Mr BAYLEY – Chair, I’m happy to just ask one last question, because I know we’re right on time. I guess it’s following on from that in terms of housing and homelessness. How do you coordinate the strategies between what you aspire to deliver for veterans and what is delivered through Homes Tasmania? The coordination of strategies and delivery there sounds like it could be better.
Mr PEARCE – Yeah, it could. I just don’t want to plonk those diggers in a cheap house and then give up, basically, because it’s easy. I think the biggest thing is, they’ll basically sleep anywhere, trust me, but what we need to do is use that opportunity wisely, and use that opportunity to get them back on their feet, and use that opportunity to teach them to respect themselves again. To give them that purpose.
I used to tell my diggers for the last 12 months that you’re in, you want to use that time to prepare yourself for the outside world in a number of ways. You’d have a quiet chat with them. As a 30‑year‑old and as a warrant officer, you’re like an old man and you’ve got so much wisdom in the military, because it’s a young person’s game. I used to take that very seriously. I think once they leave, they don’t have a sergeant major any longer. They don’t have any mates around them that they serve with, their brothers-in-arms. They don’t have the support mechanism. The divorce rates for veteran families is much, much higher than standard, so sometimes they don’t have a family either. They don’t have the support mechanisms.
That’s where I think we need to put the focus, in almost re-educating and lifting them up, basically. I don’t want it to be like ‑ you see some places with emergency accommodation where you see them all gather out the front and it’s sort of like a camp. I don’t want that. I want this to be a transition place for our veterans.
CHAIR – The time for scrutiny has expired. The next portfolio to appear before the committee is the minister for Education at 9.00 a.m. tomorrow.
