No. The association has been established as an external-to-Defence organisation, but one that advocates for Defence members and works with Defence.

Not quite. A number of Defence stakeholders were consulted during the development of the association, and now that we are an incorporated association, we are now in the process of seeking Defence’s formal endorsement. More on this soon.

Yes, we are a registered organisation, and our ABN is: 36245230138. You can look us up on the Australian Business Register.

The Australian Veterans Linguist Association was established as a not-for-profit Incorporated Association, and we are currently undergoing assessment to become a registered charity.

While our CEO, Paul Thomson, initiated the process to create the association, many Defence linguists were involved and consulted during the planning and establishment process. This included hundreds of both tested and untested linguists from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and APS, from almost all enlisted and officer ranks. Our direction was also informed by both the international engagement and the intelligence linguist cohorts.

Consultation and engagement included staff from each Service Language Management team (as well as a couple of former Language Managers), several Defence Attachés, a handful of former Commanding Officers of Defence Force School of Languages, previous Defence Languages Capability Cell staff, Defence International Training Centre staff, former Australian DFAT Ambassadors, and Defence senior leaders up to and including at the three-star level.

In addition to the above, there was also extensive consultation with leaders in Defence industry, respected figures within Australian and international academia, wider Australian Government agencies, along with a number of translating and interpreting professional bodies in Australia and internationally.

Our association was established by Defence linguists, for Defence linguists (including those who have an interest in languages). While we do accept volunteers from both within and external to Defence, our Constitution has been structured to ensure we always remain an association that is managed and led predominantly by experienced veterans. This ensures the association is always able to best represent and support the needs of its members.

For the purposes of our organisation, the term ‘veteran’ applies to all ADF personnel, both serving and ex-serving, including reservists who have never completed any full-time service. While we are a veteran focused association, we also welcome membership from both current and former Defence APS employees.

The association has been established by current ADF personnel, all with extensive language capability experience. We have been extremely diligent and meticulous in how we have gone about planning the association, which has been informed and shaped by guidance from individuals within the Defence senior leadership. All our staff invest their time for free, because we believe in how important this association is for all Defence linguists, and the benefits it will provide not only back into Defence capability, but also in supporting the development and welfare of our current and ex-serving members.

Our plans for this association have been in the works since 2022, which has provided ample time to conduct extensive consultations with linguists of all kinds, and to establish relations with reputable industry partners.

As a team of current serving and widely experienced military personnel, we are acutely aware of our responsibilities around data protection, Australian Privacy Principles, and security – which includes our responsibilities to the Safeguarding Australia’s Military Secrets Act. Both our website and email infrastructure is hosted by a reputable Australian provider who only uses Australian servers. We also only use encrypted storage solutions that meet Australian Government standards and is secure at the PROTECTED level.

In line with this, we have left no stone unturned in the development of our associations policies, procedures, and other establishment documents. The way in which we develop our resources, and where these are stored will always be in compliance with our responsibilities.

Access to the resources produced by the association will largely depend on the individual classification of each resource. Some items will be able to be freely accessed on our website, others will need to be kept on our secure storage system, and some will need to be exclusively produced and stored within either the Defence Protected or Secret Networks – and will only be accessible to current Defence members with the appropriate need-to-know/hold. We will be working closely with Defence to ascertain the best means of achieving this compliance. These efforts will ensure that Defence personnel, their information, and the resources produced by the association is always secure and protected. To that end, we invite you to review our externally accessible policy documents. Our members can also request access to our other internal policies.

Our association values of Service, Professionalism, Integrity, and Respect are very closely aligned with those of Defence, and these embody all that we do. We have also been very open with Defence along the way, and we are actively pursuing steps to receive endorsements from both Defence and the Department of Veteran Affairs, as well as other similarly aligned and reputable veteran organisations.

We also value transparency, insofar as is possible while also adhering to our privacy obligations. Should you ever have any questions about us and how we manage the association, we invite you to get in contact with us at any time via the details on our Contact us page.

No. All association members need to be mindful of their legislative requirements to not openly discuss the specifics of Defence business with those who do not have a need-to-know/hold. All discussions must be held at the appropriate classification level – which will be informed by variabilities including (but not limited to):

• The people involved in the conversation or within hearing distance (ie if there are civilians or ex-serving and/or foreign members present)

• The need-to-know/hold of those present

As a general rule, the association supports the discussion of language and culture capability that is general in nature, or if military focused that it is at the UNOFFICAL classification level. Any discussions above UNOFFICIAL should only occur within the Defence environment.

While we have not yet joined the ESORT membership, given that the association has only recently been established, we are currently making enquiries to pursue this avenue.

Many of our members have connections into the DVA, and we are actively working towards establishing the association’s relationship with DVA to facilitate our advocacy efforts.

Being such a new association, we are still in the process of formally establishing partnership agreements with similarly aligned veteran organisations, academic institutions, professional industry bodies, Defence, wider Australian Government agencies, and other organisations which we believe could provide beneficial resources for our members, or otherwise further the aims of the association. When these partnerships are in place, we will promote the new connection via social media and/or update our website with this information.

The association is in the process of establishing 10 different levels of governance, which will be gradually implemented as membership grows. Refer to our Organisational Chart for more information.

Ordinary members are eligible to nominate to sit on both national and state level committees/boards, and Associate members are eligible to nominate for positions at the state level. These levels of governance will all have different responsibilities, and this assists us to keep workloads manageable and not overload any individual.