A message from our CEO

After 18 months of planning and consultation, we were ecstatic to finally announce the association’s establishment in April 2024.

The idea to create this association came soon after I commenced working as a Deputy Language Manager for the Royal Australian Air Force in 2021. I saw the need for a platform through which we could offer additional advocacy for linguists, while also providing additional support through professional development, welfare, and social connection opportunities.

My previous role as the Language Manager for the Royal Australian Navy also assisted greatly in developing further insight into the area, as well as enabling me to bring together a group of passionate and experienced linguists eager to collaborate on making this idea a reality.

Through my time as the Editor-in-Chief of Yarning magazine, I’ve developed partnerships throughout the global translator and interpreter industry, as well as within academia, which will give us a headstart as we seek to forge formal partnerships with these organisations on behalf of our members.

While we’re just getting started, we eventually aim to provide a range of services and opportunities such as advocacy, networking events, mentoring programs, career support, recognition, industry liaison, access to civilian industry and military professional development training, and much more.

I am extremely honoured to serve as the CEO, and I will do all that I can to assist the association in achieving its vision of supporting and uplifting our linguists through world-class services.

Thank you for being a part of our association.

Best wishes,

Paul Thomson

Our first Ambassador

📢 We are thrilled to announce Rear Admiral Bob Plath AM as the first of our inaugural Ambassadors! 🎉

We look forward to working with him over the coming years to promote the veteran linguist community, their capabilities, and the mission of our association.

Find out more about our new Ambassador on RADM Bob Plath’s profile.

Meet the team

We are extremely grateful to the entire board of directors and wider team for all their diligent work in progressing the association and getting our core infrastructure in place.

Our inaugural board membership includes:

• GPCAPT Ritchie Cunningham (Director)

• CAPT Milê Glamcevski (Director)

• FLGOFF Paul Thomson (Director / CEO)

• FLTLT Dana Pham (Director / Secretary)

• CAPT Mandy Yuan (Treasurer)

We also have a number of people within our Executive Management team, with further appointments to be made in the coming months. All our staff are unpaid volunteers, and we are very grateful for their dedication to developing the association.

Advocacy efforts

Australian Institute of Interpreters and Translators (AUSIT)

We’ve been engaging with the AUSIT President and other individuals within that organisation over the past month, with the aim of developing a partnership for sharing resources in a way that benefits both organisations, such as collaborating on government and industry submissions to seek better support for language programs and other initiatives.

We expect this partnership with AUSIT to be crucial in our industry integration efforts, and will also assist with a number of our other intended offerings such as professional development, accreditation support, and advocacy services.

Meeting with Prince Harry

In mid-April 2026, as part of their directors role in a separate veteran association, our CEO met with Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex in Canberra. After participating in a memorial service for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Veterans, our CEO Paul Thomson and other members of the Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Veterans Association enjoyed a 60-minute private meeting with the Duke to discuss matters relating to the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders veterans. Mr Thomson CEO also had the opportunity to gift two copies of the Yarning magazine to Prince Harry, while explaining the magazine’s purpose and the wider work of Defence linguists.

During this opportunity, Mr Thomson also engaged with the CEO of True Patriot Love (a large Canadian veterans foundation), along with the Secretary of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs. We look to future partnerships with these individuals, as we work to support our members and veterans across the globe.

From left: Mr Joe West (CEO Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Veterans Association, Mr Paul Thomson (CEO AVLA), Prince Harry, Mr Nick Booth (CEO True Patriot Love), Mr Matt Anderson (Director of the Australian War Memorial).

Information sessions

Have you heard about our upcoming online information sessions? 💻

💡 If you'd like to know more about the association, our intended services, supports, and membership/volunteer options, consider attending one of our sessions.

📅 Scheduled sessions:

• Wednesday, 10 June at 7:30PM (AEST)

• Wednesday, 1 July at 7:30PM (AEST)

• Saturday, 11 July at 1PM (AEST)

• Saturday, 25 July at 1PM (AEST)

🌐 Register your interest.

Memberships & Volunteers

We thank everyone who registered for their patience as we work towards implementing the required infrastructure to facilitate the onboarding process. We are currently on track for our planned membership launch in early August 2026.

We have started reaching out to some of our registered volunteers to help with a few of our initial priorities. As we continue to implement our administrative processes, we’ll be able to take on additional volunteers.

In the meantime, if you’re keen to find out more or to speak with us, please consider registering for one of our planned information sessions.

Frequently asked questions

If you’ve been wanting to ask us a question, checkout our new Frequently Asked Questions section on our website. If you still can’t find the answer your looking for, please contact us.

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'.