"At just 17 I joined the Royal Australian Navyand spent most of my time at H.M.A.S Albatross, the home of the fleet air arm. I was a sailor and my job was aircraft maintainer; instruments, armament, communication and electrical systems, avionics in modern terms. At 851 squadron I started on 'Trackers', anti-submarine aircraft. The fleet air arm suffered from a political decision by the Labor government which effectively disbanded all the fixed-wing elements of the fleet air arm and greatly downsized the force. This was my first serious introduction into Australian politics.
LIST OF ISSUES
EDUCATION
Military personnel are told at almost every turn in their career that they get the best training in Australia and sometimes the world to be able to carry out their jobs. In most cases, I would believe this. We are trained to the highest standers. Yet time and again it has been shown that people leaving military service will have inadequately documented proof to support their future job prospects. This has been commonly seen within the enlisted serving members, thus requiring a large amount of “paper chasing” once a member leaves the service to get their civilian certificates.
This has been addressed to some extent over time, however, it has a long way to go and would be an ongoing concern for this party.
HOUSING
Housing of ex-servicemen and their families is a very complicated issue. It ranges from separated families with the ex-service member sleeping rough with domestic violence issues. All the way to ex-members slowly slipping into drug abuse and again sleeping rough.
Some of the problems can be solved with simply giving the ex-member a purpose and employment. This is not the case in all, however all cases need to be addressed and that includes the family of the ex-member as well as that individual.
This is another pressing issue that can be highlighted by us having a person in the Federal Parliament.
HEALTHCARE
Department of Veterans Affairs, DVA and healthcare go hand in hand. This issue is one of the most divisive issues within the veteran’s world. Some veterans have much praise for DVA and just as many have critical complaints that they believe are not listened to.
The party’s goal is to ensure that each and every veteran gets adequate medical care within a realistic timeframe. Far to often the issue of medical care is debated for far too long and the issue is resolved with the death of the veteran before acceptance of responsibility is taken by DVA. This is a never-ending battle that the party will always challenge and endeavour to win.
BUSINESS
I want the defence industry in Australia to grow. I believe that we could build most of our defence needs locally. I would like to see Australia have as much home-grown equipment as Israel has in its defence forces.
We supply the world with the raw materials to make their tanks, ships and aircraft. Well, its about time we made our own.
I will argue that spending 3 times the amount of money on an Australian made item is better for the country’s national security and financial independence than just buying the product overseas. Essentially its our tax dollars buying jobs for our people in our country. This leads to better national security. In a time of war, we need to be able to survive and win with what we make. Our supply lines will be under threat and we can’t rely on them.
The next thing is our leaving / retiring defence force people could be employed within the manufacturing industry. They are employed within the maintenance and training side of our forces. This level of employment could be enhanced by ensuring that contracts are awarded to companies that employ ex-service people.
Employment within the federal government should first be offered to ex-service personnel before all others. A ranking system could be devised that ensures that when 2 individuals apply for a job and both are acceptable then the ex-service person gets the job. This is just a small reward for service to the country.