Page 1136 - Week 04 - Thursday, 21 May 2020

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video


me that our community will emerge out of this more resilient, despite the challenges being thrown our way.

Employment—veterans

MR RAMSAY (Ginninderra—Attorney-General, Minister for the Arts, Creative Industries and Cultural Events, Minister for Building Quality Improvement, Minister for Business and Regulatory Services and Minister for Seniors and Veterans) (6.03): Today I have the pleasure to update the Assembly about veterans’ employment in the ACT public service. In October 2019 the ACT public service was nominated for the Prime Minister’s Veterans’ Employment Awards for our veterans’ employment strategy. The awards recognise organisations who employ and support veterans to transition to the civilian workforce, as well as recognising veterans who are making a significant contribution as an employee or as an entrepreneur.

This year’s awards have recognised some very significant work in the ACT. The ACT public service is the winner of the category of veterans’ employer of the year, public sector organisations. AeroPM, a Canberra-based company, won both the medium veterans’ employer and the outstanding veterans’ employer of the year. The public sector award acknowledges our work in supporting veterans to transition to civilian life and to have a meaningful career in Canberra.

Veterans’ skills and experience are a clear asset to Canberra. The skills and the experiences of veterans’ spouses and their families, who also undertake the journey, are a significant part of our strategy. And of course, veterans are some of the most highly trained and skilled workers that are available.

I have spoken before about our strategy and that it has a range of ways of supporting veterans and their families. There is the veterans’ employment transition guide, which includes tips for job searching and navigating the application and selection process. There is the veterans’ employment register. There is the guide to employing veterans in the ACT public service, which provides to those who are recruiting information on the ADF environment and rank structure, the personal attributes of veterans and ways in which they can consider veterans for vacant positions. There are the mentoring programs for ACT public service employees who are veterans or family members. In addition, members of the ACT public service attend the ADF member and family transition seminars to promote the ACT government as an employer of choice. In March this year staff engaged with approximately 60 ADF members and their spouses on employment opportunities in our public service.

I thank and congratulate some of the many key people for their support in developing and embedding this strategy. The ACT public service veterans’ employment executive champions have been very generous in their ongoing time, their advice and their support of the strategy, as well as being participants in the ACT public service veterans’ mentoring program. These fine champions encourage and support the ACT public service employees to develop and implement inclusive practices for veterans and demonstrate how a range of valuable skills and experiences gained in the ADF can be transferred to the public service.


Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video