Veterans' Affairs
The Department of Veterans' Affairs provides support to veterans, war widows/ers, serving members, former defence force members and their families, and eligible members of the Australian Federal Police who have served overseas. The Department's client base is located across regional and metropolitan areas in Australia, as well as overseas.
The Department has a comprehensive network of State and Territory offices for clients in locations across Australia. Clients can also receive services at certain Service Centres delivering Centrelink services in regional centres and through outreach visits, further expanding the Department's regional footprint. Booked Car with Driver, Veterans' Home Care and Community Nursing services in particular assist veterans to access vital healthcare services and help to overcome difficulties accessing services in regional locations.
The Department strives to be efficient and responsive to the needs of the changing veteran community. Priorities for the Department include a focus on aged care for veterans and war widow/ers, as well as the continually evolving needs of younger veterans and serving members.
In 2012‑13 the Department will continue to prepare for the Centenary of Anzac commemorations that will occur from 2014 to 2018. During this time the nation will remember not only the Anzacs who served at Gallipoli and on the Western Front, but all Australians who have served in uniform across a century of service. This will be a national commemoration and will encompass domestic, including regional areas, and international activities.
New Initiatives
Support Development of the Anzac Interpretive Centre at Albany, WA
The Government has allocated an additional $5.6 million over three years to further support development of the Anzac Interpretive Centre at Albany, Western Australia as an important component of the Anzac Centenary Program 2014-2018. Albany was the gathering point for the first convoys carrying the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) and New Zealand Expeditionary Force (later to be known collectively as the Anzacs), which departed from Albany in November and December 1914.
Funding will contribute to construction of the building and interpretive, educational and curatorial components.
The physical Centre will be glass-fronted and built on the contours of Mount Adelaide, overlooking King George Sound where the convoys gathered. It will provide an all-weather facility and offer 240-degree panoramic views of the sound. The Centre will house innovative, interactive technology with a capacity for visitors to locate ships in the convoys, as well as following an individual soldier's or nurse's journey from Albany to the conclusion of their military service, either through death or return to Australia.
The Anzac Interpretive Centre at Albany places regional Australia at the forefront of a program of national importance. The Centre will leave a lasting legacy in regional Australia through which Australians will continue to both physically and virtually explore and interpret our military history.
Scoping Study for a restaging of the first convoys that left from Albany and carried soldiers to Egypt and Gallipoli
Albany was the gathering point for the first convoys carrying the AIF and New Zealand Expeditionary Force (later to be known collectively as the Anzacs), which departed from Albany in November and December 1914. Thirty-six ships carrying thousands of troops converged at Albany before their final departure from Australia.
A number of ideas have been put forward to commemorate this event, as part of the Anzac Centenary Program 2014 -2018, including an assembly of vessels in King George Sound on the morning of 1 November 2014 — the centenary of the first convoy that carried Australian and New Zealand soldiers to Egypt and Gallipoli.
The Government has allocated $272,000 for a scoping study to develop options for a restaging of the convoy that left from Albany in November 1914, and to develop effective governance arrangements for undertaking a restaging.
A restaging would help improve national recognition of the role Albany played in Australia's First World War history.
Honouring War Dead
The Government has allocated $8.1 million over two years to support the refurbishment of Australian official commemorations for war dead and other eligible veterans' memorials in Australia and overseas.
As part of this measure, funding will be provided to refurbish official graves and plaques in cemeteries, crematoria and Gardens of Remembrance; undertake structural works to war cemeteries; and repair associated infrastructure. The funding will allow the Office of Australian War Graves to ensure that these places of commemoration, including the additional official commemorations, are maintained to a high standard.
Many of the individual graves and plaques to be refurbished within this proposal are located in rural and regional Australia. Official commemorations are located in approximately 2,000 cemeteries around Australia.
Local Grants Program
The Government has allocated $9.5 million over four years to establish a Local Grants Program to help communities across Australia conduct their own Anzac Centenary commemoration projects. It will provide grants totalling $7.5 million, spread over 2012-2013 to 2015‑2016. Funding will be available from January 2013.
Projects that may be eligible for funding under the Local Grants Program include local memorials restorations, commemorative publications and cultural or sporting events.
The program will operate under public guidelines that will ensure the scheme is run effectively, efficiently and equitably. Once the guidelines have been developed, information about the program, including how to apply, will be widely disseminated.
The grants program will ensure that communities in regional Australia will be able to access funding to help implement eligible projects in their own areas, ahead of the Centenary of Anzac commemorations.
Arts and Culture Fund
The Government has allocated $4.7 million over five years to support artistic and creative works, displays and events during the Centenary of Anzac commemorations. Individuals, artists and cultural institutions will be able to apply for funding.
The Australian Government will be developing guidelines for the fund and these will be released during 2013-2014. Artistic and cultural organisations in regional Australia will be strongly encouraged to apply for funding.
Scoping Study for a Community Outreach Program
The Centenary of Anzac is an event of national significance and it is important that people from all areas of Australia, including regional areas, have the opportunity to participate in, learn from and commemorate this significant occasion.
This $245,000 initiative supports a scoping study for a community outreach program that will enable important memorabilia from the First World War and subsequent conflicts to be displayed in communities across Australia, including in regional areas.
Online, Multimedia, Community Awareness and Education Program
The Government has allocated $3.4 million over four years to support the development of an Online, Multimedia, Community Awareness and Education Program as a component of the Anzac Centenary Program 2014-2018.
The initiative will build on existing resources and introduce a strong community focus by encouraging communities to create and share heritage stories and memorabilia on the internet.
Funding will enable the use of smart phone applications, social media tools and websites to improve information about Australia's military history and increase community understanding.
This initiative provides opportunities for communities across Australia — metropolitan, rural and regional — to engage in the Anzac Centenary.
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