Blair MP Shayne Neumann is calling on the federal government to put a Veteran Wellbeing Centre in Ipswich
Blair MP and Shadow Minister Shayne Neumann made a speech in parliament this week lobbying for Ipswich to be the home for a new Veteran Wellbeing Centre.
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THE Federal Government’s $10.7 million commitment to creating veteran support centres in southeast Queensland and Tasmania may not necessarily mean Ipswich veterans get the help they have been waiting so long for.
Federal Member for Blair and Shadow Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Defence Personnel Shayne Neumann this week called for the Morrison Government to put one of the two centres in the region’s defence hub of Ipswich, where thousands of current and former defence personnel live.
In the May federal budget, the government committed $10.7 million to establish two Veteran Wellbeing Centres to provide veterans with access to health and mental health services, community organisations, advocacy and wellbeing support.
Exact locations for the centres are yet to be announced, and despite mounting pressure from the veteran community, Mr Neumann said he was concerned the Blair electorate would miss out because it is a safe Labor seat.
Mr Neumann this week used a speech in Parliament to call on the government to deliver a veterans’ hub in Ipswich.
“My electorate has the largest veteran population in southeast Queensland – larger than Dickson – and is home to RAAF Base Amberley, the biggest air force base in Australia,” Mr Neumann said.
“Given the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Darren Chester issued a joint media release with the Minister for Defence Peter Dutton about the Southeast Queensland Veteran Wellbeing Centre, I’m worried they will put it in Mr Dutton’s electorate for political reasons.
“The Government owes it to southeast Queensland veterans to tell them where this service will be located.”
A spokesman from Mr Chester’s office told the Queensland Times a decision would not be made on the location of the southeast Queensland centre until public consultation was undertaken.
“It is not for Canberra to decide where they are located,” the spokesman said.
“We will put them where the ex-service community wants them, after consulting with them.”
With about 65 per cent of the client base of 100,000 living in southeast Queensland, the spokesman said there was no question it was vital to have one of the support centres in the region, and he said Ipswich had not been ruled out.
Funding of $5 million in the 2021–22 Federal Budget has been promised for a Veteran Wellbeing Centre somewhere in the southeast.
In an earlier statement, Mr Chester said the key to the Veteran Wellbeing Centres was listening to the local community to design a support that works for them.
“A number of the Veteran Wellbeing Centres are already up and running and it is essential that they are designed with the ex-service community to meet the needs of veterans and their families, now and into the future,” Mr Chester said.
“Approximately 100,000 clients from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs and their families live in Queensland, with around 65 per cent of those in South East Queensland, and we will be working with the ex-service community to determine an appropriate lead organisation, location and service model for the Centre.”
Mr Neumann said while the funding for two new Veteran Wellbeing Centres in the Budget was welcome, it was disappointing there was no support to fast-track the delivery of a number of centres promised at the 2019 election that are now well behind schedule.
“When the Liberals and Nationals pledged six Veteran Wellbeing Centres at the 2019 election, the intention was that all of these would be up and running in 2020,” he said.
“It’s now 2021 and only half of these centres have been completed – in Perth, Adelaide and Townsville.”
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