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July 2021

Employment Program is up and running

Our Veteran Community Grants program was successfully launched with eight fantastic ideas for connecting members of the veteran community with each other and with the broader Townsville community. We have recruited an Employment Coordinator who commences work this month and who will be our connector to the significant number of organisations involved in helping veterans find meaningful work. Commander 3Bde held his Commander's Update Brief at The Oasis and introduced all of his COs and RSMs to our emerging capability now resident at our Home Base at 1 Staging Camp Avenue and to Operation NAVIGATOR. The building and fit-out are edging closer to completion. We're preparing for a Grand Launch on Saturday 16 October at the beginning of Veterans Health Week 2021.
We set eight well-deserving organisations off on their missions of connecting veterans and families. The presentation ceremony was a great success. Keep an eye on our Veterans Community Grants Program page on the website under Projects for progress reports.
The Oasis Townsville Employment Program 2.0 has begun. We learnt much from v1.0 which essentially boiled down to finding work for a few with a boutique recruitment service. V2.0 is about building a program that supports all veterans and partners who seek meaningful work through us. This is all about connecting the many organisations involved in this space and having them work together in our interests. The first two steps involve the commencement of our Employment Coordinator who starts work soon; and the creation of the Veterans Business Alliance (VBA). The VBA is an alliance of business leaders in Townsville who understand and promote the benefits of employing veterans and their partners.
With agreement from Commander 3rd Brigade and his commanders for a collaborative effort to plan for how we can shape the best transition for serving soldiers, sailors and aviators – Operation NAVIGATOR commenced. In the next couple of months, we will work with key personnel at Lavarack, most importantly with ADF Transitions and Linda Bone to coordinate our efforts and make the best use of our collective strengths. We've also briefed the Senior ADF Officer at RAAF Base Townsville and that will be the next target for bringing into the program. We recognise there are other ADF organisations in Townsville also and they will also be bought in when we have the pilot sorted out.
The building has significant construction work still underway and we are still missing furniture and some audio-visual parts. The back wall needed reconstruction as it did not meet the standards for the estate. Solar panels are being installed now. The biggest issue is the building management system which is preventing us from operating out of normal hours as it controls locks, security sensors, lights and air conditioners. We hope all this will be completed by the end of the month.
On Saturday 16 October we will have a Grand Launch at our Home Base in Oonoonba. We'll utilise Rawdon Middleton VC Park across the road also as we did on 9 Dec last year for the ESO leadership catch-up. We will open up The Oasis Townsville and have escorted tours and activities to showcase our emerging capability. We hope everyone can join us.

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