Interdepartmental Working Group

The Interdepartmental Working Group (IWG) includes representatives from a range of Federal Government departments that are involved in providing services and information to serving and ex-service members. 

The aim of the Group is to improve cooperation between the departments and create a smarter, whole-of-Government approach to helping members deal with multiple agencies.

Update on IWG Initiatives – August 2010  

The Interdepartmental Working Group (IWG) met on 3 June and 21 July 2010 to discuss a range of topics and projects.  An overview of these initiatives is provided below:

The next meeting of the IWG will be held on 16 September 2010, and a brief will be provided following that meeting with a further update on the group’s work.

Interdepartmental Committee (IDC) meeting held 5 May 2010

An overview of the IDC meeting held on 5 May 2010 was provided to the IWG. (The IDC of agency heads was formed to review the work undertaken by the IWG, and to confirm its future priorities and direction.)

The IDC approved the name change of the IWG to now be the “Interdepartmental Working Group for Streamlining Administration of Transitioning and Former ADF Members”. The revised Terms of Reference (TOR) of the IWG were also endorsed. Following are the new TOR of the IWG:

• Identify where the administrative burden on transitioning and former ADF members and their families can be reduced when dealing with government agencies;
• Consider and respond to issues from Ex-Service Organisations (ESOs) and Defence Families Australia (DFA) to identify areas of potential improvement in government administration associated with current and former ADF members; and
• Provide contact points in agencies for resolution of specific issues or cases.

Proof of Identity   

The IWG is finalising a list of documents which transitioning ADF members can use to create an ‘ID Package’, knowing that this package will satisfy the POI requirements of all IWG agencies. The list will be available from December 2010, when Defence will include it in the next edition of the Transition Handbook.

Change of Address 

The IWG is working on ways to simplify the process for members leaving the ADF to notify the various government agencies of their change of address. Information about the agencies which should be notified and their appropriate contact details has been provided to Defence for inclusion in the 2011 ADF Transition Handbook. For the long term, the IWG is examining the possibility of using technology to facilitate the exchange of change of address details between IWG agencies.

ComSuper is planning on convening a working group that will consider piloting a change of address smart form for exchanging change of address details between IWG agencies.

Defence Families Australia

IWG representatives attended a roundtable discussion with the DFA State representatives on 22 June 2010.  Issues discussed were as follows:

• Child support;
• Lateral Recruit family issues;
• ADF spouse ID cards; and
• The significant movement of serving members and their families as a result of base location changes from Darwin to Edinburgh (Adelaide), and from Holsworthy (Sydney) to Townsville.

DVA/ComSuper Combined Medical Review Form

The draft Combined Medical Review Form that will be used by DVA and ComSuper when reviewing joint clients is now with DVA for clearance and progress through appropriate governance processes.  When cleared by DVA it will move to ComSuper for their clearance/governance processes.  Further work is being undertaken to devise the administrative process that will support the use of the combined form.