Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Veterans' Affairs. Minister, the Defence and Veterans Workshop, in Hobart, has supported serving and ex-serving personnel since 1980. It's an essential service and is more important than ever if the government is fair dinkum about addressing the findings of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. But, Minister, the workshop will be homeless if Derwent Barracks are sold off. So what will you do about that? Does the government commit to ensuring the workshop remains in situ or is funded to secure a new facility?

Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Clark for his ongoing support for the veterans workshop and the veterans in his community. Of course, I thank him for his service in the Australian Army as well.

The Defence and Veterans Workshop, which the member mentioned, at Derwent Barracks, has been supporting our current and former serving defence community for decades. It is a great facility that is providing a place for local veterans not just to go and connect but to learn a new skill as well, and we've discussed that before. We as a government are focused on wellbeing support for our veterans at all life stages, and that is something that was emphasised by the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. So I'm pleased to be able to assure the member that our government is fair dinkum about addressing the recommendations of the royal commission. We had already implemented 32 of the recommendations of the commission by the end of last year, and we're on track to, by the end of this year, have implemented two-thirds of those recommendations.

The independent defence estate audit found that many defence properties have no clear or ongoing link to our capability needs for keeping our nation safe, and we need to make sure that our defence estate is fit and proper for our ADF. In making sure we get this right, my good friend the Assistant Minister for Defence has been working his way around the country, consulting with those that are impacted by the defence estate audit. They are not consultations that are about setting or forgetting. He held a town hall in Hobart, and, as a result of the feedback from the local community, the Defence and Veterans Workshop will remain onsite at the Derwent Barracks. I'm pleased that the Prime Minister was able to confirm this when he was in Hobart with Premier Rockliff the weekend before last.

We're working through the divestment of the site and others around the country very carefully. We're going to continue to consult with defence personnel, veterans, reservists, the wider community and of course the families of cadets that may be impacted. It's important that we get this right, and keeping the workshop onsite at Derwent is a key part of doing that.