Message from the CEO

Welcome to our latest newsletter.

Over the past few months, AVLA has continued turning its foundations into action. We have begun finalising memberships, strengthened our engagement with the Defence Language Capability Cell to support future endeavours, and held our first social gathering.

We have also appointed a new ambassador and progressed important behind-the-scenes work, including laying the groundwork for employment initiatives, further advocacy and other opportunities for our community. You can read more about several of these developments below.

Our focus over the next six months is to keep building the structures, partnerships and plans needed to deliver lasting value. With that groundwork in place, we look forward to advancing more of these initiatives in 2027.

Thank you for being part of AVLA’s journey.

Introducing our Army Ambassador

We’re delighted to welcome Lieutenant General John Frewen AO DSC (retd) as AVLA’s Army Ambassador! 🎉

As Chief of Joint Capabilities from 2021–2024, Frewen also served as Defence Languages Capability Manager and has been a valued supporter of AVLA’s development.

We’re thrilled to have him step into this new role.

Learn more about John on his profile page.

Defence Linguist Conference 2026

We’re pleased to announce that AVLA has officially accepted an invitation from the Defence Language Capability Cell to attend the 2026 Defence Linguist Conference, on 30 November and 1 December 2026.

As part of the invitation, the Defence Language Capability Cell has provided AVLA with an opportunity to present to conference attendees and to staff an information desk in the foyer throughout the conference. This will allow us to engage directly with Defence linguists, answer questions about the association, and share information about the support, professional connections, and opportunities AVLA offers to current and former members of the Defence linguist community.

We are grateful for the opportunity to participate in this important event and look forward to building a positive and productive relationship with the Defence Language Capability Cell.

If you're attending the conference, we encourage you to visit the AVLA information desk and introduce yourself. We look forward to meeting current and former Defence linguists, sharing our vision for the association, and hearing your ideas about how AVLA can continue to support the profession.

We are also planning a social event during conference week and will share further details as arrangements are finalised.

Membership update

This month we commenced taking on financial members for the first time. We spent much of the past three months dedicated to getting the right foundations in place, such as the necessary frameworks, policies, insurances, and other mechanisms, to best support members from the outset.

One of the biggest advancements was identifying ways in which we could provide all intended services to all members, regardless of whether you join as an Ordinary or Associate member. While some Associate members will require a few additional supports, we’re pleased to confirm that all members will now enjoy equal access to our intended services once developed.

Annual General Meeting

Our first Annual General Meeting will be held on Saturday, 31 October at 1pm.

Registered members will receive further details in the coming weeks, with the meeting to be hosted via Microsoft Teams to make it as accessible as possible.

Canberra social event

In July we hosted a social gathering in Canberra, bringing together current and former Defence linguists, language learners and supporters from across the community. It was wonderful to meet so many people from across the Defence language community, including experienced current linguists, veterans, and those currently learning a language.

The AVLA board greatly appreciated the opportunity to chat, hear people’s experiences, and share more about why the association was established. These conversations reinforced the importance of creating a space where linguists, language learners, and language enthusiasts can stay connected, share knowledge, and support one another beyond service.

This is just the beginning. As we continue to establish our membership base, we look forward to running gatherings like this on a regular basis—not only in Canberra, but across the country. Thank you again to everyone who attended; we are excited to keep building this community together.

Growing our community across Australia

The positive feedback from our Canberra social gathering reinforced the importance of these opportunities to socialise and connect with other like-minded people.

As we continue to grow, we are actively exploring opportunities to host similar social events in other locations around Australia. Our approach is guided by where our members are located and, importantly, where we have supporters on the ground who can help facilitate and coordinate these gatherings.

We are currently investigating options for future events in both Newcastle and Sydney, and we are excited about the possibility of expanding our social calendar beyond Canberra. As our membership continues to grow and our network broadens, we hope to establish regular opportunities for members to connect in person across multiple locations.

We look forward to sharing more details as plans develop and encourage members interested in helping organise future events in their local area to get in touch.

Contact us

We have established several ways to get in contact with us. Our primary means is through our email admin@avla.org.au or via one of our social media accounts. Alternatively, if you're a Signal app user, we can facilitate messages and calls through this app, you’ll just need to initially just send us a message to the username 'AVLA.2026'.