Tuesday, 2 August 2022

 Mr LEANE (Eastern Metropolitan—Minister for Commonwealth Games Legacy, Minister for Veterans) (14:42): Today I would like to update the house on the progress of the work that the office for veterans has done in partnership with Jobs Victoria on the Employing Veterans initiative. I would like to give a big shout-out to Minister Pulford, who has been an absolute driving force in establishing this initiative.

Since the launch of the initiative, which was not long ago I have got to say, over 300 veterans and their family members have registered on the Jobs Victoria online hub and more than 200 have accessed Jobs Victoria employment services. But more importantly 87 veterans and their family members have been employed through this initiative. It is fantastic. On top of the 40 veterans that have been supported into jobs via the Veterans in Construction initiative, which was a pilot a couple of years ago and continues to be a great thing, 87 veterans and their family members have been employed through this initiative. Obviously it also supports employers who are looking to employ a veteran or their family member to access great candidates through this initiative.

As we say in Victoria, we know ex-service men and women are absolute assets and we want them here, so this is just part of initiatives that we will embark on to make sure that Victoria becomes a destination state for men and women that are leaving the services. As I say, we want them here and we will be working in other ways, not just in employment but on other tangible reasons why ex-service men and women would want to make their homes in Victoria.