Our Patron
Commander 3rd Brigade, Brigadier Ben McLennan CSC and Bar
Homebase for the Veteran Community in Townsville
1 Staging Camp Ave, Oonoonba. Drop-in M-F 0900-1500, after hours upon booking
All closed on W/E and public holidays, unless booked.
[for GPS apps you may have better luck with 20 Darter Street, Oonoonba until actual is recognised on all platforms]
October 2024
Royal Commissioners see the value in hubs!
The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide (RCDVS) saw the value in what the hubs could bring to the veteran community by recommending “Ongoing funding for Veterans’ and Families’ Hubs”. We hope this month all the parties contesting the Queensland Election have read the Final Report and recognise their role in addressing this national disgrace, especially in Australia’s largest garrison city. We’ve had some very encouraging visits including from a few VIPs to the leadership teams of some of the other Hubs. Our Military Advocacy Community of Practice is developing exceptionally well and rapidly. Last month the Combined Modelling and Lego Expo and the 4WD Course were very popular, so we’ll do more. In October, we have the 4 Regiment Gun Push, more cooking with Alliance Rehab, and our now well-established Craft Twighlight Markets. November will be busy too with reps from the Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation returning for their quarterly presentations and interviews, the laying of the first paver in our Path of Remembrance, and our inaugural Housing Expo. And did I mention we are expanding our solar, adding batteries and expect to be close to off-grid-soon.
Several recommendations from RCDVS Final Report, which was handed down the day before World Suicide Prevention Day (10 Sep), emphasise the need for a better approach to the “proactive advancement of the entire veteran community”. That means not just those with claims for compensation with DVA (less than half the entire veteran population of Australia). Recommendation 86 was explicit in this regard, recommending ongoing funding for the Hubs. This funding would enable sufficient workforce to have a positive effect on the entire veteran and ESO communities in each of the hubs’ catchment areas.
October is National Mental Health Month and this week (5 – 13 October) is Queensland Mental Health Week. That would be a good opportunity for parties contesting the Queensland election to get in early and support the most well-developed of the hubs, The Oasis Townsville. We have briefed them all and offered to support Queensland’s uniformed services (QPS, QAS etc); to continue the work of Operation COMPASS in concert with the Queensland Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2024-29; and to extend the life-saving employment program we run currently supported by the Queensland Government.
We had many more visitors this month from those interested in the model we have established. A few of the most prominent visitors were the newly appointed Defence Families’ Advocate Charlotte Webb; the Chief of the US Army’s wife Patty George and a delegation from Lives Lived Well (responsibility for two of the other 15 hubs). It is always worthwhile discussing our operation with others who are as passionate about doing the right thing for veterans and their families. It is especially rewarding to know our visitors walk away from Homebase strong supporters and advocates.
We are extremely proud of the work being done by many of Townsville’s advocates to form a military advocacy Community of Practice. It has been a big success evidenced by the Walk-in and Information Day held on 25 Sep at our Homebase. The intent was to empower veterans to help themselves, provided extra advocacy for those who needed it and to recruit more advocates. All three were a raging success. We are grateful to the ADTP reps who flew up from Brisbane to support us and to RSL Thuringowa and especially to their President Jeremy Browne.
The big events for October are the 4 Regiment Gun Push on 19 October, the Alliance Rehab Cooking Class on 16 Oct and our now famous Craft Market on 25 October. In the month ahead, last month before December, wow, we have the Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation (CSC) visiting for its usual and very popular presentations on planning for retirement with follow-up interviews in mid Nov. On 13 Nov we have the official laying of the first paver in our Path of Remembrance by Phil Thompson, OAM, MP. We are also proud to host our very first Oasis Townsville Housing Expo - Navigating Housing & Property to discuss “All Things Housing” on 20 Nov.
And we are good for the environment as well as our veteran community. With a grant from Boeing and support from Horan and Bird, we are installing more solar panels and some batteries to store our collected energy for the evening lighting of Homebase. If you haven't seen The Oasis Townsville at night, it's worth a look. Beter still, come along to our Twighlight Markets.