A PRIVATE REMEMBRANCE
Territorians rise early to commemorate Anzac Day as veterans’ hub faces delays due to virus
LOCATION scouting for a $5 million veterans wellbeing centre in the NT has been stalled due to the coronavirus.
But project proponent Mates4Mates, a leading Australian charity dedicated to the wellbeing of serving and former Defence personnel, will still work towards the midyear deadline to present a detailed business case to the Federal Government, which is supplying the grant funding.
Mates4Mates chief executive Troy Watson said the organisation would also ramp up its psychological help services in the NT via telehealth in coming weeks in a bid to work around the restrictions.
Mr Watson said it was still “very early days” of the business case and plans to have someone on the ground to look into possible locations for the project had stalled.
“We had planned to have boots on the ground about now but that’s becoming increasingly difficult,” he said.
The old Darwin North RSL building at Marrara, vacated in late 2018 after the branch went bust, has been championed as a prime location by Member for Solomon Luke Gosling.
Mr Watson said Mates4Mates would “absolutely” look at the Batten Rd site as a possibility but was open to other locations, particularly ones that were in family friendly areas and were central to the large Defence community areas of Palmerston, Lyons and Muirhead.
The modest funding of $5 million means the organisation will have to repurpose an existing building instead of constructing a building specifically designed to provide planned services.
“It needs to be so much more than four walls and a door,” Mr Watson said.
“We are very cognisant when you build a centre like this, particularly in an area like the NT, you need to be able to provide services to other areas within the Territory and within Darwin.”
The wellbeing centre, which will be designed to provide “individualised wellbeing services based on local veteran’s needs such as transition and employment support” among other services, is expected to be completed in 2022.