The Northern Territory Government has released the Territory’s first Defence Veterans Strategy.
The Strategy’s vision is for the Northern Territory to be an attractive and supportive environment for veterans, current and ex-serving and their families, to live and work, and has three key focus areas including employment opportunities, health and wellbeing, and respect and recognition, said NT Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Paul Kirby.
“We believe the NT Defence Veterans Strategy provides a vision and objectives to unite the veteran community, and we look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with veterans and their families to implement this Strategy,” said Mr Kirby.
“The development of the NT Defence Veterans Strategy has been a key focus for us over the past 12 months, and we are pleased to be able to release it on the first day of the annual NT Defence Week.”
There are over 10,000 current and ex-serving veterans living in the Territory, which along with their families represent a significant percentage of our population and an even greater contribution to our economy and community, the Minister said.
Improving access to employment opportunities for veterans has been demonstrated as a key to a successful transition to civilian life.
The Territory Government is currently undertaking work to assess options for increasing veteran employment within the NT Public Service. This includes veterans being able to identify as such when applying for advertised vacancies with the NT Public Service, which will assist them in being considered for roles.
The Government has made the commitment to recruit a minimum of 20 veterans in this coming financial year across the Northern Territory Public Service, and every year after.
“The Territory Labor Government values our serving personnel and veterans,” said Chief Minister and Minister for Defence, Natasha Fyles.
‘We are working to maximise veteran employment in industry as well, and create employment pathways to industry for those leaving the ADF.
“We are experiencing a significant volume of defence work currently, and following the release of the Defence Strategic Review, this is set to continue.”
As part of this work, the Government is reviewing the NT Concession Scheme eligibility criteria with a view to opening up access to a larger proportion of the veteran community.
“Respect and recognition for veterans is at the heart of the Territory. We will continue to provide support to ex-serving organisations to help run commemorative activities, and I thank the representatives from ex-serving organisations that are here today,” the Chief Minister said.
She said the Northern Territory Defence Veterans Strategy will guide future NT Government policies, programs and initiatives to ensure delivery of positive outcomes for the veterans’ community.
To view the strategy visit https://defence.nt.gov.au/industry/resources.
