Canberra veterans' symposium a feat of grassroots leadership for wellbeing and advocacy
An important event is underway in Canberra today under the leadership of Ian Lindgren who has established a notable coterie of advocates...
Change of plans: Transition options available for ADF personnel in wake of COVID-19
Defence personnel wanting to remain in the ADF are encouraged to contact their service career manager or transition coach.
Change of plans: Transition options available for ADF personnel in wake of COVID-19
Change of plans: Transition options available for ADF personnel in wake of COVID-19
Defence personnel wanting to remain in the ADF are encouraged to contact their service career manager or transition coach.
Defence personnel wanting to remain in the ADF are encouraged to contact their service career manager or transition coach.
Independent news and opinion for
the Australian veteran community.
Opinion
Andrew McDougall
- Sep 13
Friendly advice for those leaving the ADF and feeling unsure about what’s next
Andrew McDougall A friend recently announced on social media that he was being medically discharged. After 30 years, that was the end of...
Eamon Hale
- Sep 10
God save the King!
By Eamon Hale It was a momentous moment that most of us remember like it was yesterday. Standing in a Defence Force Recruiting Centre or...
Andrew McDougall
- Aug 23
The invisible costs of service life and why fixing DVA is not the only answer
Andrew McDougall writes about the hidden costs of service life and the need to better support the psychological transition to civilian life.
Mark Schroffel
- Aug 17
RSL’s inadequate consultation in deciding top job
This year, unlike any other year in its recent history, RSL member and community expectations on the performance of the RSL in the...
Mark Schroffel
- Jun 26
RSL Australia is clearly trying, but fails to hit the mark
It’s time for the RSL to hold government accountable for its actions to veterans. If it chooses not to, someone else will.
@AVNHQ
- Jun 17
Bill Westhead calls for renewed leadership transparency within the RSL
17 June 2022 Re: Apathy and absence: RSL Australia plays politics at the expense of veteran advocacy Now that the dust has settled on the...
Apathy and absence: RSL Australia plays politics at the expense of veteran advocacy
By George Alban and Eamon Hale On 1 June 2022, RSL Australia’s entrenched failure to speak publicly on behalf of the veteran population...
Brian Briggs
- May 31
DVA’s provisional medical access scheme unfairly prioritises claimants and should be scrapped
Scrapping the injury trial that unfairly prioritises some claimants over others will help clear the claims backlog plaguing DVA
@AVNHQ
- Apr 16
Grass-roots ESO members disillusioned with DVA and its opaque dealings with ESO leadership
Letter submitted by MAJ Rick Ryan (RTD) After watching the lackluster performance of Liz Cosson DVA on the 14th of April 2022, I am more...
Mark Schroffel
- Mar 28
A defiant Andrew Gee puts veterans ahead of self-interest
In a daring act of defiance, Andrew Gee, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Defence Personnel, stood ready to resign over a budget...
Eamon Hale
- Feb 25
Ruxton's legacy, a force to be reckoned with
Bruce Ruxton died in 2011, leaving a legacy of dogged advocacy and service to Australian veterans and their families...
Mark Schroffel
- Feb 21
Morrison unwittingly reveals Coalition weakness on national security
The politicisation of national security overshaddowing the safety of Australian defence and security personnel
Eamon Hale
- Dec 18, 2021
A new Day in the Sunshine State
Eamon Hale's opinion piece on the election of Major General Stephen Day DSC AM as RSL Queensland's State President.
Leo D'Angelo Fisher
- Dec 1, 2021
Made in Taiwan: Scott Morrison has concocted a phony war with China to take to the next election
The Coalition’s bravado has nothing to do with foreign policy. It is naked brinksmanship with only one objective: the 2022 election.
@AVNHQ
- Nov 25, 2021
Wayne Eastgate's letter highlights unfairness built into Australia's military compensation system
This letter relates to the fact that compensation and health entitlements vary significantly depending when a veteran served and the...
Leo D'Angelo Fisher
- Oct 29, 2021
Alan Tudge risks embroiling ADF in toxic woke wars
Now the federal Minister for Education, Alan Tudge, has decided to use the ADF as an ideological prop in the woke wars.
Eamon Hale
- Oct 13, 2021
Change step: transitioning back to the ‘real’ world
So, to cut to the chase, have you metaphorically put your weapon down?
Eamon Hale
- Sep 23, 2021
In the company of giants: a tribute to veterans who defended Melbourne’s most revered sacred site
He stood alone among hundreds of protesters, distancing himself and wearing a sombre dark mask..
Mark Schroffel
- Sep 16, 2021
Andrews government must intervene to save RSL Victoria from itself
Why the Victorian government must step in and conduct an inquiry into the governance and administration of RSL Victoria.
Leo D'Angelo Fisher
- Sep 15, 2021
Peter Dutton and gun-shy Scott Morrison in retreat on Brereton reforms
Defence Minister Peter Dutton has overruled proposed Australian Defence Force (ADF) reforms...
Leo D'Angelo Fisher
- Aug 23, 2021
The Jamie Twidale resignation: another example of RSL Vic’s culture of secrecy
Transparency does not come naturally to the secretive and at times paranoid RSL Victoria leadership...
@AVNHQ
- Aug 20, 2021
Australians did ‘magnificent job’ in Afghanistan, says RSL
The RSL has urged Australians to praise Australian Defence Force personnel for their service in Afghanistan. RSL National President Greg...
Eamon Hale
- Aug 18, 2021
An Afghanistan veteran reflects: ‘We made a big and positive difference’
"Kabul is in crisis but the narrative from people who have never cared about Afghanistan until this week is superficial and ignorant."
Leo D'Angelo Fisher
- Aug 17, 2021
Australian deaths in Afghanistan not in vain says Morrison. Who is he trying to kid?
It is not good enough to state that “no Australian who has ever fallen in our uniform has ever died in vain”.
Eamon Hale
- Aug 3, 2021
Jeff Kennett may be the saviour that RSL Victoria desperately needs
Can you feel that? It’s the winds of change gently blowing through the veteran community...
Leo D'Angelo Fisher
- Jul 22, 2021
Scott Morrison ignores moral obligation to Afghan interpreters left behind
The resurgence of the Taliban once Western forces left the country was never in doubt...
Eamon Hale
- Jul 16, 2021
Another lockdown? Wedding’s postponed? Hurry up and wait
By Eamon Hale “Hurry up and wait.” Is there a phrase we know better from our time in the Defence force? Whether we did it in breezeways,...
Leo D'Angelo Fisher
- Jul 14, 2021
Not even a ‘thank you for your service’ for dumped Bernadette Boss
Boss clearly did not expect that her role would be suspended while the work of the royal commission was done...
Mark Schroffel
- Jul 9, 2021
Julie-Ann Finney discusses Royal Commission Terms of Reference with Mark Schröffel - 9 July 2021
Julie-Ann Finney speaks to AVN about theTerms of Reference for the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicides...
Shayne Neumann MP
- Jul 2, 2021
A ‘One-in-100-year opportunity’ – Andrew Gee must get royal commission into veteran suicide right
Andrew Gee, the new Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Defence Personnel, is the sixth veterans’ affairs minister in eight years...
Eamon Hale
- Jun 30, 2021
Darren Chester and his legacy as Veterans’ Affairs Minister
It is with barely concealed bitterness that Darren Chester has been forced to end his time as Minister for Veterans’ Affairs...
Leo D'Angelo Fisher
- Jun 28, 2021
Beetrooted: the demise of Darren Chester shows what this government really thinks of veterans
Veterans were the last thing on Barnaby Joyce’s mind when he sacked Veterans’ Affairs’ Minister Darren Chester.
Eamon Hale
- Jun 21, 2021
Greg Melick interview: after ‘missing in action’ RSL National is ‘on the road to relevance again’
Greg Melick has been RSL National President since 2019. This month he sat down (via Zoom) with Australian Veteran News...
Bill Westhead
- May 31, 2021
RSL leadership’s ‘abject failure’ on royal commission misreads mood of veterans
RSL National’s TOR submission is an abject failure that supports the lenient and benign stance sought by vested interests...
Leo D'Angelo Fisher
- May 19, 2021
With friends like #ScottyFromCarpeting the ADF and veterans can clearly do better
Even by the cringeworthy standards of Morrison’s relentless stream of self-aggrandising photo ops this one was too much...
James Unkles
- May 7, 2021
Setting the path to parliamentary representation for the veteran community
So what’s next and what should veterans do? The need for action is clear but the veteran landscape remains divided and leadership elusive.
Leo D'Angelo Fisher
- Apr 26, 2021
Darren Chester should have no role to play in royal commission
There is something deeply perverse about the federal Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Darren Chester, having a hand in...
Luke Gosling OAM MP
- Apr 24, 2021
As Australia withdraws from Afghanistan, we must consider the legacy of the ADF
After two decades, the international component of the war in Afghanistan is finally coming to a close. But while the allied forces may...
Keith Wolahan
- Apr 21, 2021
Veterans should reflect on 20-year Afghanistan conflict
Time will tell how a complex legacy is assessed, but our sons and daughters may find themselves in other wars and they deserve to benefit...
Mark Schroffel
- Apr 10, 2021
A community divided cries out for leadership
The reality is that the veteran community, despite the common bond of service, is divided by competing philosophies, world views and...
Leo D'Angelo Fisher
- Mar 26, 2021
Missing in action: the RSL’s curious resistance to a royal commission into veteran suicides
It’s been a long time since the RSL, at state or national levels, has been in sync with its membership...
Leo D'Angelo Fisher
- Mar 23, 2021
Against the odds, a royal commission into veteran suicides is in sight
It is a rare case of community activism paying off. Julie-Ann Finney has done her son proud...
Jamie Twidale
- Mar 19, 2021
Royal commission into veteran suicides is a matter of trust
As a veteran who has lost mates to suicide, like many veterans and their loved ones I live with the ever-present fear of losing more...
Eamon Hale
- Mar 17, 2021
‘People like me’ – the Australian War Memorial is a tribute to those who served and who still serve
As a boy, I walked the halls with my dad and marvelled at the deeds of others. With that background, when I joined the Army myself...
James Unkles
- Mar 1, 2021
The unjust execution of Harry ‘Breaker’ Morant resonates to this day: will we heed the lessons?
As Australia embarks on the process of investigating and trying alleged war crimes by Australian SAS soldiers we can look to...
Eamon Hale
- Feb 13, 2021
The changing face of the Australian veteran
Most Australians have a fixed idea of what a “veteran” is. With images of Anzac Day marches and dawn services in mind they see...
Leo D'Angelo Fisher
- Feb 12, 2021
Forward march: RSL Victoria should reverse its decision to cancel Melbourne’s Anzac Day march
The cancellation of Melbourne’s Anzac Day march comes as a blow not just to the veteran community but to all Victorians...
Nikki Jamieson
- Feb 10, 2021
A question of trust: why only a royal commission can get to the bottom of veteran suicides
A petition calling for a royal commission into veteran suicides has attracted 394,000 signatures...
Mark Schroffel
- Jan 27, 2021
Veteran Suicides // Morrison's willful ignorance
Senator Jacqui Lambie updates @AVNHQ on her recent efforts in Townsville to listen to the veteran community and echo the overwhelming...