House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-10-19 Daily Xml

Contents

Northern Adelaide Veteran Wellbeing Centre

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (14:50): My question is to the Minister for Veterans Affairs—and I must say, welcome back, Geoff. Can the minister provide the house with an update on the northern Adelaide veteran wellbeing centre, including whether a suitable location has been determined?

The Hon. G.G. BROCK (Stuart—Minister for Local Government, Minister for Regional Roads, Minister for Veterans Affairs) (14:51): Thank you to the shadow minister for veterans affairs, the member for Hammond. It is nice to be back.

Honourable members: Hear, hear!

The Hon. G.G. BROCK: I do miss the place actually. To the member I say that, together with the government, I am looking forward to tonight. To answer your question, the hub in the northern suburbs is a decision for the federal government as you are quite aware—the hub at Salisbury, the northern hub?

Mr Pederick: Yes.

The Hon. G.G. BROCK: Okay. The federal Minister for Veterans Affairs has indicated that he is going through the process in terms of the information, the submissions and things like that. Basically, the answer to your question is that no decision has been made as to a particular location at this point. However, I say to the member for Hammond, the shadow minister for veterans affairs, that, as soon as I find anything out, I am quite happy to give him a full briefing on the location. As we both agree and everybody in this house agrees, the health and wellbeing of our veterans is of the utmost importance to everybody in this chamber and in particular to their families.

We have got the Veteran Wellbeing Centre at Daw Park and the veterans' mental health facility, the Jamie Larcombe Centre. We have been down there. I know from the shadow minister's portfolio and also his compassion for veterans, we need to be able to look after them. To the member for Hammond, the shadow minister, I am quite happy, as soon as I get some more information, to share that with you directly.