with Susan Templeman MP

There are more than 20,000 veterans living in and around the Hawkesbury district.

When you combine their families, and the families of serving personnel whose loved ones work at Richmond RAAF Base, that’ s tens of thousands of people who will be better supported by the new Hawkesbury Veterans’ and Families’ Hub that will soon begin operating, thanks to Federal Government funding I secured. It will start at a temporary site at Windsor RSL, with a separate entrance to the Club, where veterans and their families can access things like health and wellbeing services, Department of Veteran Affairs claims help and housing and employment support. There’ s been a terrific working relationship between RSL Lifecare, who

have been selected to operate the Hub, and Windsor RSL to get this temporary site up and running.

We’ ve also recently announced the permanent site for the Hub, in Richmond at the historic Richmond Court House and Police Station.

The repurposing of the Court House, a joint project with the NSW Government, will create a warm and welcoming environment for veterans of all ages and their families, while still respecting the important heritage of the building. For instance, the design maintains the street facade, and the courthouse itself and police quarters in the front part of the building, but has a newly built section as the main entrance on West Market St.

There will be an open plan kitchen with tables and chairs for informal gatherings and meetings, which opens onto a private

courtyard area. There are meeting rooms for individual consultations, and large spaces for group activities or events.

It is very conveniently located, in the heart of the town, and will have dedicated parking.

Labor’ s commitment to improving the support for veterans and their families is multi-faceted.

Along with the Veteran’ s Hub, we have also funded Taskforce Veteran, who received $ 5 million towards their restoration of the historical Scheyville Officer Training Unit at Scheyville National Park.

Once completed, Scheyville will offer a safe space for veterans, their families, and the Hawkesbury community to come together and appreciate the region’ s rich military history. You can find out more about the open days at Scheyville by

following Taskforce Veteran’ s Facebook page. And every day we are improving the way we support veterans. Our government has continued to index Veteran Pensions so that the more than 150,000 Australians receiving support through the Department of Veterans’ Affairs regularly receive increases.

Compared to 2022, as of March 2025, a veteran receiving the Disability Compensation Payment( Special Rate), known as the Totally and Permanently Incapacitated( TPI) Payment, has seen their payment increase by more than $ 7,630 per year and single people on the veteran payment are more than $ 4,300 per year better off.

These increases reflect the Albanese Labor Government’ s determination to help every Australian with cost-of-living pressures.