Carbon Price - Veteran Community
Around 350,000 in the veteran community will benefit from a package of
additional payments that will assist with the cost of living impact of a
price on carbon.
A nine month up-front advance lump sum will be paid in June 2012
called the Clean Energy Advance.
In March 2013, ongoing supplement will be paid, with a choice of either
fortnightly or quarterly payment called the Clean Energy Supplement.
All service pensioners (full and part), disability pensioners and war
widow(er)s will receive both the Clean Energy Advance and the Clean
Energy Supplement.
Assistance for service pensioners and war widow(er)s will be calculated
on 1.7% of the maximum rate of service pension or widow(er)’s pension.
Assistance for General Rate disability pensioners, including those
receiving less than 100% of the General Rate, will be calculated on 1.7%
of the General Rate of disability pension under the VEA.
Assistance for beneficiaries receiving an Above General Rate of
disability pension (Special Rate, Intermediate Rate or Extreme
Disablement Adjustment) will be calculated on the basis of 1.7% of the
payment being received.
Veterans on a disability pension and service pension receive both
payments.
Payments will also be made to:
o Wholly Dependent Partners and Permanent Impairment
payees under the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation
Act 2004
o Partner service pensioners who receive Family Tax Benefit
o Veterans and their partners in receipt of the Seniors
Supplement
o Children of veterans and members receiving payments under
the VCES or MRCAETS
Veterans not receiving income support or seniors supplement may
benefit through the tax system.
Carbon Price – Veteran Community
The following tables set out the amounts announced for veterans, their
families and war widow(er)s as part of the Government’s introduction of a
carbon price.
Upfront assistance (9 month advance paid June 2012)
Ongoing assistance (from March 2013)
Service pension (single) $250.00 $13.50 per fortnight
Service pension (partnered -
each)$190.00 $10.20 per fortnight
War Widow(er)s $260.00 $13.80 per fortnight
10% - 100% disability pension $132.30 $7.40 per fortnight
EDA rate $206.60 $11.50 per fortnight
Intermediate rate $253.40 $14.10 per fortnight
Special rate $374.40 $20.90 per fortnight
MRCA wholly dependent partners $260.00 $13.80 per fortnight
MRCA permanent impairment payments $132.30 $7.40 per fortnight
MRCA Special Rate DP $374.40 $20.90 per fortnight
Seniors supplement (single) $250.00 $13.50 per fortnight (paid quarterly)
Seniors supplement (partnered –each) $190.00 $10.20 per fortnight (paid quarterly)
Carer Payment (single) - paid by Centrelink $250.00 $13.50 per fortnight
Carer Payment (partnered) - paid by Centrelink $190.00 $10.20 per fortnight
Upfront assistance (12 month advance paid June 2012)
Upfront assistance (6 month advance paid July 2013)
Ongoing assistance (from January 2014) VCES and MRCAETS (athome, 16-17 years old $110.00 $60.00 $4.00
VCES and MRCAETS (at home, 18 or older) $130.00 $70.00 $4.80
VCES and MRCAETS (living away from home) $190.00 $100.00 $7.20
VCES and MRCAETS (homeless) $190.00 $100.00 $7$190.00 $100.00 $7.20

Dear Association Members
I thank you again for your support to the member's of 8/9 RAR as we get ready for departure. As we undertake final preparation and begin to deploy I would like to wish you all the best and trust that you and your families have a wonderful Christmas.
Its now time for the member's of Battle Group Ram to go forward to etch our own little piece of history and achieve our vitally important mission in Afghanistan.
Thank you to those members of the Association who were able to attend one of our Family Information sessions. They proved very popular and I'm sure some soldier's families enjoyed the opportunity to talk to Association members.  Hopefully I get to see many of you at our Farewell Parade at Enoggera Barracks on 03 December 2011.In regards to the rehabilitation and administrative arrangements for any of our soldiers who may be injured during our deployment, I have been intimately involved in confirming the plan. I have travelled to Afghanistan to see it first hand. I am satisfied both with the arrangements in country and for our members and their families if they are required to return to Australia. I could never guarantee the 100% safety of our soldiers, however I will do everything in my power to guard them from unnecessary risk.
Recently the media has been awash with comment regarding the attacks by rouge Afghan National Army soldiers on our troops. These tragic events have not been taken lightly by Army. There is an ongoing review of how and why this occurred and our force protection measures. Our soldiers understand that the incidents have been conducted by rouge elements and that the Afghan soldiers and their leadership are as repulsed and as shocked as we are. I believe now is not the time to step back from the Afghan Army, but in fact to step forward and increase our relationship with them so that together we can identify a rouge individual and take appropriate action. Pleasingly we have now completed most of our equipping and will deploy with some of the finest capabilities I have seen.
This new equipment is leading edge. While some will make claims that other nations may have some new improved bits of equipment, the reality is that our tests and continual improvement process give me great confidence in what we have. For the first time that I can recall the majority of our personal equipment, including our new body armour and cold weather clothing is at least equivalent or better than that used by any other nation in Afghanistan. We will deploy as the best equipped Mentoring Task Forces to leave Australian shores.
I am very happy to report to you that the Battalion's ‘mission specific training’ for deployment to Afghanistan is rapidly drawing to a close and that it has been exceptionally successful. It has been a demanding period for everyone involved particularly regarding the long hours and extended periods away from home. 
However, pending final administrative arrangements, we are fully trained and ready to commence our role as mentors to the Afghan National Army, and to assist them assume responsibility for protecting the population in Uruzgan and denying Afghanistan as a safe
haven for terrorists. Commanding Officer Mentoring Task Force-4
Lt Col Kahill Fegan
Duty First

Commander and committed Christian
June 29, 2011

Keith O'Neill, 1926-2011
Leader ... Keith O’Neill had a highly distinguished military career.
Leading the men of the 8th Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment combined honour, duty and responsibility for Colonel Keith O'Neill, not just during its tour of operations in Vietnam in 1969-70 but until his final days.
Despite the torrential rain in Sydney on the past two Anzac Day marches, a steadfast determination propelled O'Neill to pre-dawn services and later to march through sodden Sydney streets, honouring bonds forged in conflict.
In his 85th year, O'Neill was particularly proud of the fact that he was the last of his contemporaries to march, twice refusing a ride in a Jeep over hilly parts of the parade route.
That commitment was reciprocated by his former troops, who gave him a rousing cheer as they disbanded this year. It was the last time those comrades will march together.
Keith John O'Neill was born in Warwick, Queensland, on September 25, 1926, and went to St Mary's College in Toowoomba, where he excelled as a swimmer and was a lieutenant in the college's army cadet unit. He then completed his final year of schooling at Nudgee College in Brisbane.
Although his family had encouraged a legal career, his time with the cadets drew O'Neill towards the military. He entered the Royal Military College at Duntroon in the closing days of World War II then served in Australia and overseas, including postwar Japan (1948-50), Korea (1953-54), Malaya (1959-61) and Cambodia (1965-66), as well as Vietnam.
One of those under O'Neill's command was Michael Jeffery, later the governor-general.
''Keith was a superb commanding officer of the Grey Eight,'' Jeffery said. ''It was in my view the best-trained battalion to go to Vietnam, with an esprit to match.''
Commanding the 8th RAR, known as the Grey Eight, during its 12-month tour in South Vietnam from late 1969 was the highlight of O'Neill's military career. Under his leadership, the battalion distinguished it self with its patrolling and ambushing and it was awarded a citation by the South Vietnamese government. O'Neill was appointed as a member of the Distinguished Service Order and awarded the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Palm.
The command of the 8th RAR also provided the low point of O'Neill's army career, with 18 of his soldiers dying in action, eight of them killed or dead of wounds in a horrendous mine incident in the Long Hai Mountains on February 28, 1970. However, without O'Neill's tactical nous, the casualty count would have been higher.
''In action, Keith read the situation perfectly,'' Jeffery said. ''Through skilful, well-thought-through tactics, his battalion was highly successful and achieved that with minimum casualties.''
On returning from a posting in England, O'Neill met Elizabeth (Lisa) Gilmore and the couple married in 1952.
O'Neill's military career also included time in Canberra, engaged in intelligence and strategic and international policy with the Department of Defence. But with a young family to support, O'Neill left the army in 1977 and moved to Sydney, where he could focus on his other passions - social justice, thoroughbred horse racing and good food and wine.
O'Neill began his post-army career with the Knights of the Southern Cross, which provided a framework for serving others. This spearheaded his work for the Australian bishops and the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council, from which he retired as chief executive officer in 1997.
O'Neill had many friends and he never shied away from a robust discussion about politics, morality, philosophy, religion, food, wine or life in general.
He was absolutely convinced of the superiority of everything French, despite on many occasions being presented with examples to the contrary.
He was a member of the Australian Jockey Club for many years and could usually be found in the Derby Room at Royal Randwick Racecourse during Saturday meetings.
Lisa and Keith O'Neill were committed to their local parish of St Canice's for nearly 40 years, particularly to work with the poor and homeless around King's Cross.
O'Neill was a man of enormous Christian faith, despite seeing many instances that would cause a person to question that faith, including the sudden deaths of two of his daughters: Mary, 32, from an aneurism in 1987 and Liz, 37, in a plane crash in Indonesia in 2007.
Keith O'Neill is survived by Lisa, his sister Rita, children Frank, Tim and Kate and grandchildren Sam, Alice and Lucinda.
Ron Goward
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/obituaries/commander-and-committed-christian-20110628-1goy3.html#ixzz1QcnI86FN





 

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