We very much understand the role that accommodation plays in
helping to generate wellbeing outcomes for our veterans.
There's a big health component to what we talk about with the Repat absolutely,
but I think there's a great opportunity to really expand and explore some of those wellbeing options.
We run a homeless veteran program,
so we've got the residential care space, with two residential care facilities,
but we run a homeless veteran program for working age veterans.
Our program is called Andrew Russell Veteran Living.
That soldier there is Andrew Russell.
Andrew was a sergeant in the Special Air Service regiment.
He was killed on the 16th of February in 2002
on patrol in Afghanistan.
Now the connection with Vietnam is relevant.
We sent 60,000 people to Vietnam and we think about the impact that
that culture of that Vietnam veterans had on our society,
with those 60,000 troops,
well we've since sent 72,000 troops to operations;
to the likes of Iraq and Afghanistan.
There's actually a large population of working age veterans,
that will work their way through our systems,
now for the next 80 years.
Through our program Andrew Russell Veteran Living
we provide 48 units in support of predominantly working aged veterans,
and in particular these units here,
these ten units, are very modest,
bedsit style units,
and they are at the sharp end intervention for veteran homelessness.
So we use these units to pull veterans out of cars,
to pull veterans out of violent situations at home.
We've currently got a veteran who's with us on home detention out of prison.
The average length of residency in this part of our program is about a hundred days.
So that's about how long it takes us to
find a solution that's relevant to that veteran,
which could be everything from some permanent accommodation with us
in our other units that we have around metropolitan Adelaide and out in Wallaroo.
Could be reacquainting them with their families,
or indeed supporting them to get into the right long-term housing solution.
Of relevance, Sue mentioned, and as did the Minister, the Jamie Larcombe Centre,
and the important role that that plays.
The Jamie Larcombe Centre is the veteran mental health centre at Glenside.
It's a fantastic facility, and a fantastic service.
Through our program, we've provided 500 nights of accommodation
to veterans out of Jamie Larcombe Centre.
What we've learned through our Andrew Russell program
and the 7,000 nights of accommodation that we've provided through those ten units in total,
is that smaller groups are better than larger groups
in veteran homelessness space, because if one of the troops kicks off, they all tend to get involved.
The opportunity to segregate accommodation out a little.
It's really important that they can have that community access,
but you don't want everyone in the one room,
because again, once a drama happens, it happens to everyone,
so it's really important for people to have their own space.
For that reason the need to segregate out, certainly Daw House creates some opportunities.
It is a complicated complex, but that complication createS opportunities
for several areas that we could have different entrances,
different access points,
and say for example without calling a specific area,
where we could potentially identify a spot for female homeless veterans
to have their own entry, their own car park, their own space.
Segregated away from say, male veterans.
We're not actually deciding on what the kind of homeless service we would provide would be.
Very much I'm talking about that contemporary working age veteran,
but the largest growing population of homeless people in Australia at the moment
is elderly women over 65.
There's around 6,000 veterans aged 60 to 80 in South Australia,
most of those are the Vietnam vet populations.
We've got quite a few Vietnam vet ladies in that classic bracket
where they could be, and are vulnerable to homelessness.
So our service could be made to fit a number of scenarios depending on the overall
use and function of the site.
The second option is around Ward 1 and 2.
Again, we can mould a scenario and accommodation to fit a range of service options.
Certainly Ward 1 and 2 come with some challenges.
Wards are classically designed for open viewing,
for someone to stand in the middle and see what's going on left and right.
And for reasons that I've explained that's not necessarily the best kind of
accommodation in a homelessness scenario,
where you want people to feel safe and secure in their own space.
We come to the areas Brendan described as very important area of remembrance,
and commemoration for the site,
being the Chapel, the SPF hall, and the peace memorial gardens.
With my RSL care hat back on again,
being an aged care provider, I'm very encouraged by the models that have aged care reflected on site,
and the provision of acute mental health services for the elderly.
That will be a growing need as our population ages,
and I think that for the use of the site, and families visiting,
and families coming and using the coffee shop to visit loved ones,
in that residential care environment,
and I think for the broader use of the Repat,
the capacity to support southern Adelaide's elderly populations through the site
- a veteran or not,
from a aged care providers perspective,
I think is a great outcome.