2023-2024 Annual Report

ISSN:                                1836-1838

Date presented to Minister: 30 September 2024

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To:

Hon. Joe Szakacs MP
Minister for Veterans’ Affairs

This annual report will be presented to Parliament to meet the statutory reporting requirements of the Public Sector Act 2009 and Public Finance and Audit Act 1987 and the requirements of Premier and Cabinet Circular PC013 Annual Reporting.

This report is verified to be accurate for the purposes of annual reporting to the Parliament of South Australia.

Submitted on behalf of Veterans SA by:

Bianca Wheeler Director, Veterans SA
Matt Opie, Chief Executive, Defence SA

Date: 30 September 2024

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From the Director

I joined Veterans SA on 15 July 2024 and am thrilled to be leading a portfolio that has continued to deliver on its commitment to empower community, promote inclusion, and honour service of South Australian veterans. The team have developed and implemented many innovative initiatives focused on meeting the unique needs of the South Australian veteran community and positioning us for future success.

Veterans SA is proud to have commenced several initiatives this year, some of which are firsts for the state and even the nation, delivering significant impact for our veteran community.

One specific pilot launched in May 2024 was the Veterans SA Tertiary Scholarship Program which was developed in response to community feedback about the financial barriers to higher education faced by former serving Australian Defence Force (ADF) members and partners.
To further enhance the employment outcomes of veterans and their families and critical to the state’s economic prosperity, Veterans SA established the SA Veterans Employer Network.

South Australia became the first state to honour current and former ADF families with an official day of recognition on 15 May – Veterans’ Families Day. War Widows Day was also introduced and will be observed on 19 October each year to recognise the resilience and enduring sacrifice of Australian War Widows.
At Veterans SA we are committed to delivering programs and supporting initiatives that make a difference. By tackling financial barriers to education, enhancing employment opportunities, and recognising the sacrifices of veterans and their families, Veterans SA is not only fostering a supportive environment but also paving the way for a brighter future for all South Australian veterans.

As we look ahead, we remain committed to evolving and adapting our efforts to meet the ever-changing needs of our veteran community, ensuring that their service and sacrifices are honoured and supported in meaningful ways.

Bianca Wheeler Director, Veterans SA

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From the Chief Executive 

Veterans SA is part of the structure of Defence SA, South Australia’s lead government agency for all defence matters.
Our role includes developing the economic prosperity of the defence and space sectors in South Australia.
We believe that supporting our veteran community is as important as supporting defence industry, which is why Veterans SA is an integral part of Defence SA.
By supporting both, we can ensure we remain the Defence State, enable our veterans and their families prosper, while also commemorating our fallen.

I congratulate the Veterans SA team on their good work.

Matt Opie, Chief Executive, Defence SA

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Contents

Our strategic focus. 5

Our organisational structure. 6

Our Minister 6

Our Executive team.. 6

Legislation administered by the agency. 6

The agency’s performance. 7

Performance at a glance. 7

Agency contribution to whole of Government objectives. 7

Agency specific objectives and performance. 8

Corporate performance summary. 11

Employment opportunity programs. 12

Agency performance management and development systems. 13

Work health, safety and return to work programs. 13

Executive employment in the agency. 15

Financial performance. 16

Financial performance at a glance. 16

Consultants disclosure. 16

Contractors disclosure. 17

Other financial information. 17

Risk management 19

Fraud detected in the agency. 19

Strategies implemented to control and prevent fraud. 19

Public interest disclosure. 19

Reporting required under any other act or regulation. 20

Reporting required under the Carers’ Recognition Act 2005. 20

Public complaints. 21

Number of public complaints reported. 21

Additional Metrics. 22

Service Improvements. 23

Compliance Statement 23

Appendix: Audited financial statements 2021-22. 24

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Overview: about the agency

Our strategic focus

Our Purpose	Veterans SA works with state, national and community partners to support current and former serving members of the Australian Defence Force and their families, including reservists, to live meaningful, fulfilling lives in South Australia. The agency also plays a role in sharing information on services and programs across South Australia that are available to those who have served and their families.
Our Vision	A strong, vibrant, well supported and represented veteran community, inclusive of all generations, that is understood and appropriately acknowledged by all South Australians.
Our Values	To uphold the provisions of South Australia’s Charter for Veterans by ensuring the needs of veterans, government and the wider South Australian community are met. This is achieved by providing expert advice on veterans’ affairs and influencing government decision-making to ensure that the veteran community is well represented in South Australia.
Our functions, objectives, and deliverables	To inform government decision-making at all levels on policy development with respect to the relevance and delivery of services to the veteran community. To be first with expert advice on veterans’ affairs to government and to position government to provide relevant high-level services. To support the sustainability, resilience and advancement of the veteran community. To support the veteran community in delivering commemorative events that reflect the significant impact of the service and sacrifice of veterans and their families to the nation, and to ensure that military historical significance is remembered and preserved.

Our organisational structure

Changes to Veterans SA

During 2023-24 there were no changes to Veterans SA’s structure and objectives as a result of internal reviews or machinery of government changes.
Following the resignation of Chantel Bohan on in April 2024, Rebecca Van Reesema was acting the Director Veterans SA role from 11 May 2024 – 14 July 2024. Bianca Wheeler commenced as the Director Veterans SA on 15 July 2024.

Our Minister

The Hon. Joseph Szakacs MP is the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs. Minister Szakacs also oversees the Trade and Investment and Local Government portfolios and is the Member for Cheltenham.

Our Executive

Bianca Wheeler, Director

Bianca Wheeler is responsible for ensuring that the interests and needs of the community of current and former serving members of the Australian Defence Force and their families are represented across the South Australian Government.

Legislation administered by the agency.

Veterans SA administers the ANZAC Day Commemoration Act 2005

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The agency’s performance

Performance at a glance.

• Successfully launched the Veterans SA Tertiary Scholarship Program in May 2024 with $50,000 available to eligible former serving Australian Defence Force (ADF) members and partners to assist with the financial barriers to higher education.
• Provided $100,000 in grant funding to progress academic research on topics of importance to the veteran community.
• Established and facilitated the SA Veteran Employer Network, which brings together employers with a genuine interest and commitment to improving employment outcomes for veterans and their partners, and aims to improve these outcomes via networking, candidate sharing, mentoring and guidance for other veteran employers.
• Established a partnership with Military and Emergency Services Health Australia (MESHA) to meet the unique needs of Defence and veteran partners, through the adaptation and expansion of the MindRight and StoryRight Program workshops (for delivery in 2024-25).
• Delivered a regional outreach program across the Riverland, Gawler, Eyre Peninsula and Copper Coast including a successful ‘Copper Coast Veterans’ Forum’.
• Established a $240,000 grant with the Port Adelaide Football Club’s Australian Defence Force Veterans’ Program to support the continuation and expansion of the program over the next four years.
• Delivered 10 grants totalling $84,677 to the South Australian community from the Anzac Day Commemoration Fund.
• Delivered 14 grants totalling $12,965 to South Australian organisations to support the delivery of commemorative services under the Veterans SA Commemorative Services Grant Fund.
• Delivered seven grants totalling $23,624 to support increased capacity and capability of South Australian ex-service organisations through the Veterans SA Capacity Building Grant Fund.
• Continued administrative and secretariat support for the Veterans Advisory Council.

Veterans SA specific objectives and performance

Veterans SA collaborates across the South Australian Government to ensure policy and delivery agencies consider the opportunities and implications for veterans and their families and incorporate beneficial approaches to live their most fulfilled lives.

The South Australian Government recognises the vital role that veterans and their families play in the South Australian community, and Veterans SA supports community leaders to collaborate and enable opportunities and/or support to suit the needs of an ever-evolving veteran community.
Veterans SA continues, with cross agency collaboration and education, to ensure state government agencies are provided with information on the unique needs and requirements of the veteran community.

For example, Veterans SA advocated for the unique needs of the veteran community through participation in the statewide concessions working group chaired by Concessions SA. Veterans SA also advocated for the needs of military children and families within the education system upon relocation to South Australia on military postings. Understanding the impacts of relocation on the educational outcomes for military children remains a high priority for the agency. It is supporting the growth of knowledge in this area through the allocation of research funding.

Agency specific objectives and performance

Corporate performance summary

Veterans SA was established in 2008 and sits within the South Australian Government agency, Defence SA. The activities of Veterans SA are entirely funded from appropriation or other internal South Australian Government contributions.

Employment opportunity programs

Program name	Performance
Nil	N/A

Agency performance management and development systems

Performance management and development system	Performance
Staff Performance Management and Development System	All non-executive staff participate in an annual performance review process linked to training and development. This involves, a half-yearly review and an annual review. By 30 June 2024, 100% of non-executive staff had completed a half-yearly and an annual review.
Director Performance Agreement	Acting arrangements were in place for the Director Veterans SA role for approximately 2 months from 11 May to 14 July 2024. The Acting Director completed a performance and development review with the Defence SA Chief Executive on 25 June 2023. The Director position was filled and commenced on 15 July 2024.

Work health, safety and return to work programs

Program name	Performance
First Aid	Veterans SA is co-located with Defence SA which has four qualified First Aid Officers who have completed accredited training.
Mental Health First Aid	Veterans SA is co-located with Defence SA which has Mental Health First Aid Officers who have completed accredited training. Three Veterans SA staff have completed Mental Health First Aid training. This complements the existing Employee Assistance Program. In addition, some senior management have also received training on mental health first aid.

Workplace injury claims	2023-24	2022-23	% Change (+ / -)
Total new workplace injury claims	0	0	0%
Fatalities	0	0	0%
Seriously injured workers*	0	0	0%
Significant injuries (where lost time exceeds a working week, expressed as frequency rate per 1000 FTE)	0	0	0%

*number of claimants assessed during the reporting period as having a whole person impairment of 30% or more under the Return to Work Act 2014 (Part 2 Division 5)

Work health and safety regulations	2023-24	2022-23	% Change (+ / -)
Number of notifiable incidents (Work Health and Safety Act 2012, Part 3)	0	0	0%
Number of provisional improvement, improvement and prohibition notices (Work Health and Safety Act 2012 Sections 90, 191 and 195)	0	0	0%

Return to work costs**	2023-24	2022-23	% Change (+ / -)
Total gross workers compensation expenditure ($)	0	0	0%
Income support payments – gross ($)	0	0	0%

**before third party recovery

Data for previous years is available at: Work health and safety/return to work performance 2022-23 – Dataset – data.sa.gov.au

Executive employment in the agency

Data for previous years is available at: Work health and safety/return to work performance 2022-23 – Dataset – data.sa.gov.au

The Office of the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment has a workforce information page that provides further information on the breakdown of executive gender, salary and tenure by agency.

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Financial performance

Financial performance at a glance

The following is a summary of the overall financial position of Veterans SA extracted from Defence SA’s financial statements for 2023-24. The information is unaudited.

Note that Veterans SA sits within Defence SA so reference can be made to the Defence SA Annual Report for 2023-24 for full data sets and data from previous years.

Statement of Comprehensive Income	2023-24 Budget $000s	2023-24 Actual $000s	Variation $000s	2022-23 Actual $000s
Total Income	$  26	$  25	$    (1)	$    34
Total Expenses	$ 2,563	$ 1,671	$    892	$ 1,427
Net Result	$(2,537)	$(1,646)	$    891	$(1,393)
Total Comprehensive Result	$(2,537)	$(1,646)	$    891	$(1,393)

Consultants disclosure

The following is a summary of external consultants that have been engaged by the agency, the nature of work undertaken, and the actual payments made for the work undertaken during the financial year.

Consultancies with a contract value below $10,000 each

Consultancies	Purpose	$ Actual payment
Nil	N/A	$ Nil

Consultancies with a contract value above $10,000 each

Consultancies	Purpose	$ Actual payment
Nil	N/A	$ Nil
	Total	$ Nil

Data for previous years is available at: Consultants 2022-23 – Dataset – data.sa.gov.au

See also the Consolidated Financial Report of the Department of Treasury and Finance for total value of consultancy contracts across the South Australian Public Sector.

Contractors disclosure

The following is a summary of external contractors that have been engaged by the agency, the nature of work undertaken, and the actual payments made for work undertaken during the financial year.

Contractors with a contract value below $10,000

Contractors	Purpose	$ Actual payment
All contractors below $10,000 each – combined	Various	$ 7113.29

Contractors with a contract value above $10,000 each

Contractors	Purpose	$ Actual payment
Be Sustained	Facilitation of Career & Business Mentoring Program	$50,500.00
Haymakr	Benchmarking research	$ 11,000.00
Repat Foundation	Workshop facilitation	$ 20,000.00
	Total	$ 81,500.00

Data for previous years is available at: Contractors 2022-23 – Dataset – data.sa.gov.au

The details of South Australian Government-awarded contracts for goods, services, and works are displayed on the SA Tenders and Contracts website. View the agency list of contracts.

The website also provides details of across government contracts.

Other financial information

The Anzac Day Commemoration Fund was administered by Veterans SA. The fund was established under the Anzac Day Commemoration Act 2005.

Statement of Comprehensive Income	2023-24 Budget $000s	2023-24 Actual $000s	Variation   $000s	2022-23 Actual $000s
Total Income	$100	$100	$-	$100
Total Expenses	$100	$85	$-	$82
Net Result	$-	$15	$-	$-
Total Comprehensive Result	$-	$15	$-	$-

 

Statement of Financial Position	2023-24 Budget $000s	2023-24 Actual $000s	Variation   $000s	2023-24 Actual $000s
Current assets	$97	$110	20	$97
Total assets	$97	$110	20	$97
Current liabilities	$-	$-	$(2)	$2
Total liabilities	$-	$-	$(2)	$2
Net assets	$97	$110	$18	$95
Equity	$97	$110	$18	$95

 

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Risk management

Fraud detected in the agency

Category/nature of fraud	Number of instances
N/A	Nil

NB: Fraud reported includes actual and reasonably suspected incidents of fraud.

Strategies implemented to control and prevent fraud

During the 2023-24 FY all staff completed the SA Public Sector Code of Ethics refresher training, Cyber Security Awareness training and Fraud and Corruption Awareness training.

Data for previous years is available at: Fraud Detection 2021-22 – Dataset – data.sa.gov.au

Public interest disclosure

Number of occasions on which public interest information has been disclosed to a responsible officer of the agency under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2018:

Nil

Data for previous years is available at: Whistle-blower Disclosure 2022-23 – Dataset – data.sa.gov.au

Note:  Disclosure of public interest information was previously reported under the Whistleblowers Protection Act 1993 and repealed by the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2018 on 1/7/2019.

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Reporting required under any other act or regulation

Reporting required under the Carers’ Recognition Act 2005

Veterans SA is not required to report under the Carers Recognition Act 2005.

Public complaints

Number of public complaints reported

Complaint categories	Sub-categories	Example	Number of Complaints 2023-24
Professional behaviour	Staff attitude	Failure to demonstrate values such as empathy, respect, fairness, courtesy, extra mile; cultural competency	Nil
Professional behaviour	Staff competency	Failure to action service request; poorly informed decisions; incorrect or incomplete service provided	Nil
Professional behaviour	Staff knowledge	Lack of service specific knowledge; incomplete or out-of-date knowledge	Nil
Communication	Communication quality	Inadequate, delayed or absent communication with customer	Nil
Communication	Confidentiality	Customer’s confidentiality or privacy not respected; information shared incorrectly	Nil
Service delivery	Systems/technology	System offline; inaccessible to customer; incorrect result/information provided; poor system design	Nil
Service delivery	Access to services	Service difficult to find; location poor; facilities/ environment poor standard; not accessible to customers with disabilities	Nil
Service delivery	Process	Processing error; incorrect process used; delay in processing application; process not customer responsive	Nil
Policy	Policy application	Incorrect policy interpretation; incorrect policy applied; conflicting policy advice given	Nil
Policy	Policy content	Policy content difficult to understand; policy unreasonable or disadvantages customer	Nil
Service quality	Information	Incorrect, incomplete, out dated or inadequate information; not fit for purpose	Nil
Service quality	Access to information	Information difficult to understand, hard to find or difficult to use; not plain English	Nil
Service quality	Timeliness	Lack of staff punctuality; excessive waiting times (outside of service standard); timelines not met	Nil
Service quality	Safety	Maintenance; personal or family safety; duty of care not shown; poor security service/ premises; poor cleanliness	Nil
Service quality	Service responsiveness	Service design doesn’t meet customer needs; poor service fit with customer expectations	Nil
No case to answer	No case to answer	Third party; customer misunderstanding; redirected to another agency; insufficient information to investigate	Nil
		Total	0

Additional Metrics	Total
Number of positive feedback comments	0
Number of negative feedback comments	0
Total number of feedback comments	0
% complaints resolved within policy timeframes	N/A

Data for previous years is available at: Public Complaints 2022-23 – Dataset – data.sa.gov.au

 Service Improvements

N/A

Compliance Statement

Veterans SA is compliant with Premier and Cabinet Circular 039 – complaint management in the South Australian public sector	Y
Veterans SA has communicated the content of PC 039 and the agency’s related complaints policies and procedures to employees.	Y