Australien — Employers of Reservists officially recognised by Defence

The Par­lia­men­tary Sec­re­tary for Defence Sup­port, Dr Mike Kel­ly, will be guest of hon­our at the annu­al Defence Reserves Sup­port Coun­cil ACT Com­mit­tee Employ­er Sup­port Awards to be held at the Aus­tralian War Memo­r­i­al on 24 June 2010.

“While we have long recog­nised that Reservists make an invalu­able con­tri­bu­tion to Australia’s Defence capa­bil­i­ty, tonight we recog­nise the essen­tial sup­port giv­en by the employ­ers of those Reservists,” said Dr Kelly. 

“For every Reservist who ren­ders Reserve ser­vice there is usu­al­ly an employ­er (or an edu­ca­tion­al insti­tu­tion) who sup­ports that Reservist by will­ing­ly releas­ing them to don their uniform. 

“While Defence has gone a long way in pro­vid­ing sup­port and advice to employ­ers and edu­ca­tion­al insti­tu­tions in recent times, the releas­ing of Reservists is some­times the cause of incon­ve­nience to the employer. 

“How­ev­er, the astute employ­er also recog­nis­es the great val­ue that a Reservist can bring to a busi­ness or organisation. 

“No organ­i­sa­tion teach­es lead­er­ship, accep­tance of respon­si­bil­i­ty, reli­a­bil­i­ty and work eth­ic bet­ter than the Aus­tralian Defence Force and all these skills are direct­ly trans­fer­able to the civil­ian work environment.” 

Dr Kel­ly said the Employ­er Sup­port Awards would for­mal­ly recog­nise a num­ber of employ­ers who have been nom­i­nat­ed as sup­port­ive by Reservists on their staff. 

As part of the Employ­er Sup­port Awards, the Defence Reserves Sup­port Coun­cil ACT Com­mit­tee will also be farewelling one of its own. Mr Bill Thomp­son, the out­go­ing Chair of the ACT Com­mit­tee, is retir­ing after many years of sup­port to the Reserve in a num­ber of capacities. 

“Bill Thomp­son has done an incred­i­ble amount of work in sup­port­ing the Reserves, 

“As a for­mer Reg­u­lar and Reserve sol­dier, Bill has fought for their rights and for improve­ments in their con­di­tions of ser­vice. Bill was, for many years, the ACTU rep­re­sen­ta­tive on the Defence Reserves Sup­port Coun­cil and, in lat­er times, the chair of the ACT Com­mit­tee. Dur­ing this time Bill demon­strat­ed his com­mit­ment and abil­i­ty to con­tribute in an ongo­ing and pos­i­tive man­ner. He will be great­ly missed.” said Dr Kelly. 

Media con­tacts:
Dean­na Nott: 0438 013 548
Defence Media Liai­son: 02 6127 1999 or 0408 498 664 

Press release
Min­is­te­r­i­al Sup­port and Pub­lic Affairs,
Depart­ment of Defence,
Can­ber­ra, Australia