Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable senator for his question and acknowledge his grandson's presence. You must be very proud—well done.

This weekend, right across Australia, all Australians will have the opportunity to welcome home those who served in Operation Slipper. There will be troop marches throughout the nation. I encourage all Australians to attend and support those men and women who were engaged in Operation Slipper. Many of those men and women may require now, or sometime in the future, assistance to deal with anxiety, stress or other mental health conditions. I have said to this chamber before that veterans' mental health is a matter of great personal importance to me and also to the government. I am therefore delighted today to launch a new smartphone app, called High Res, which continues the government's commitment.

The High Res app features two major functions. The stress management feature helps users manage their immediate reactions to a stressful situation. The app prompts users to test their physical, cognitive, emotional and behavioural reactions and helps them adjust their responses with the use of tools on the app. The performance training feature helps users optimise their mental performance with regular resilience training, hence the name of the app. Training, setting goals and tracking their progress through self-assessment will help users respond better to future challenges in work and in life.

High Res has been developed in collaboration with the Department of Defence and is based on their BattleSMART (Self-Management and Resilience Training) program. High Res is the latest example of DVA using emerging technology to help the Defence community, including families; to raise awareness of mental health issues; and to improve access to professional support. (Time expired)