our members in the ACT for your commitment, your time, and your enthusiastic contributions to the many facets of our work.

National Issues In my report this year I will address only a few of many contemporary issues. If any of you have particular matters you want to discuss, please feel free to bail me up during the day or indeed at a later date if you wish. I am keen to ensure that all our members have a chance to have their concerns raised and a response provided.

Veteran Entitlement Framework We have come a long way over the last 10 years. The big issues are largely resolved but we still have much to do in working through anomalies, making incremental but meaningful adjustments to some entitlements, and continuing the cultural change towards a focus on rehabilitation and wellness.

I commend the Government in its active pursuit of the Veterans’ Affairs Policy Platform — a report on which is available from the Minister — and I commend the department on its continuing work to respond to the changing demographics and expectations and reviewing its service-delivery

approaches under OneDVA to make further meaningful improvements. This should be a co-operative endeavour, not an adversarial one. It is our aim to ensure that it is.

Opportunities for financial largesse over the next few budgets are minimal but it doesn’t cost much to explore better ways of doing things, improving relationships between veterans in need and the Department and achieving greater cohesion and cooperation across the wider veteran community.

Superannuation: one unresolved issue from our recent budget submissions is that concerning the indexation of military superannuation and, for some, several related superannuation issues.

The subject has been studied exhaustively. Proposals, some quite modest, have been recommended. Action has stalled.

We can appreciate that until the global financial crisis recedes there is probably little scope to move on this but we should be able to project a future date to resolve this outstanding equity issue.

I had put such a proposal forward to Minister Snowdon. There are also some lower-cost options which will recognise the concerns without responding to them in full.

Major General Crews said other continuing issues included mental health reviews by Professor Dunt; and the work of pension officers and advocates.

Of the Clarke Review, he said representations had been made on all issues: recent British High Court decision on atomic veterans.

• Pharmaceuticals — funding in the Budget for study; • Review of MRCA — our submission has been lodged and will be placed on our web site.

The National President listed as chal-

lenges facing the RSL as: • the new consultative framework; • the needs of younger ex-service men and women: one of the four consultative forums being set up by DVA; • mental health service support and awareness; • financial pressures on DVA — focus on quality of service and empathy; • working with other ESOs; • communications; and • the needs of carers.

Conclusions He continued: As most of you by now are aware, I have decided not to seek re-election at the National Congress this September.

For the sake of the League, national presidents should not hang about longer than five to six years. There is one nominee for the position — Rear Admiral Ken Doolan — and I commend Ken to you and ask you to offer him your full support as you have so generously given me.

As this will therefore be my last opportunity to address this State Congress, let me: • express to you all my gratitude for the loyalty and support you have given to me and particularly to the work of the League over the past six years; • thank you for the hospitality and courtesies extended to me during my participation in various sub-branch and State Branch activities; and • congratulate you on the success of your endeavours here in the ACT in fulfilling the League’s objectives and in the contributions you have made individually and collectively to our lives here in the ACT.

My journey ...

My journey in the last five and a half years has been fascinating and rewarding. It has not been without difficult moments and disappointments but the overwhelming positive is the opportunity to work with so many great people — veterans, their families, departmental staff and others in the wider community. Offering support to our dedicated volunteers is the richest of rewards and will be one of my fondest memories in the years ahead. A big thank you to all of you for that.

Bill Crews

Help the RSL help veterans. To sponsor a Stand To page, contact M. Michaelis, 0488 998 381 or michaelis@netspeed.com.au

HOW TO CREATE YOUR EMERGENCY BOOKLET 1. Lift this section out of Stand To.

5. Now fold each of the four sheets in half so that the dotted red line is inside the fold.

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6. Making sure that all the folded sheets are the same way up, slip the one that has page 3 at the front into the one that has page 1 at the front, then slip the one that has page 5 at the front into that and ďŹ nally the one that has page 7 at the front into that.

3. Cut it in half right along the dotted black line below.

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Stand To, June–July 2009

Paying tribute to the Fallen at the Australian War Memorial

RIGHT: Members of the League pay homage to fallen comrades at the Tomb of The Unknown Soldier at the Australian War Memorial, after the laying of the wreath by Major General Bill Crews, National President, and Lieutenant Colonel John Merrick, former President of the RSL ACT Branch.

LEFT: Members of the League attending the ACT Branch Congress proceed along the Pool of Reection and Eternal Flame.

Surrounding the courtyard is the Roll of Honour, which may be glimpsed through the arched cloisters.

RIGHT: Annette Ellis MP, federal Member for Canberra, at the 2009 wreath-laying ceremony at the El Aleman Memorial, Egypt.

Help the RSL help veterans. To sponsor a Stand To page, contact M. Michaelis, 0488 998 381 or michaelis@netspeed.com.au

8

Stand To, June–July 2009

Twilight calls for a room of one’s own

By Stephen Lunn, social affairs writer. Reprinted from The Australian, November 15, 2008

ormer US secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld might call them the known knowns.

The complex and often opaque debate over the future of aged care in Australia has some points of clarity uncontested by government, economists, demographers or stakeholders in the multibillion-dollar sector.

Our rapidly ageing population and the consequent increase in future demand for aged care is one. On present demographic projections the number of Australians aged 85 and over will rise from 330,000 in 2006 to 580,000 in 2021, and then to an astonishing 1.6million by 2051.

In 2006 about 167,000 Australians were in residential aged-care accommodation (that is, in purpose-specific facilities) and another 549,000 used home-based aged-care services, ranging from help with cleaning through to bathing and nursing. Recent Treasury modelling shows that by 2050 the need for residential aged care will more than treble to 567,000 and nearly 1.6 million will need some home-based care.

Servicing this vast need, particularly the residential component, will be an incredibly costly exercise.

Another known known is the growing inclination of elderly Australians to stay in their own homes for as long as possible before moving into nursing homes. The notion of retirement villages just hasn’t caught on in the way it has in countries such as the US. This means that they, particularly the techsavvy baby-boomer generation moving into the aged-care sector in coming decades, will be looking for aged-care services to be provided in the home for as long as possible.

It also means many of the 567,000 people needing residential aged care in 2047 will be entering only when they are extremely fragile or ill, or suffering from dementia. The vast majority of residential aged-care users, more than two thirds, will require high-care services for which a greater level of nursing or intensive personal care is needed.

Over time this means the demand for low-care residential aged facilities will hollow out as people stay home until they are much older and frailer.

A third point of consensus is the change in the type of residential accommodation sought by consumers over recent generations. Fewer people, boomers especially, will accept sharing a room in an aged-care home, so that future facilities will need to provide predominantly single-room-style residences with an ensuite to cater for users’ expectations.

As the Productivity Commission says in its September report, Trends in Aged Services, “a large number of baby boomers will have higher levels of income and wealth to purchase the agedcare services they want. As a result the aged-care sector will increasingly face the dual challenge of providing improved services for people with high incomes or wealth while continuing to provide quality aged-care services to those reliant, to varying degrees, on government income support.”

If the provision of aged care in Australia were simply a question of demand and supply there might be an argument to leave it to the market and

stay there until their needs are greater.

Providers are utilising these funds to develop high-care places, which is an example of the market being distorted by the regulations.

Another crucial problem is the unattractiveness of the sector for investors when the Government can control the price they charge. Aged-care providers say they are being squeezed because of the cost of providing what consumers want and what government policy is pushing; single-bed ensuite rooms aren’t worth the investment if there are no accommodation bonds to cover them.

Multi-bed facilities return almost twice as much in earnings as single beds: a Grant Thornton survey earlier this year showed it to be about $4200 a bed compared with $2300. Providers say 40 per cent of residential aged-care facilities are operating at a loss.

“At this point in time the system makes it unattractive for providers to build capacity,” Aged Care Association of Australia chief executive Rod Young says. “The industry did what the Government wanted, to increase the number of facilities with singlebed ensuite rooms, superior finishes and nice sitting rooms. These cost about $200,000 per unit to build but the current scheme just doesn’t support anyone investing.”

Ergas cautions against a policy change to allow bonds for high-care facilities. “My concern is that, if you did that without liberalising the number of places, there wouldn’t be sufficient competition to constrain prices for entry into high care.

“What would make more sense is for the Government to start off by liberalising the planning system [to] make significantly more places available. As that feeds through the system, then you could look at the desirability of removing price controls.”

What about the consumer? What say do they get? If you ask National Seniors Australia chief executive Michael O’Neill, not much.

“Consumers have never had a role. It has been overwhelmingly the Government and providers that decided both supply and demand. Clearly that needs to change.”

O’Neill says the system must allow those in old age who want to fund their own higher standard of care to be able to do it, provided the Government maintains a safety net of quality for those who rely on the public purse in their retirement.

This call for greater choice of agedcare services is echoed by the Productivity Commission.

It says one option is “a cash entitlement which clients could use to purchase aged-care services directly from competing providers” — effectively a voucher scheme.

A voucher scheme is also supported

by Hogan and Ergas as a means of promoting competition.

They say it could operate much like a Medicare card.

“What applies to the population as a whole and to the elderly for access to medical advice is withheld from the provision of aged-care services. This is discriminatory. Why should it be so?”

Hogan asks.

F

Canberra’s Morshead Home for Veterans and Other Aged Persons, on the city’s north side, faces the same challenges as those outlined on this page. facilitate a system in which those who can afford it pay for their own care, the government providing a safety net for the rest. However, the aged-care system has a far richer and more complex history, combining government regulation and market forces in an uneasy cocktail. The potential perils are clear from the present problems in the child-care sector, affected by the collapse of the biggest for-profit provider in the country, ABC Learning.

The Federal Government is responsible for funding residential aged care and, in conjunction with state governments, in-home or community care.

It also determines who can access aged-care services through a needs-assessment process and what type of care they can receive and it controls the residential accommodation facilities through quality-control requirements, bed allocations and the price aged-care providers can charge for their rooms.

“There are concerns about the degree to which the provision of agedcare services is shaped by centralised planning and administrative processes, extensive government regulation and high levels of public subsidy,” says the Productivity Commission. “[As a result] competition and price play little role in signalling to providers the changing patterns of demand. “ In effect, client needs and preferences are only revealed indirectly to providers through government planning and regulatory processes rather than directly.”

Economist Henry Ergas agrees, saying the government’s control over entry requirements allows it, effectively, to ration places so aged-care facilities remain full and waiting lists are generated. “It creates an artificial scarcity that limits the scope for competition, blunts pressure for efficiency and innovation and deprives consumers of choice,” he says.

“Aged-care suppliers face little threat of displacement and have limited incentives to be efficient.”

They must meet the quality-control regulations set by government but have no need to offer more or better infrastructure or services to attract customers.

To fund residential care facilities, the Federal Government has allowed agedcare providers to charge an accommodation bond that can be more than $250,000. This is an up-front payment by a resident from which an annual charge is drawn by the provider — in effect a loan contribution towards the cost of a residence — but these bonds aren’t available for high-care facilities, the sector expected to experience the biggest growth. Thus, investing in the sector is a lot riskier.

“The impact of this discrimination is to make investment in ordinary highcare facilities less attractive than in any type of aged-care facility,” warns professor Warren Hogan, author of an influential review of aged care in 2004.

Hogan is critical of the growing “extra service high-care” sector, which does allow accommodation bonds to be bought. “[This] brings a remarkable discrimination. Those with substantial assets may buy their way into high care by offering substantial bonds. Those lacking substantial wealth, not concessional and assisted residents alone but including those of relatively modest wealth, are not able to offer anything to support the provision of services for them.

Thus the discrimination is against the less-well-placed in Australian society,” he says.

Some buy their way into high-care accommodation through the back door, paying an accommodation bond in a low-care facility and utilising the government policy of “ageing in place” to

‘Consumers have never had a role. It has been overwhelmingly the government and providers that decided both supply and demand. Clearly that needs to change.’

Help the RSL help veterans. To sponsor a Stand To page, contact M. Michaelis, 0488 998 381 or michaelis@netspeed.com.au

9

Stand To, June–July 2009

How the DVA Budget is helping veterans M

inister for Veterans’ Affairs Alan Griffin has recently published Ten Benefits for Veterans in the 2009–10 Budget in which he sets out how Veterans’ Affairs Budget delivers $11.8 billion, including $6.5 billion for compensation and income support and a record $4.9 billion for health and health services.

Pensions

More than 320,000 Veterans’ Affairs pensioners will benefit from pension changes and $1.1 billion in extra financial support has been allocated in the portfolio. Single service pensioners and war widows will receive a boost of up to $32.49 a week, those on couples rate receiving an additional $10.14 combined a week. These changes are aimed at those most reliant on income support to make ends meet. Those on a disability pension who also qualify for service, age or disability support pension, including more than 80% of TPI pensioners, will receive the increase in line with their financial circumstances.

The income-test taper rate will increase from 40 cents to 50 cents from 20 September 2009 but any current pensioner who would suffer a decrease in rate will be protected by being paid automatically at a transitional rate with no disadvantage.

Modern Budgets are so massive and so complicated that a second look — or even a third — is advisable. Here are 10 elements of the recent budget affecting veterans.

Carers

A new carer supplement will be paid annually to replace previous one-off bonuses for carers in the veteran community. First payment was scheduled by 30 June 2009. Subsequent payments are scheduled from 1 July 2010.

Partner service pensioners receiving carer allowance will get a basic bonus of $600, plus $600 for each person they provide care for.

Mental health

In response to Professor Dunt’s independent study of suicide in the ex-service community, $9.5 million has been committed for the implementation of the recommendations of his report. A further $83 million has been committed in the Defence portfolio to implementing the recommendations of the Review of Mental Health Care in the ADF and Transition through Discharge.

Battlefields

$10 million is being spent on a Western Front Interpretive Trail to better commemorate the nearly 300,000 Australians who fought on the Western Front. Options including improvements

to local museums, improved links with regional battlefield trails and the establishment of interpretive facilities are being considered.

Pharmaceuticals

$500,000 has been allocated for a pharmaceuticals review to examine the cost of pharmaceuticals for war-caused disabilities. The review will begin later in 2009 and involve consultation with the veteran community.

Compo review

$500,000 has been allocated for the Military Compensation Review. Submissions by organisations and individuals ended on 30 June.

University help

About 880 Veterans’ Children Education Scheme and Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act Education and Training Scheme university students will receive a student start-up scholarship of $2,254 from 2010.

About 320 of these students will also receive a relocation scholarship, worth $4,000 in the first year of study and $1,000 each year thereafter, if they

have to move away from their family home to complete their studies.

Insurance

Long serving (current and former) ADF personnel have had their service recognised with better access to costeffective home and contents insurance through the Defence Service Homes Insurance Scheme.

In-home care

About 3,000 veterans and war widows will benefit annually from streamlining of the assessment process for in-home care and rehabilitation appliances. Improving coordination between in-home programs will enhance services to the veteran community through better identification of needs and improved targeting of services.

Pensions overseas

Up to 2,000 war widows and DVA pensioners living in about 70 countries will benefit from changes allowing pensioners living overseas to receive their pension payment directly into overseas bank accounts, providing the country of residence has a reliable banking system.

For more information contact the Department of Veterans’ Affairs on 133 254 for the cost of a local call.

Promises, promises — and how they’re faring the then OppoA sition spokesman for Veterans’ Affairs Alan Griffin — and now t the last election,

Minister — presented a comprehen-

sive 28-page plan outlining his party’s Veterans’ Affairs policy to be implemented in a three- year term.

The test, since the election, has been to implement it.

“As we are now half way through the three-year term, it is timely to report on what has been implemented and where we are with progressing what remains,” he says.

The implementation of items with an asterisk * appears next to legislation/regulations passed by the previous Government.

Provide fair indexation for all veterans’ compensation pensions* From 20 March 2008, all veterans’ compensation pensions are now indexed with reference to both Consumer Price Index and male total average weekly earnings.

An increase in the Extreme Disablement Adjustment (EDA) pension* From 20 March 2008, the EDA pension has been increased by $15 per fortnight.

Increased non-economic loss compensation payments* From 20 March 2008, the general rate table used to assess payment amounts has been increased by 5 per cent.

Fair indexation for War Widows’ Domestic Allowance* From 20 March 2008, the domestic allowance component of the widow’s pension is now indexed with reference to both Consumer Price Index and male yotal average weekly earnings.

An increase in the Domestic Allow-

ance component of the War Widow’s Pension* From 20 March 2008, the domestic allowance component of the pension has been increased by $10 a fortnight.

Remove the Simpler Super tax hike* Amendments to regulations on 2 October 2007 ensure Military Superannuation and Benefits Scheme members who are under preservation age and who take their pre-July 1999 member benefit will have the choice of applying all their available tax-free amount against their lump sum (up to the amount of their pre-July 1999 benefit) or applying the proportioning rules.

Increase access to Widows’ Benefit for post-retirement marriages. The Widow’s Benefit has been backdated to 1 July 2003 where an ex-serviceman or woman entered a marital relationship after 60 years of age but died within five years of the relationship’s commencing. This will be made through Act of Grace payments.

Release and consult on the Military Superannuation Review report The Government is carefully considering the report before any decisions are taken because of its importance to contributing and retired members of the ADF. Introduce a National Transport Concessions Scheme — continuing The Australian Government has offered almost $50 million over four years for state and territory governments to provide concessions to more than three million Seniors Card holders who use public transport services outside their home states. All states and territories except Queensland and Western Australia are now providing concessions to interstate cardholders and discussions are continuing with

the two states yet to implement the scheme.

Provide extra financial support through ‘Making Ends Meet’ From 20 March 2008, Utilities Allowance for eligible pensioners was increased to $500 per annum, paid in quarterly instalments. The Seniors Concession Allowance was also increased and the Telephone Allowance raised to help meet the cost of a home internet connection. The Secure and Sustainable Pension reforms, which were announced in the 2009–10 Budget, will simplify the complex system of allowances by combining them into a streamlined and more flexible payment paid fortnightly from 20 September 2009.

Healing our veterans both physically and mentally Help address the cost of pharmaceuticals for war caused disabilities Funding has been provided in the 2009–10 Budget to examine the cost of pharmaceuticals for war-caused disabilities. The review is planned to commence later in 2009 and will involve consultation with the veteran community.

Increase funding for the Applied Suicide and Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) program An additional $1 million has been provided for the ASIST program over four years in the 2008–09 Budget.

Implement a comprehensive ADF mental health ‘Lifecycle’ package The study Barriers to Rehabilitation, the transition management project and family support trials are all under way. The Department of Defence is

progressing the Annual Mental Health Screen, Resilience Research and Resilience Training initiatives, which are also part of the package.

Make community mental health more “ex-service friendly” — continuing An agreement has been formalised with the Australian Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health to develop a clinical best-practice education kit for community mental health workers.

Conduct an independent study of suicide in the ex-service community The Independent Study [of] Suicide in the Ex-service Community conducted by Professor David Dunt was finalised in February 2009 and made 21 recommendations. The Government has accepted the 21 recommendations (one in principle). $9.5 million has been allocated over four years for their implementation.

Introduce the Commonwealth Dental Health Program This program has not been able to commence. The Government is continuing discussions with crossbench senators to progress this commitment.

Include young ex-service people with disabilities in the Commonwealth State Territory Disability Agreement The new National Disability Agreement, which began on 1 January 2009, includes a commitment to ensure that younger veterans have access to specialist disability services where Veterans’ Affairs programs are not available to provide them.

Review the aged care needs of veterans and “special needs” The Government is conducting a

Continued back page

Help the RSL help veterans. To sponsor a Stand To page, contact M. Michaelis, 0488 998 381 or michaelis@netspeed.com.au

10

Stand To, June–July 2009

Film maker wants your royal visit memories A

re you, or were you, a fan of Queen Elizabeth? Have you met her, or presented Her Majesty with a bouquet of flowers on one of her 13 royal tours to Australia?

Were you in a country town, a regional centre or a capital city when the Queen came to visit? Do you have a cherished memory to share? Did you snap photos or shoot the odd reel of film or video?

Australian film-makers are now on the hunt for your stories and archive. Electric Pictures is producing A Royal Romance — a documentary for a prime-time ABC audience that takes an informed and affectionate look back at Queen Elizabeth’s unique relationship with Australia.

In 1954, Australia was gripped by Cold War fever, the Labor Party was about to split over communist influence in the trade unions, floods and a cyclone devastated both Queensland and NSW and Bill Haley and the Comets’ Rock Around the Clock was topping the charts.

On February 3, in the middle of a blazing hot summer, a 28-year old Queen Elizabeth II stepped ashore on Sydney Harbour — the first reigning monarch to visit Down Under. Her much-loved father, King George VI, had died onlt two years earlier.

Throughout the country, arches were built, decorations erected and fireworks let off for gala events. A unique agency was created within the Prime Minister’s Department to handle all arrangements for the tour. The Postmaster-General’s office created a special Royal edition 7½-penny stamp. In cinemas, God Save the Queen was played before the start of every movie and patrons dutifully rose to their feet. The Commonwealth Film Unit made a feature-length colour film about the tour, which was screened in cinemas around Australia and Britain.

It’s hard to imagine those scenes now,

55 years later, when many Australians are actively debating the idea of a republic but in the Australia of 1954 the royals were greeted like rock stars.

They were a young, handsome couple, considered modern and stylish. Enormous crowds greeted them everywhere; school children, ex-servicemen and women, sportsmen, miners, trade-union leaders, farmers, lord mayors, everyday

Australian mums and dads and their children — even left wingers and communists. A staggering three quarters of the Australian population (7.5 million people) made an effort to see the Queen, sometimes more than once. The record viewing was 23 times by a devoted fan from Brisbane.

During their two-month stay, the Queen and Prince Phillip wound their

way around the country visiting war memorials, rocket ranges, people in hospitals, indigenous people, town halls, parliaments, open-cut mines, sheep and cattle stations, garden parties, horse races, cricket matches and the Great Barrier Reef.

They were a symbol of national unity and Australia’s historic ties to Britain and its fading sense of empire.

Documentary director Trevor Graham says, “A Royal Romance is like travelling in Dr Who’s Tardis, back to the era of my parents’ generation, to revisit their enthusiasm for the Queen and what she meant to that postwar generation of the 1950s. Equally it’s an opportunity to look at how Australia and Australians have changed since the first royal tour and to ask what the continuing relationship with the Queen means for us today”.

The first Australian documentary on this subject for many years, A Royal Romance is history brought to life in a winning blend of nostalgia and analysis, anecdote and charm that captures the changing mood of the nation and retraces the Queen’s reign for the last 55 years.

Beyond the politics, the brouhaha and rights and wrongs of our current constitutional relationship with Queen Elizabeth, many Australians maintain a soft spot in their hearts for their aging monarch.

If you have a cherished memory to share, Electric Pictures would like to hear from you. Director Trevor Graham is looking for compelling eyewitness anecdotes, snaps and film or video footage to tell this significant story about Australia’s relationship with Queen Elizabeth.

Please contact: Electric Pictures 33 Canning Highway East Fremantle 6158 WA Tel: (08) 9339 1073 royal.romance@electricpictures.com.au

Brits offer homes to expatriate service personnel R

oyal British Legion Industries, which manages the Royal British Legion Village at Aylesford, Kent, in the south of England, has vacancies.

Housing & Welfare Manager Richard Macintyre says, “We are 40 miles from London and have excellent links to the motorways for London or the south coast.

“Royal British Legion Village is set in 60 acres of parkland in the grounds of Preston Hall, a Victorian mansion. We offer housing for former armed-forces personnel, their families and dependants. There are 78 dwellings for family housing, supported accommodation for disabled former armed-forces personnel, assisted-living sheltered housing for the elderly and temporary housing for people wishing to repatriate to the UK on a permanent basis.”

Prince Phillip Lodge was built in conjunction with the Royal Commonwealth Ex-Service League to help former armed forces personnel to repatriate to the UK permanently.

Service users can stay up to six months, in which time they will be given assistance to find their own accommodation as well as benefit applications. The Lodge consists of six selfcontained two-bedroomed apartments.

All are fully furnished with bed linen, kitchen white goods, crockery and cutlery etc. They are tastefully decorated

Mountbatten Pavilion, one of the residential establishments on offer. throughout and have door entry phone systems for extra security. We have vacancies in the coming months.

Mountbatten Pavilion comprises 24 bedrooms (5 ensuite) with a communal dining room, lounge with digital TV and video, for former armed-forces servicemen. Service users can stay up to three years while they receive welfare support with training, employment and getting their lives together before receiving help in finding permanent accommodation. The service is managed by the welfare officer, who also provides full support to the service users along with other RBLI housing.

Meals are provided in house and we have a silver award from the Council

for this service. Because of our success in helping people move on, we have vacancies.

Queen Elizabeth Court provides assisted living or extra care, sheltered housing. The new complex consists of 40 one- and two-bedroom self-contained flats for ex-armed forces personnel or their dependants who are 65 and over and in receipt of between one and two hours of personal care per day.

This is a new concept for RBLI and offers registered in-house domiciliary-care service, assisted bathrooms, landscaped gardens, communal café and on-site hairdressing salon. Also by appointment, chiropody, aromatherapy and atlternative-therapy services are

available. All the flats are decorated to a high standard and have a flush floor shower room. The bedrooms are large enough to take twin or double beds (single in the second bedroom). To inquire about vacancies, contact Queen Elizabeth Court on +44 1622 717463.

Family Housing is provided in 78 two-, three- and four-bedroom bungalows and houses in the village for ex-armed forces personnel and their families.

As with all RBLI housing, support by the Welfare Officer is available as part of our welfare support of service users.

Gavin Astor House is a 50-bed nursing home providing 24-hour care. This purpose-built two-storey building set in parkland is well decorated and has private rooms with ensuite facilities.

Call Gavin Astor House office on +44 1622 791056 for more details.

If any ex-armed service personnel are interested in any of our housing please do not hesitate to contact us for full admission criteria and information.

Royal British Legion Industries Royal British Legion Village Aylesford, Kent ME20 7NL UK Tel: + 44 1622 795954 / 10 Fax: + 44 1622 716657 Web site: www.rbli.co.uk Email: richard.macintyre@rbli.co.uk or roger.leeder@rbli.co.uk

Help the RSL help veterans. To sponsor a Stand To page, contact M. Michaelis, 0488 998 381 or michaelis@netspeed.com.au

Stand To, June–July 2009

Bulletin Board

Bulletin Board

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Bulletin Board

Relive history and your memories

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Merchant Navy Memorial Sculpture at the Australian War Memorial Canberra.

Merchant Navy Day Memorial Service The Merchant Navy Day Remembrance Service to honour those men and women who sacrificed their lives will be held on September 3 at 11am at the Mosman Cenotaph, Myahgah Road, Mosman, Sydney, adjacent to Allan Border Oval World War II saw the estimated loss of about 11,700 merchant ships worldwide. The Australian DVA Nominal Rolls record that at least 3500 Australian Merchant Seamen in World War II and 270 in the Vietnam War lost their lives.

International, national and local community groups and citizens are welcome to lay a wreath/tribute after the official wreath-laying.

The service will be followed by a walk to Mosman Returned Services Club, where refreshments will be served.

RSVP or for further information, view the Australian Merchant Navy web site’s Memorial Service announcement on the home page at www.merchant-navy-ships.com Postal Address: 16 Redan Street, Mosman, NSW 2088 Email: Ron Wylie rswylie@bigpond.com

euralla Gardens and the NSW Toy & Railway Museum invites RSL members to pay them a visit, especially those interested in the naval and military displays, and history of war in miniature.

Leuralla is known as The Showplace of the Mountains. Its magnificent five hectares of cool-climate garden is complemented by a grand old heritagelisted Blue Mountains home dating back to 1912. The house and garden are open to the public and are home to the NSW Toy & Railway Museum.

It contains the largest and most important collection of pre- and postwar toys in the southern hemisphere, featuring tin-plate trains, planes and cars, extensive model-railway layouts, lead soldiers and figures, dolls and teddy bears with a special emphasis on the period from 1910 to 1960. The operators say that a visit to the museum will bring back many memories of your favourite childhood characters and toys.

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he late John Ashhurst Ward, Service Number RAAF 407 656, from Prospect, SA, enlisted in Adelaide on December 7, 1940. He attended various Australian courses: RAAF Sommers, Ballarat and Evans Head Bombing Courses. He was AC1, AC2. LAC and sergeant during Australian training, first as air gunner then as wireless air gunner .

Shipped to the UK in November 1941 he was posted at RAF Uxbridge; then Yatesbury in December 1941 and Moreton-in-the-Marsh in January 1942.

He took part in European bombing missions including 1000 bomber raids. He was promoted to Flight Sergeant, Pilot Officer and Flight Officer.

He then served with RAF squadrons 104 and 148 from July 1942 in Egypt — Almaza and Cairo — and later Malta (during the heaviest bombing raids on the island).

Posted back to UK at West Kirby and Harwell in February 1943, he embar-

www.toyandrailwaymuseum.com.au Email: leuralla@bigpond.com

Kindred spirits come together

he ACT Kindred Organisations Committee consists of representatives of the Ex-Service Organisations in the ACT/ NSW surrounding area. All ESOs are invited to be represented on the ACT KOC. The aim of the ACT KOC is to provide a joint ESO representation to both the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (locally and federally) and the ACT Government with issues that are of importance to the Veteran Community and that require a strong united representation.

The ACT Kindred Organisations Committee Newsletter is on the ACT RSL web site. ACT RSL is assisting in keeping the Veteran Community informed on the issues that the ACT KOC is addressing.

Current issues being addressed by the

Did you know John Ashhurst Ward?

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There is a wonderful collection of NSW Railway trackside and station memorabilia including lights, trolleys, seats, signals and signs.

Elizabeth Evat, director, says; “Travel back in time and relive the romance of rail as it once was. The house is in its original condition, representing elegant yet relaxed family life in the Blue Mountains in the era when grand hotels and guesthouses were in vogue.

Leuralla epitomises the mode of this period — frozen in the time-frame of the 1920s and 30s. The layout of the rooms, furnishings and effects is just as it was at this time.”

Leuralla is open every day from 10am to 5pm. Group bookings and inquiries are most welcome. The museum offers a discounted rate, for groups of 12 or more people, of $10 per person. The driver and tour leader are free.

ked for India in December 1943, serving with Heavy Bomber Conversion, thence 356 Squadron, Calcutta.

He returned to Australia in June 1944 and after a month’s leave was posted to 1 Operational Training Unit, East Sale, for three months, then to Operations (Anti Sub) at RAAF Lowood in November 1944 .

He was lost five weeks later as a crew member with all others when A9 642 Beaufort from RAAF Lowood Qld (out from Amberley) failed to return from a sub-hunting mission on December 27, 1944.

Along with other Australians his war was with or attached to the RAF 148, 104 and 356 Squadrons. The last RAAF operational Squadron he served with was 32 Squadron.

Anyone who knew John or has further information please ring retired RAAF and Army member John Cameron on 02 6775 2447 or email jtrcpmh@hotmail.com

ACT KOC are: Parking for Veterans and their families at the Canberra Hospital during the current reconstruction and redevelopment.

Veterans’ Park redevelopment.

Acceptance of DVA medical cards at the new “Walk In Centre” at Canberra Hospital.

DVA Deputy Commissioner Consultative Forum.

Effect on Veterans of medical clinic closures in the ACT. TIP Pension & Welfare Courses.

The chairperson of ACT KOC is Pat McCabe and the Secretary is Margaret Smith. The committee includes representatives of AATTV, Defence Force Welfare Assn, Korea & SE Asia Forces Assoc, Legacy, National Service and Combined Forces, National Servicemen’s Association, Naval Assn of Australia – ACT Section, RAAF Assn - ACT, RSL - ACT, T&PI Assn, T&PI Wives’ Assn, TIP Representative, VAAS Office, VAN Office - ACT, Vietnam Veterans Assn, VVF, War Widows’ Guild, WRANS.

2CARU (RAAF) Reunion

A 50th Anniversary reunion to celebrate the formation of 2 Control and Reporting Unit, RAAF Lee Point will be held in Darwin from 18 to 26 September 2009. details on www.angelfire.com.au or email 2caruaware@gmail.com or phone 08 89451547

Radio Ron calling Ron Metcalfe’s radio show, focusing on veterans, is on in the ACT region on the first Thursday of every month at 9.15am and then again at 8pm on Radio One (1120 AM Band)

Help wanted for ‘trapped’ veterans The RSL has received a plea from Tom Benyon, founding trustee of ZANE: Zimbabwe A National Emergency He writes, “As you will appreciate, the predicament of many of the World War II veterans and their widows who find themselves either through age or infirmity effectively trapped in Zimbabwe is dire. The Mugabe regime has allowed inflation to effectively destroy their pensions and their assets.Today many look to ZANE as their lifeline and providers of vital food, financial support and medicines.

“ZANE needs to raise further funds as the position in Zimbabwe worsens month by month.”

As many ex Rhodesian and Zimbabwe nationals have moved to Australia, ZANE has been invited to appeal by several groups of donors and supporters who live in different states. ZANE would give Australians a way to help relatives and friends facing a desperate situation in Zimbabwe.

Please send donations by post to: ZANE, PO Box 451,Witney OX28 9FY England with cheques payable to ZANE: Zimbabwe A National Emergency More information: www.ZANE.UK.com

Longreach Reunion 55AESS/EWPS will be holding their bi-annual reunion at Longreach, Queensland on August 16–20, 2009 For more details contact Sel Christie 0409 374 638 or Frank Bates 0400 556 804 or John Jesser 07 3356 9297

Reunion of 101 Field Battery, RAA Malaya 1959 to 1961 Tour 50th Reunion 18th to 20th Sept 2009, Coffs Harbour Contact David Troedel 36 Murphys Creek Road Toowoomba, Qld, 4350 (07)4630 8787 Email: davidpat@bigpond.net.au

Korean War ceremony The President and Members of the ACT Branch of the Korea and South East Asia Association of Australia invite all veterans of the Korean War to the Korea Veterans’ Day Commemorative Ceremony at the Australia National Korean War Memorial, ANZAC Parade, Canberra ACT on Monday 27 July 2009 at 11.30am — seated by 11.15.

Dress: lounge suit/uniform, with decorations and medals. Inquiries to Ceremonial Officer (02) 62418587, 11 Mawalan Street, Mawalan ACT 2913.

Help the RSL help veterans. To sponsor a Stand To page, contact M. Michaelis, 0415 440 159 or michaelis@netspeed.com.au

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Stand To, June–July 2009

Veterans’ issues — from pensions to prescriptions

Promises, promises — and their fate Continued from Page 9 number of reviews of aged and community care which includes the Aged Care Funding Instrument review due in September. In addition, increased funding in the 2009–10 Budget will bring direct financial support for aged and community care providers who care for older Australians to a record level of $44 billion.

Provide zero real interest loans for aged-care facilities On 17 September, announcement of the first stage of the Australian Government’s $300 million two-part election commitment to provide funding for aged-care beds where they were previously unlikely to be established.

Hold an annual Veterans’ Health Week — continuing The first Veterans’ Health Week is proposed to be held in August 2009 with the theme “Physical Activity”.

Extend the Income Support Supplement to widows without dependents Payment of the supplement to widows without dependents commenced in July 2008.

This involved the abolition of the age restriction on the payment.

Vietnam Veterans’ Family Study A consultative forum to support the study has been established and an Independent Scientific Adviser has been appointed.

At present a short-list of firms to conduct the various parts of the study has been approved and almost all minimum targets for volunteers to be part of the study have been reached.

Extend bereavement payments for single TPI and EDA veterans who die without sufficient assets to pay for a funeral The extension commenced on 1 July 2008.

Automatic granting of War Widow’s Pension to widows of TTI and Intermediate Rate pensioners — Commenced on 1 July 2008.

Increase financial assistance for ExService Organisations An additional $5 million has been provided, with total funding of $14.9 million to be made available over four years.

Establish the Prime Ministerial Advisory Council on Ex-Service Matters Membership announced 6 September 2008; inaugural meeting 9–10 October 2008.

The Council has now met four times both face-to-face and via video and telephone conferences.

Inquiry into former F-111 Deseal/ Reseal workers — continuing The Inquiry into F-111 Deseal/Reseal personnel and their families has been established.

The final public hearing was held on 17 April 2009 and the committee is now preparing the final report.

Improve the operation of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs Establish an inter-departmental working group to help deal with multiple agencies A working group has been established and is meeting on a continuing basis.

So far the working group has reduced the medical reviews a veteran must undertake, improved information-sharing between departments, published

All politicians make promises. The trick is — as the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Alan Griffin, acknowledges — how to fulfil them when in power. A first step is to remind people of what was promised and then make an honest assessment of how far they’ve been implemented. This page contains the continuation of his assessment, which begins on Page 9. a transition handbook on accessing entitlements across multiple departments and commenced trials improving processes for clients.

These trials include the use of the final Defence medical examination to cover the requirements of a liability claim with DVA or ComSuper and a single claim form that allows claimants to lodge a claim under all three acts the department administers and include all the conditions that they wish to claim on the one form.

Establish a public register of exservice officials and conduct regular surveys of them Options are being examined to provide a model for the register that is acceptable to ex-service organisations and the veteran community.

Form a special claims unit The Special Claims Unit was established in December 2007.

A reduction in the average time taken to process claims under all three pieces of legislation has been achieved.

VEA claim time is down 15.7 per cent, SRCA by 7.8 per cent and MRCA by 30.9 per cent.

Examine Military Compensation arrangements — continuing Funding has been provided in the 2009–10 Budget for a review of military compensation arrangements.

Submissions were invited from individuals and organisations.

Submissions closed on 30 June 2009.

Revisit the recommendations of the Clarke Review — continuing The Government has called for submissions as part of a revisitation of those recommendations of the Clarke Review not acted upon by the previous government.

More than 470 submissions have been received and these are being considered, the majority of submissions concerning the British Commonwealth Occupational Force and participants in the British Nuclear Tests.

Improve the transition management process Professor David Dunt made five recommendations about transition from the ADF to civilian life procedures, which the Government has accepted.

Professor Dunt has also looked at transition arrangements in the Review of Mental Health Care in the ADF and Transition through Discharge.

A further $83 million has been committed for the implementation of that report.

Establish a DVA hotline to assist ex-service officials The hotline commenced taking calls nationally in November 2008.

Maintain a separate and properly funded Department of Veterans’ Affairs The 2009–10 Veterans’ Affairs Budget provides funding of $11.8 billion, including $6.5 billion for compensation and income support, and a record $4.9 billion for health and health services.

Formation of an Independent Defence Honours and Awards Tribunal The Tribunal was established on 23 July 2008. The Government has also implemented some of the recommendations of the independent review of the Long Tan gallantry citations. Other outstanding matters are to be considered by the Tribunal.

Provide free Australian flags for families of veterans After the death of a veteran, his/her family can now receive a free Australian flag from their local MP or Senator.

Declare Battle for Australia Day The Governor-General has signed the proclamation of Battle for Australia Day, to be held on the first Wednesday in September to pay tribute to the men and women who served in defence of Australia in 1942 and 1943.

Declare Merchant Navy Day By proclamation Merchant Navy Day will be on 3 September each year, to remember the service and sacrifice of merchant mariners during times of war.

Seek UNESCO Protection for the Kokoda Track — continuing The Australian Government is committed to preserving the historic values of the Kokoda Track. Through a jJoint understanding, the Australian Government is giving $14.9 million to assist the PNG Government protect the Kokoda Track and the Owen Stanley Range. The Australian Government will assist the PNG Government in undertaking a feasibility study for a possible World Heritage nomination of the Kokoda Track/Owen Stanley Range if and when the PNG Government chooses to do so.

Implement Post-Armistice Korean Service Review recommendations — continuing It was announced on 6 April 2009 that the Government would begin issuing the Australian General Service Medal — Korea from early 2010 as well as the Returned from Active Service Badge to eligible ex-servicemen and women. Consistent with the recommendations of the review, those who completed 30 days in South Korea during the post-Armistice period, from 28 July 1953 to 19 April 1956, will receive the medals. Further recommendations are still under consideration.

Ballarat Prisoner of War Memorial Declared as a national memorial on 29 September 2008, $160,000 to be provided over four years on a one-off basis for maintenance.

Government’s implementation update — May 2009

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he Government’s initiatives beyond its policy commitments outlined since the last election, consist of a series of other initiatives that have been implemented.

Economic Security Strategy Stimulus Package The Government provided $407 million for more than 325,000 members of the veteran community in the form of one-off bonus payments, commencing December 2008, to assist older Australians and those on low incomes who are the most vulnerable in the current economic crisis.

One-off Senior Australian bonus A $500 one-off payment commencing in June 2008, paid in recognition of the contribution older Australians have made to our country and the costs and challenges they face.

Support for carers In June 2008, provided a one-off bonus of up to $1,600 to carers in the veteran community to assist in managing the increasing cost of living. The Secure and Sustainable Pension reforms, which were announced in the 2009–10 Budget, will provide eligible carers with better financial security by replacing previous one-off bonuses with an annual supplement. Partner service pensioners receiving Carer Allowance will get a basic bonus of $600, plus $600 for each person they provide care for.

Household Stimulus Package One-off bonuses to eligible members of the veteran community including $900 one-off payments to eligible tax paying veterans and their families, commencing April 2009, as well as one-off education payments to eligible students enrolled in the Veterans’ Children Education Scheme, commencing March 2009, as part of the $42 billion plan.

Commitments to improving mental health Provided $9.5 million for implementation of recommendations of the Independent Study [of] Suicide in the Ex-service Community and $83 million for the implementation of recommendations of the Review of Mental Health Care in the ADF and Transition through Discharge.

Review of the structure of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs Completed a review of the structure of the Department to ensure that it remains responsive to the needs of its clients.

Partner Service Pension changes Aligned qualifying age for Partner Service Pension (PSP) with veteran pension age and ceased payment of PSP to separated spouses.

However, separated partners may continue to receive PSP if they are determined to be in specified circumstances.

Extended repeat prescriptions for the chronically ill Almost 290,000 veterans, war widows and widowers with chronic health conditions can now get up to 12 months’ supply on a single prescription for some medication, reducing the number of times they need to see a doctor just to obtain prescriptions.

Help the RSL help veterans. To sponsor a Stand To page, contact M. Michaelis, 0488 998 381 or michaelis@netspeed.com.au