Evidence of meeting #29 for Veterans Affairs in the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was australia.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:55 p.m.
NDP
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Sir, you said that 12,000 students went over to Gallipoli. Does the federal government assist in some way with financing the trip?
4:55 p.m.
William Fisher
It's not students. It's just individuals, but they're mainly young people.
No, the federal government doesn't. That said, schools will make trips, so there is perhaps assistance for different people who want it.
You might be able to elaborate on that. Could you?
4:55 p.m.
Australian Department of Veterans Affairs
The only other thing I'd say is that obviously the department puts a lot of money into making sure the site is ready for those people who attend, so we fund those aspects of it.
4:55 p.m.
William Fisher
Could I just add to that? That's just Gallipoli, and as Adam said, Gallipoli has become rather a political subject in Australia because of the requirement that the Turks are obliged to receive this huge number of Australians at dawn every April 25. It doesn't just happen, so we have had, and they as a department have had, to invest a great deal of money in actually making toilet facilities and road access facilities and that sort of thing available.
Gallipoli is not the only place these people go. I think we had 5,000 this year at the dawn service in northern France; at Kokoda in Papua New Guinea there are a great number, and at Changi in Singapore there are a large number. There are a number of places that Australians--mainly young, but not just young--will go to commemorate places of commemoration.
4:55 p.m.
NDP
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
Thank you.
You said earlier that the rate of satisfaction is in the 90th percentile, but you also just said you did assessments of 160,000 people in 2006-07 for the home care program, and of those, 80,000 were accepted. That meant the other 80,000 were turned down. Did you call them up and ask how satisfied they were afterwards?
We hear from our own department that the satisfaction rate is in the 80th percentile, but when you ask if they actually called the people who were denied benefits or refused benefits for whatever technicality, the answer is no, they didn't; they only contacted the people who were their clients.
Do you do the same thing?
5 p.m.
Australian Department of Veterans Affairs
Part of it is that in the assessments under the veterans home care, the decision isn't necessarily yes or no.
It is partly about changing needs. Someone can be assessed now; then, for instance, because their partner might have died or whatever, they might need a reassessment because their needs will have changed. That's not necessarily about saying no; it's about recognizing that what people need has changed.
I couldn't tell you in terms of what the difference is.
5 p.m.
NDP
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
In the Australian legislature, do you have a standing committee on veterans affairs that is similar to what we have in Canada?
5 p.m.
Australian Department of Veterans Affairs
No. One of the commitments of the government in the election was to establish a prime ministerial committee on veterans and ex-service matters. That won't be made up of parliamentarians, but it will be a committee reporting to the prime minister on veterans issues.
5 p.m.
NDP
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
High Commissioner, a couple of years ago we had the pleasure of being at the Canadian War Museum, where we saw a beautiful, remarkable film on Gallipoli by a Turkish director. Could you tell us if there is any possible way we could get a copy of that? I know members of my committee who haven't seen it would be fascinated by it. I think it's one of the finest documentaries I've seen on a war effort. You put that with And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda by John Mcdermott, and I tell you, you'll be crying all night long. It's a great thing.
5 p.m.
William Fisher
I'll ask my Turkish colleague if he has a copy of that, which I think he does.
5 p.m.
NDP
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
It was a remarkable film. It was a remarkable evening, so thank you so much.
5 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Anders
I'm intrigued, and we still have 45 seconds left on your time. Is there a title to that film?
5 p.m.
NDP
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
It was at the War Museum, Mr. Chairman, and a whole group of us were invited by the Australian High Commission and the Turkish Embassy. It was one of the most moving documentaries that I've ever seen on anything, especially when they showed them standing and taking the time to bury their dead on either side. They stopped the hostilities, as they did in All Quiet on the Western Front and the German battle at Christmastime when they stopped hostilities, exchanged cigarettes, played a little football, and then went back to killing each other.
It was just a remarkable thing. It would be nice to know where to get a copy of it.
5 p.m.
William Fisher
I'll see what I can do.
5 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Anders
That's wonderful, a great suggestion.
Now we're over to the Conservative Party of Canada, with Mr. Sweet for five minutes.
5 p.m.
Conservative
David Sweet Conservative Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
My colleague Mr. Shipley asked you about the 500 private practitioners, and you mentioned that you weren't aware of their credentials. Are you aware whether these 500 are an amalgam of counsellors, psychologists, and psychiatrists?
5 p.m.
Australian Department of Veterans Affairs
Yes, that's right. They're primarily psychologists and counsellors and social workers, I believe, rather than psychiatrists, but they would access psychiatrists through various means as well. So they would have access to psychiatrists when they needed them.
5 p.m.
Conservative
David Sweet Conservative Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON
I'm assuming they have psychiatrists and psychologists who are regular service people as well. Are they used at all for veterans services, or is it all private practitioners?
5 p.m.
Australian Department of Veterans Affairs
It's primarily through private arrangements, but many of those people own private practices as well, so they can seek care from those people as well.
5 p.m.
Conservative
David Sweet Conservative Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON
Thank you. You mentioned that you had invested some money in research in Queensland, and I think there was one other university you mentioned as well. Do you have an idea of the magnitude of investment in PTSD research that you do?
5 p.m.
Australian Department of Veterans Affairs
No. We have those two main centres and a centre for military and veterans health in Queensland. The Department of Veterans' Affairs provides a million dollars a year to provide running costs, and since they are an academic organization, that will be for working in particular areas. The Department of Defence also provides resources to them as well. So in a sense we're providing the infrastructure and they're going about the work of identifying the need.
Some of the work they're doing at the moment in terms of health deployment studies obviously will focus on the areas around mental health issues. For the Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health, we provide funding somewhere in the vicinity of $1.1 million to $1.5 million a year. That's a mixture of core funding to establish the centre, operate it, and funding for specific projects. We also fund a range of other projects from time to time that look at mental health issues, and they may be the recipients of those research projects or maybe those of other organizations as well. But there is a range of bits of research that is done covering mental health issues, some specific and some as a part of a broader range or broader research topic.