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From the President's Pen
Aye, David Sandquest
Sunday, 13th April 2008 On Monday evening last, I had the opportunity to see the latest update on AE2. The venue was the National Maritime Museum, the objective, to highlight the current situation on AE2 as well as to an opportunity to preview the soon to be aired documentary. This documentary goes to air at 20:30 on the 24th April on the ABC and, without giving too much away is a combination of current situation on AE2 and a history lesson on AE2 and her crew from the morning of the 25th April 1915 until she was damaged from gunfire and ultimately scuttled, several days later. It is a story of courage and determination and though led by an Irishmen and crewed partly by RN and RAN Submariners, she was still and Australian submarine I commend all, to watch the screening of this program and if you can’t source a copy of the DVD from the ABC Shop. For those of us with children and grandchildren I would encourage you to relate the story of the AE2 and the significant impact one 800 odd ton submarine, crewed by some 31 men had on Gallipoli and the total disaster that Gallipoli could have been without their intervention. It is a truly inspiring story. The Association is pleased to see that our submariner's have earned another notable award, HMAS Rankin's success in winning the Gloucester Cup, again. BZ to all concerned. On a more solemn note, I travelled to “sunny” Brisbane for the funeral of Robert “Tug’ Wilson. Whilst funerals are always a solemn affair, the eulogies presented at “Tugs” send off left nary a dry eye. Tug will be sorely missed by his family, friends and the wider submarine community. Sunday, 6th April 2008
The Report of the Review into Military Superannuation Arrangements was
publicly released by the Hon Warren Snowdon MP, Minister for Defence
Science and Personnel, on 24 December 2007. The Minister stated that
“Although the review team consulted widely before submitting its report,
the Rudd Government will provide further opportunity for public comment
about the review’s findings and recommendations.” Sunday, 30th MARCH 2008
This week the National Executive made a decision to award Life
Membership to a long serving Member of the Association who has shown
immense courage and determination while suffering from incurable cancer.
The Queensland Branch submitted a nominating for “Life Membership” of
the SAA for Robert 'Tug' Wilson. These nominations are “normally”
discussed at a Committee Meeting, prior to the AGM and presented to the
AGM as a recommendation from National Committee. Unfortunately “Tugs”
condition has taken a turn for the worse and the Executive took the
extraordinary step of approving “Tugs” nomination. Approval of the award
by Members will be ratified at the AGM. Sunday, 16th MARCH 2008 Last month I sent a letter to Brigadier Bill Rolfe (Rtd), the Repatriation Commissioner at the Department of Veteran Affairs, on the recommendations made on page 90 of the Final Report of the Oberon Submarine Health Project (dated the 16th February 2006). We were seeking information on the remaining five recommendations that are awaiting further investigation. I requested, on behalf of the SAA, assistance and advice as to how these recommendations could be achieved. A response has been received from Brigadier Rolf (Rtd) who advises that the first recommendation has been put in place and that the remaining recommendations were matters for Defence to address. He advised that Defence had been advised of our request and that a detailed response has been asked for. This will be provided to the Association when it is received by the Brigadier. Sunday, 2nd MARCH 2008 The Association has received a 30+ page document from the Minister detailing the proposed Veteran's Advisory Council, the potential makeup etc. A response has to be back to the Minister by the 28th April and we intend providing a unified response once the State Branches have had a chance to make recommendations. It is also time to register for SUBCON 2008, the Committee need to know numbers so that arrangements can be finalised, it is only three months away. It is also approaching the time for nominations for the National Executive, they shut on the 28th of this month. If you have some spare time and want to see the Association move ahead, consider submitting your name as a candidate. Sunday, 24th FEBRUARY 2008
2008
National Subscriptions
The following members may not have been notified of their Membership status in 2007 due to the previous National Treasurer's declining health and sight and they became unfinancial as of 1 April 2007. If you believe that you are finacial please let John Rana know the payment details so that he can follow up (several Members paid online but gave no details to identify payee).
Remember, the National Executive are always available to listen to what you have to say, if you have a suggestion or want to air your concerns, contact us. Sunday, 17th FEBRUARY 2008 The Centennial of RAN Submarine Service is not that far away, 2014, and the Submarine Institute of Australia is already planning for this occasion. The SAA will obviously have a major part to play and this is on my agenda for future discussion with State Presidents. A proposal by the WA Branch is being put together that may result in a change to the SUBCON/AGM host city schedule to coincide with the Centenary Celebrations of the Australian Submarine Service in 2014 and for the Centenary of Gallipoli in 2015. The concept of integrating such occasions is worthy of merit and further consideration. Branches and Members are reminded that the positions of the National Executive will be declared vacant at the AGM in June and nominations for all positions shall be in the hands of the National Secretary no later than Friday, 28 March. Notices of Motion for inclusion in the Agenda of the National Committee Meeting and AGM shall be in the hands of the National Secretary no later than Friday, 4th April. This is your chance to serve your Association, are you ready to volunteer? Peter Smith, our Secretary, has been offline for the past two weeks, thanks to Telstra. With luck he will be back online on Monday and will catch up with the backlog of email correspondence. Remember, the National Executive are always available to listen to what you have to say, if you have a suggestion or want to air your concerns, contact us. Sunday, 10th FEBRUARY 2008 From feedback that I have received lately it is important that the Association, at all levels, improves communications with it's Members. Although many things are happening in the background we often forget to keep you updated with progress and I hope to address this by publishing regular updates on things of importance. However, communications is a two way street and I encourage Members to let us know what they believe are important issues that need to be addressed. I was impressed with the generosity of the WA Branch's contribution to Tug Wilson's Walk for Kids with Cancer fundraiser, a donation of $2,000 which is more than a quarter of the Branch's funds. The WA Branch feel that Cancer is taking far too many of our shipmates, a thought that we all share. Let us hope that other Branches, and all members of the submarine community can see their way clear to make a donation. Go to www.walkforkidswithcancer.com for further details. I, like many of you, am of the opinion many illnesses contracted by submariners can be linked to their service in Oberon Class Submarines. The high incidence of skin diseases, deaths from cancers, internal diseases, and many reports of depressive disorders, (not to mention knees, backs, necks etc) are all to often common place among submariners, as a consequence of their unique service. We have only ever been a relatively small fraternity, when compared to our shipmates in surface vessels, with, what appears to be an abnormally high incidence of premature death or invalidity, particularly when you consider we have only ever had six Oberon Class submarines operating. I have sent a letter to Brigadier Bill Rolfe (Rtd), the Repatriation Commissioner at the Department of Veteran Affairs, on the recommendations made on page 90 of the Final Report of the Oberon Submarine Health Project (dated the 16th February 2006). We are seeking information on the remaining five recommendations that are awaiting further investigation. I requested, on behalf of the SAA, assistance and advice as to how these recommendations could be achieved. I will advise Members when a response is received.
Sunday, 3rd FEBRUARY 2008 "With SUBCON only four months away the Executive are making preparation for the AGM and calls for submissions for the Agenda will be called soon. It is understood that the ACT Branch have preparations in hand for what looks like being a great weekend, so register now. With an AGM approaching it is important that all Members have advised their Branch and National secretaries of any change in contact details, be it a change of address, or, if you receive In Depth online, your email address. Has yours changed this year? The Poll conducted by the Queensland Branch this week, whether you agree with the proposal or not, was a good exercise in communications and hopefully some lessons were learnt that may be useful if online voting is introduced in the future. Hopefully this, and future polls, will assist SAA Management at all levels to gauge the feeling of it's Members and your participation is encouraged. I was pleased to receive a letter from the new Minister of Veteran's Affairs Alan Griffin this week, calling for applications for Building Excellence in Support and Training (BEST) grants. the letter advised that an additional $5m had been set aside for the program this year. These grants are to provide equipment to assist service organisations in health and welfare services to the veteran community. I have taken action ensure that Branch H&W officers are aware of the grants and encourage Branches to make an application. I also received a paper worth reading, dated the10th January 2008 and titled "Military superannuation - myths and reality". The Executive Summary contains:
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