For more than 100 years, RSLWA has walked alongside veterans and their families in Western Australia to support them whenever they need a hand.

Now for the first time in its history, RSLWA is introducing a new program to train man’s best friend to walk alongside veterans experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The Psychiatric Assistance Dog Pilot Program is the first of its kind in WA, which will see RSLWA partner four veterans with trained assistance dogs to improve their mental health outcomes.

Research conducted by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs shows when veterans are partnered with assistance dogs they have less stress, anxiety, PTSD symptoms, depression, anger and insomnia. They were also more likely to experience less isolation and self-judgement, and improve their self-compassion

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The program has been made possible thanks to a State Government grant of $430,000 from the ANZAC Day Trust.

Canine carers will undergo 12 months of training through Kaizen K9, a Perth-based business with 25 years' experience instructing police and military dogs. The course will teach the dogs behavioural traits, and how best to care for their companion.

Once paired with a pet, the veteran's wellbeing will be monitored through monthly evaluations conducted by consulting psychiatrist Dr Richard Magtengaard over a one-year period. 

RSLWA chief executive Vince Connelly said the pilot program will build a capability which does not currently exist in WA.

"We are beyond excited about the program, and so grateful that we have this opportunity which will improve the lives of veterans in WA experiencing mental health challenges," he said.

Minister for Veterans Issues Paul Papalia said military personnel made a wide range of sacrifices to protect our country, and the impacts of that service could continue long after a veteran's career has ended.

"Psychiatric assistance dogs have proven benefits for people who confront military-related trauma such as PTSD,” he said.

"Establishing a local provider will make assistance dogs more accessible for WA veterans as they won't be forced to rely on programs based in the eastern states.

"As a veteran myself, I'm proud to be part of the Labor Government which is establishing a program that could improve the lives of so many veterans in our State."

Remembrance Day 2023 marks the 105th anniversary of the Armistice which ended the First World War when the guns fell silent on the Western Front at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month.

Lest We Forget.

The Commemorative Service at Kings Park is open to the public and people are asked to arrive before 10.30am when the formalities commence.

Below is a list of Remembrance Day events run by our Sub-Branches across Western Australia.

This is not exhaustive and may not be 100% accurate as local situations may change. 

Please make sure to check with the Sub-Branch before making arrangements to attend.

Last updated on 6 November 2023.

Minister for Veterans’ Affairs the Hon Matt Keogh MP announced that it will be easier for more than 276,000 Australian veterans to access a GP.

From 1 November 2023, in line with the tripling of the bill billing incentive, the Albanese Government has invested $33.3 million to triple the Veteran Access Payment (VAP) for certain GP services.

The VAP is an incentive payment GP’s receive, in addition to the Medicare rebate, when treating veterans who hold a DVA Gold or White Card.

The tripling of this payment will help to ensure GPs continue to service veterans with no out of pocket costs.

These changes will see payment for a GP consultation of up to 20 minutes (Level B) increase by more than $16 in metropolitan areas and more than $31 in the most remote areas of Australia.

Payments apply to general face-to-face and telehealth GP consultations, including home visits for people who are homebound, and consultations in residential aged-care facilities.

In an effort to further reduce the burden on medical practitioners, a review is currently underway to simplify and consolidate the Department of Veterans’ Affairs forms that medical professionals are required to complete.

The first package of the 19 most frequently used forms has been consolidated down to 7, while a process is underway to significantly reduce the remaining 54 forms by mid-2024.

This measure will incentivise GPs to treat the more than 276,000 veterans and eligible dependents who hold Veteran White or Gold Cards.

Transcript from the Hon Minister for Veterans Affairs’ Matt Keogh MP's press conference at Armadale, WA

Wednesday, 1 November 2023

Bulk billing increase and tripling of the Veteran Access Payment

MATT KEOGH, MINISTER FOR VETERANS AFFAIRS: From today [1 November 2023] we are increasing the benefits and supports to GPs to better support patients in getting access to bulk billing, and our veterans in getting access to GPs. So from today, the GP bulk billing incentive payment will be tripled. That's an important benefit. Because what we have seen across the country is so many people saying that they sometimes have difficulty being able to access a bulk billed doctor. So from today, tripling that incentive payment to better support GPs and their practices, and being able to provide the health care that people need is an incredibly important benefit. In fact, this is the largest investment in the Medicare system in four decades. And it will mean that for kids under 16, people on concession cards, older Australians will be able to attract this additional incentive payment. So that GPs are in a better position to bulk bill them.

And when it comes to our veterans from today, as well, we're tripling the Veteran Access Payment. And that will mean that GPs are better supported to continue to provide, with no gap fee, medical services to our veterans on a Gold Card, or a White Card. So this tripling of the Veterans Access Payment will benefit 276,000 veterans across Australia. That's in addition to the changes we've made to simplify administration for our Doctors, reducing the paperwork burden on them, when they're providing reports to DVA,  tripling the Veterans Access Payment will mean that GPs and their practices are better supported by Government so they can continue to provide the medical services that our veterans need and deserve.

And when it comes to communities like this, in Armadale, in my electorate of Burt, the tripling of the Medicare bulk billing incentive, will benefit over 90,500 people. That means over 1,165 million Western Australians will be able to benefit from this increase in payments to GPs to support bulk billing. And that will mean that 11.6 million people nationally are going to benefit. So this biggest ever investment in Medicare in four decades, by the Albanese Government, is going to improve health care, improve access to bulk billing, improve access to doctors, by veterans across the country. And it's great to see that all starting from today. 

I'm now going to hand over to Ramya, who's one of our local GPs here in Armadale, but also Chair of the RACGP WA.

DR RAMYA RAMAN, CHAIR, RACGP WA: Thank you, Minister. This is certainly a welcome measure from the Government. On behalf of the RACGP we are very much thankful for hearing what is well needed for the injection into the Medicare on behalf of GPs. As the Minister already mentioned, the current tripling of the bulk billing incentive will mean that there is incentivisation or a top up payment for those who need it the most. So children less than 16 years of age, pensioners and concession card holders. It enables patients to have better access, and at the end of the day, as a practicing GP, it is our patients that matter the most. And we want to keep patients out of hospitals and reduce them going on to the Emergency Department. So the discretion of this will lie on the General Practitioner, but it is certainly a very much first step towards what's needed into the injection into Medicare.

Our rural colleagues are very happy with this as well, WA being a very large state, many of our rural practitioners, General Practitioners, work in the community as well as in the hospital. What this means is that patients will have more equitable access and bettering their health outcomes overall. The Veteran Access Payment is also a very welcome measure for those who are needing it the most. Our veterans do have complex health needs and increasing the incentivisation, or top up of payments will ultimately mean that there is a better access for them to see their GP, to have better continuity and to ensure that these patients are well looked after within the community and reducing the presentations to the Hospital. I'll now hand over to Duncan, who is the RSL Deputy President.

DUNCAN ANDERSON, DEPUTY PRESIDENT, RSL AUSTRALIA: RSL Australia is incredibly indebted to, along with many other agencies that provided a pre-budget submission to address the shortfall in our community and the RSL congratulate the Government for listening, taking this important first step. Just like to highlight this although an important first step and a significant investment, the continued support for over 580,000 veterans remains our core focus. We look forward to working in partnership with the Government to deliver for veterans in the future. I’ll hand back to the Minister for questions.

JOURNALIST: Can you please explain these difficulties?

MINISTER KEOGH: So we've seen across the community, people have identified it is harder and harder to get access to a bulk billed GP service. And that differs from area to area. We're really fortunate in this community here that over 80% of the GPs practicing, in this part of Perth, do provide bulk billing services to at least some patients. But that's not the case, across the state or across the country. And so making sure that we can support GPs to be able to provide more bulk billing services, especially to those who most need it. So our under 16’s, our elderly, those on concession cards is really important.

We've also seen across the country veterans saying that they have found that some GPs have withdrawn service, because they're concerned about not being able to charge a gap. And that's an important part about how we support our veterans on a Gold Card or a White Card when they go to see a doctor, the doctor can't charge a gap, we pay GPs more, to make sure that we provide that important health service to veterans. So tripling the Veteran Access Payment, means GPs will receive even more again to make sure that they can continue to service our veterans, and do that in a way that's financially viable to their practices. This is about meeting the cost of living needs for patients, so they get the health care they need, and the cost pressures that are on our medical practices as well. So they can continue to provide high quality health care, not just in metro areas, but high quality health care across the country. 

JOURNALIST: Are you seeing increasing numbers of veterans who need these services?

MINISTER KEOGH: Well, certainly, we now have 581,000 veterans across the country. 276,000 of them have either a Gold Card or a White Card, which entitles them to access to certain medical services for the Department of Veterans’ Affairs. And those numbers are increasing, because every day we have people signing up to join our Defence Force. And we're really happy to see that, we want to see more of that. And what we say to them is we will make sure that they're looked after when they leave the Defence Force as well. And that's why they get access to these White Cards or Gold Cards. So that any conditions that they may obtain through their service to our nation, are looked after. And the Veteran Access Payment tripling that starts from today ensures that we're continuing to be able to provide that service that they don't just need, but frankly, they deserve.

JOURNALIST: [inaudible] will there be a cost for them?

MINISTER KEOGH: So the way that the Medicare system operates is that the Government will pay the Medicare rebate and where the patient is eligible - so under 16, or on a concession card, then we'll also pay this incentive payment. It's always up to the GP, they’re independent businesses to operate, how they choose to operate. That's an important part of our system. But it's also an important part that we've created the Medicare system to stand behind GPs to support their practices, to pay those bills, those Medicare payment schedules and also these incentive payments, so that we can see more and more of them, continue to bulk bill patients so that we can deal with those cost of living pressures and support practices to continue to provide high quality health care.

JOURNALIST: You said it was a tripling of the figure, what is that figure now?

MINISTER KEOGH: So the figure varies from metropolitan to outer regional. So it'll be going up $16 in the metropolitan areas, but going up $31 in our outer regional and remote areas, there's a schedule that sets it all out to different areas, because we recognise that the cost pressures, especially in our remote areas, Western Australia has a lot of GPs that fit into this category. They are higher cost pressures that need to be met and they've got a lot of those communities in need and they need to be serviced.

JOURNALIST: There’s a major shortage of GPs here and in the regions will this help?

DR RAMAN: Certainly, the General Practice workforce is something that we all need to be pitching into. With regards to the workforce shortages that we are seeing, we're working very hard from the College to ensure that there is a professional objective, particularly with medical students and junior doctors wanting to choose general practice as their profession. As a GP, I'm very proud and so very much of my colleagues in servicing the community and the patients that we see. And I would probably say general practice is the best profession or the specialty to choose in medicine. And of course, I'm biased towards that. But the reality of this is we need certain support systems to help with this. Of course, with the support from both Federal and State Governments, and these are steps that we are advocating for.

By Pamela Harrison

80th anniversary of the crew lost at sea

There were at least 160 military aircraft crashes or mishaps in WA during WWII.

Planes were shot down by enemy fire, crashed during training exercises, and some disappeared over the ocean while protecting WA’s coastline from enemy ships.

One aircraft that disappeared was a Beaufort Bomber A9-317, it took off on September 9, 1943 from the RAAF Base in Busselton with five crew on-board and never returned. 

Eighty years after the plane vanished, its whereabouts still remains a mystery to this day, and it is the only documented casualty connected to the Busselton base.

A commemoration service will be held on the 80^th anniversary of the disappearance of the A9-317 Beaufort Bomber at the Busselton War Memorial from 11am on 9 September 2023

Busselton airbase. Image supplied by Peter Dunn.

Busselton RAAF Base was constructed in 1941, providing landing, service and refuelling facilities for seaward reconnaissance aircraft.  

In 1943, Busselton was made an Operational Base Unit, its main function was to fuel and service Beaufort Bombers and Tiger Moths that staged through or operated in the Busselton area, along with other aircraft and civilian planes that also used the base. 

In Western Australia, Beauforts belonged to 14 Squadron which formed at Pearce airbase in 1939 as a General Reconnaissance-Bomber Squadron. These planes flew hundreds of patrols from Pearce.

One flew around the coast to Albany via Cape Leeuwin and another flew around the coastline from Albany to Pearce. They looked out for enemy ships, as well as reported shipping movements in and out of Fremantle, the Eastern States and around the South-West. Other Beauforts patrolled the coastline from Pearce to Geraldton, and further onto Exmouth.

The Beaufort A9-317 was on patrol when it disappeared with four crew and one passenger.

Missing crew from the A9-317 Beaufort Bomber that departed Busselton and never returned: Arthur Aitken, Harry Kolbig, Peter Hastie and Cedric Sutton Richards (top left to bottom right).

The crew consisted of two Western Australian lads, flying officer Arthur Matthew Aitken who was born in Narrogin on January 6, 1920 and flight sergeant Peter Douglas Hastie who was born in Pinjarra on January 27, 1922.

Also on board were flying officer Cedric Sutton Richards and flight sergeant Alexander Emerson who were both from Victoria, along with a passenger, Army temporary captain Harry Donald Kolbig who was from SA and with Unit 5 of the Australian Air Liaison Section.

The aircraft, piloted by Aitken, left the Busselton Base at 11.50am to carry out Patrol 'N ' on a seaward clearing scan from D 'Entrecastreaux Point to Rottnest Island before it went onto Pearce  where it was due to land at 4.30pm.  

The plane was sighted at 12.02pm from a Volunteer Air Observer Post at Darradup.

At 2.30pm, the radio officer reported sighting motor vessel Nordnes approximately 45 nautical miles due west of D'Entrecastreaux Point. She was on-route from Melbourne to Fremantle.

When the plane was overdue at 5.30pm, attempts were made to contact it but were unsuccessful. 

An emergency procedure was initiated, extensive searches were carried out that evening by 14 and 25 Squadrons RAAF and 52 Squadron US Navy aircraft, which continued on September 10 and 11, covering the coast from Fremantle to Albany extending 20 miles to seaward.

A more intensive search was carried out 120 miles west of Cape Leeuwin and Cape Naturaliste, and further south to Albany and the American Navy instructed all seaward patrols in the area to keep a look out for the aircraft but nothing was found.

When the Nordnes arrived in Fremantle the next day, the captain was interrogated. He advised that he saw the plane carry out a normal approach procedure, and having identified him, turned north climbing, and was last seen heading south which would have brought him back on to Patrol 'N' track. 

The captain said the aircraft gave no indication of being in any difficulties and appeared to be flying normally. Nothing more was seen or heard of the aircraft again.

As there was strict radio silence at the time, no further communication was received from A9-317.

At 12.15pm on September 11, 1943, the freighter Duke of Sparta spotted an empty yellow rubber dinghy approximately 85 nautical miles off the southwest coast of WA and slightly off course of the patrol.

Having circled the area for an hour, and finding there were no bodies in or around the dinghy, the Duke of Sparta continued on her way, failing to pick up the dinghy which would have had identification of some sort.  It is considered this dingy was in all probability from A9-317.

On the day the aircraft disappeared, there was a report of a possible submerged enemy submarine in the area 20 miles from Rottnest Island, despite an extensive search by naval vessels and aircraft nothing was found. The idea of the crew being picked up by an enemy submarine was too remote.

Flight plan of the A9-317 Beaufort Bomber. Image supplied.

The Australian Beauforts had been plagued with a mysterious problem and no-one would listen to those who reported problems with their planes, which resulted in more than 90 aircraft crashing and the avoidable deaths of many of its crews.  The planes were nicknamed “flying coffins.”

It wasn't until Captain Learmonth was on patrol with two other Bristol Beauforts' and US naval ships off Rottnest, that an answer was found.

When his plane began to shake violently Learmonth realised that the shaking was driven by the tail of his aircraft and despite facing possible death, he broke radio silence calling the pilot of one of the other Beauforts to fly closer and observe the tail.

The pilot could see the control rod to the elevator trim tab on Learmonth's plane was hanging down. It had separated from the tab, allowing the tab and elevator to oscillate and drive the violent shaking of the whole aircraft. Learmonth advised the crews of the other Beauforts by radio what was happening.  

Shortly after, the trim tab flicked to the extreme up position overpowering Learmonth and forcing the aircraft to descend rapidly. Less than a minute later Learmonth's plane crashed into the sea killing him and his three crew members.

As a result of Learmonth's radio commentary, a problem with the Australian built Beauforts was traced to a component in the elevator trim actuating unit.

All RAAF Beauforts were grounded until the problem was eliminated and Learmonth was given credit for supplying vital information that solved the problem.

The Beaufort Bomber, also known as a Bristol Beaufort, was designed in the UK as a torpedo-bomber but flew more often as a level bomber.  Because of Japan's involvement in the war, and close proximity to Australia, these planes were being assembled in Melbourne.

It was reported that the Melbourne-based engineers who assembled the planes were misreading the plans and had assembled part of the controls incorrectly.

Is this the answer to the disappearance of A9-317?  

Could those on board have endured the same terrifying and horrific ordeal that Learmonth and his crew suffered? As did many others in other planes that crashed because of the fault. Were all their lives unnecessarily wasted?