The federal government will set up an advisory body to encourage private businesses to do more to recruit veterans and has promised to lead by example in employing them.
On Thursday, the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, announced the government will establish an advisory committee of corporations that will help industry develop strategies to recruit and retain veterans in employment.
Participating businesses will be given the title “Veteran Employment Ambassador” and the government will give awards to businesses of all sizes that employ veterans.
The government has also promised a “no discharge without documentation” policy to guarantee proper paperwork when someone leaves the military. Veterans will receive job coaching and materials to help find work.
Launching the initiative at Kirribilli House with veterans and business leaders, Turnbull said the program was “not about charity, we’re not asking businesses to engage in some sort of philanthropic exercise”.
He spoke about the skills of ex-servicemen and women including use of state-of-the art technology, logistics, resilience, loyalty and courage.
Turnbull said the government would “never instruct business to hire veterans as a patriotic obligation” but invited them to “feel free to do so”. He committed the government to “act as an exemplar in employing ex-servicemen and women”.
The veterans affairs minister, Dan Tehan, told ABC News Breakfast that 5,500 defence force personnel leave the military every year and they spend an average of 7.5 years in the force.
“They have wonderful skills. They learn wonderful things while they’re serving our country and those skills are readily deployable to the civilian workforce,” he said.
“What we are doing today is making sure that business in Australia and the public sector ... understand [their] skills ... so when they transition away from defence life to civilian life, those employers recognise those skills and will seek to employ our retiring defence personnel.”
Tehan told ABC’s AM the government’s initiative would “ensure” that business and the public sector “are considering veterans when they are advertising jobs”.
Labor’s defence spokesman, Richard Marles, and veterans’ affairs spokeswoman, Amanda Rishworth, welcomed the veterans’ employment program and suggested a review within 12 months to ensure it is effective.
“Labor has long said when there is more we can do to support our veterans it should be done,” they said. “We know employment opportunities for veterans and their families create better opportunities for transition into civilian life.”
Tehan also trumpeted measures in the 2016 budget to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety and alcohol and substance abuse.
“Now anyone who has served for a day currently with our military or who is now a veteran ... you can get free access to the treatment in those areas. It doesn’t have to be service-related.”
A report in August found that 41 military personnel and veterans had taken their own lives this year, the same as the number of Australians who were killed in Afghanistan during 13 years of war.
