Deputy Commissioner Consultative Forum 25 November 2014

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Deputy Commissioner Consultative Forum 25 November 2014

Deputy Commissioner Consultative Forum – 25 November 2014

The Forum was attended by:

Defence Reserves Association

Western Australia Branch of the Partners of Veterans Association

War Widows’ Guild

Defence Force Welfare Association

Vietnam Veterans’ Association of Australia

Naval Association of Australia

Perth Legacy

RAAF Association

TPI Association

Partners of Veterans Association of Western Australia

Australian SAS Assn (WA Branch)

1. Research Findings

This meeting was a special event video conference with Sandy Bell, the Assistant Secretary of the Transport, Research & Development Branch who presented the findings of the Vietnam Veterans Family Study, the Peacekeepers Health Study and the Rwanda Deployment Study.

The findings sparked lively discussion and some questions and feedback, mainly around sampling methodology, potential international comparative studies and some of the findings themselves.

  • Copies of all reports are available on our website : http://www.dva.gov.au/vvfs
  • Hard copies of Volume 1 to be ordered and distributed to WACF Members
  • Feedback is sought to go up through the National Presidents of the ESORT for the March meeting for a report to be ready in June for governmental response.
  • Feedback can also be submitted directly to
  • Slides attached to email.

2. Rehabilitation and Compensation Operating Model.

The Deputy Commissioner outlined changes to the national arrangement of work in R&C and the changes to the work undertaken locally in WA. The staffing in WA remains unchanged, but the areas of responsibility are changing.

3. DC Briefing Package.

The meeting covered the materials presented by DVA ranging from the Centenary of Anzac commemorations, health services, mental health initiatives, the new Single Online Claims portal pilot and claims statistics.

4. Discussion Topics.

The Alternative Dispute Resolution Process

The details of this new process are available from http://www.vrb.gov.au/ and should reduce both VRB submissions and appeals. ESOs are encouraged to familiarise themselves with the information from the website. There will be a trial of the new process in NSW and ACT from 1 January 2015.

The Training Consultative Group (TCG)

Each state has a consultative group that sits above the Training and Information Program (TIP) and consists of representatives of ESOs and DVA. This group monitors the conduct of training and provides advice on matters of course delivery, programming and development.

This group is reconfiguring their structure and refreshing the membership of the group. Invitations will be issued in Dec/Jan and the new group and chair will be announced in February.

The Ex-Service Organisation Round Table : ESORT

Please see this link for an overview of the ESORT, including terms of reference, membership, role and meetings.

http://www.dva.gov.au/ex-service_organisations/consultation/forums/national_forums/Pages/eso_round_table.aspx

There was some feedback that some National Representatives cannot or are discouraged from collecting feedback from their members, or reporting back to their members about certain topics.

The agendas for these meetings are not circulated in time for adequate consultation and pre-briefing and the minutes come out very late after the meetings.

There is a firm expectation from both ESOs and DVA that the national representatives canvass opinions and report back to their membership.

WACF members are encouraged to model these behaviours as well.

WACF Meeting Dates 2015.

The members have agreed that the 3rd or 4th Tuesday of the month, approximately 2-3 weeks after ESORT meetings are the most appropriate times for WACF meetings.

Dates for 2015 :

24/3/15

19/5/15

15/9/15

24/11/15

Round Table Issues

  • Have there been changes to the Gold Card production process?

Reporting back: There have been no changes to the process. Cards may take some while to come out, but the entitlement advice is sent out immediately and can be used until the card is issued.

  • Taxis: won’t go into the villages/buildings to collect clients.

Feedback referred to Transport.

  • BEST Meeting in Canberra.

There was an ESORT meeting about the possible restructure of BEST funding arrangements for 2015. The summary notes from this meeting will be available from your ESORT national representative. No decisions have been made as this was a ‘sounding board’ meeting for discussion and opinion gathering.

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