Veterans fight to save link

GEELONG war veterans are rallying to save the city’s Veterans Affairs Network office, fearing it is earmarked for closure and that service people will be cut adrift from critical personal welfare help.

Member for Corio Richard Marles has amplified concerns in Federal Parliament following closure of other regional offices by the Department of Veteran Affairs, leaving service delivery to Centrelink.

Geelong city is home to more veterans than any other Victorian municipality, with 4500 registered DVA clients.

Spokesman Ken Baker voiced concern on behalf of his community, saying the specialist area demanded specialist care.

“One of the problems in putting a representative into Centrelink as veterans — liaison,” Mr Baker said.

“You go in there in the queue, go to the counter and they really haven’t trained the people. So what do they do? They ring head office.

“We are definitely against having it managed in with Centrelink.”

Leaders say while many younger veterans from con- flicts including Iraq and Afghanistan are able to handle departmental affairs via computer, older veterans from World War II and Vietnam need face-to-face contact and advocacy dealing with often intensely personal cases.

Mr Marles said in Parliament that hoping Centrelink could replace the network office was wishful thinking.

“Abandoning a service delivery model which is equipped to accommodate the specific needs of Geelong’s veterans will inevitably compromise accessibility and efficiency,” Mr Marles said.

“When you take away the supports of a dedicated local service centre you take away specialist veterans affairs expertise in our region.

“You force our veterans and war widows to join the already overburdened Centrelink queues and you risk making them feel ostracised by a system that is supposed to be giving them a helping hand.

“Creating such a situation would be simply unfair.”

Mr Marles demanded a rethink. “This is a cohort which really wants face-to-face contact,” he said.

The Geelong Advertiser did not receive a response from DVA by deadline.