Tackling the mental health challenges facing veterans and their families is a key pillar of the Government’s plan for veterans’ affairs. The funding for treatment is demand driven, and it is not capped – if treatment is needed, it is funded.
These are not just words. As Minister, I take this commitment very seriously and, over the last ten months, have set about to ensure that this Government delivers improvements for mental health services to veterans and their families.
With over 72,500 men and women having served this nation oversees since 1999, we must ensure that this nation does not repeat the mistakes it made post Vietnam.
From the outset, I would like to make it clear that the Government’s funding commitment to the Anzac Centenary Program is not at the expense of expenditure on mental health services. The Centenary period will enable us as a nation to reflect on a centenary of service, not only events of one hundred years ago.