We've launched a new collaboration to optimise the availability of and use of our world-class huts and rooms, making booking so easy, and raising much-needed funds. As of this month, anyone looking to make a room booking can now check availability and make their booking online via the new booking system/app/website collaboration with SpacetoCo. Please pass the word on if you know of an organisation looking for a great space.

Employment enquiries are ramping up after the announcement by the Queensland Government of financial support for our award-winning Employment and Education Program however we are yet to receive confirmation of a start date. We are in discussions with the Department of the Premier and Cabinet re the employment grant allocated in the July Budget and have begun planning for our first Employment and Education Expo. We also had a special outing for the first O-Group of the new member year of the Veterans Business Alliance last month, with The Underground setting aside space for members to connect in style. Special thanks to our VIP guests, Janelle Poole MP, Professor John Smithson (JCU), and Nicole Hayes (North Queensland Legacy & Townsville Hospital) for joining us. We’re back at Homebase for the next meeting on Friday, 22 August!

Activity at Homebase has not abated despite Talisman Sabre 25; in fact, there has been an uptick with greater ex-serving and family involvement. Banjos every off-ADF-pay Friday goes from strength to strength with increasing demand from community groups volunteering to run them. August looks busy too, especially the diverse range of yoga participants. Operation COMPASS has also kept us busy this last month. We welcome the appointment by DVA of Reverend Andrew Nixon as the inaugural Archdeacon to Veterans, and we are confident he'll be an excellent support for our padre David Kelly. We're also pleased to see Annabelle Wilson appointed as Veteran Family Advocate Commissioner following on from the great work of Gwen Cherne.

Sales of our coffee beans have also gradually increased. These efforts are to increase income to meet the increasing demand. We are trying hard not to adversely impact close community groups by room bookings, and we will be in a better place to be more judicious when Recommendation 87 is implemented by DVA re ongoing funding for a workforce to excel in services navigation.

From sizzling Banjos Breakfasts to fiery blacksmithing and bursts of creativity—our Veteran community has been buzzing! Huge thanks to The Yabun Panjoo Aboriginal Corporation and Women Veteran Network Australia for jumping in to help serve up delicious Friday mornings with coffee, chats, and community spirit. We are still taking expressions of interest from community groups keen to increase their exposure to the veteran community. School holidays saw Creativity Hood spark imagination with fully booked Creative Connections workshops for kids. Families got hands-on during an unforgettable week of blacksmithing with The Cuppacumbalong Foundation, crafting their own keepsakes.

Get ready for a jam-packed calendar of creativity, movement, and adventure this month! Creative Connections returns with Creativity Hood leading clay sculpting on Wednesdays and acrylic portrait painting on Thursdays, open to all skill levels, with the chance to showcase your work in our end-of-year art exhibition. Prefer to unwind? Sunset Yoga kicked off Tuesday, 29 July, with free weekly sessions on the Homebase lawns, breathe, stretch, and reset with Lucia and Invictus Australia.

For the hands-on crowd, Project Cobra 2025 invites Veterans to join the RAEMUS team and help restore a 1980s Cobra Buggy, gain new skills, make connections, and dive into the world of off-road racing. And don’t miss your chance to hit the trails with our popular Back on Track 4WD Course. The next session runs Saturday, 30 August, with more dates to come.

We've also been busy with Operation COMPASS and support for the development of solutions to Royal Commission recommendations. attended the briefing session led by Gwen Cherne, for the TAPS Program and Reciprocal Peer Support model. This valuable program offers a safe, peer-led environment for connection, healing, and recovery through shared experience and guided postvention support with the first TAPS Australia Postvention Workshop delivered in July. We hope to see this fantastic program rolled out nationally. In addition we will also be participating in the Defence Postvention Network Coordination Forum, hosted by Military and Emergency Services Health Australia. These forums respond directly to Recommendation 77, calling for a national postvention network of suicide-bereavement resources and service providers tailored for the military community. We have also had team members involved with the Universal Aftercare service which launches this week, designed to help people who have attempted suicide or are at imminent risk, to engage with psychosocial and clinical supports. One of our team was graciously awarded a bursary to attend the Queensland Alliance for Mental Health Conference - Bridging Gaps and Building Futures, where they connected with hundreds of others, immersing themselves in a collaboration of connection, learning and shared understandings encompassing such diverse views from across Australia and abroad all working toward a common goal of Bridging gaps and building futures with a particular focus on the importance of community mental health in supporting individuals in their healthcare journey. Roses in the Ocean and the Queensland Mental Health Commission led two powerful consultation sessions, capturing voices of lived experience and service providers to help shape Phase 3 of the Suicide Prevention Plan. When these and other forums are conducted in Townsville, they have found our Homebase a very good venue, and we have also sent representation interstate.

We look forward to the next visit by the new Archdeacon to Veterans, who has visited before and by the new Veteran Family Advocate Commissioner.