Media release – 3 March 2025
The Families of Veterans Guild has today opened applications for The Rise Together Initiative in a bid to counter the significant career barriers experienced by hundreds of thousands of Australian veteran spouses.
Veteran spouses represent a highly skilled and often under utilised talent pool. However, their careers are frequently disrupted by the demands of their partner’s military life, leading to “patchy” resumes, unemployment, and underemployment. Indeed, three in four (76%) veteran partners report making employment sacrifices because of challenges unique to this group. This is resulting in a national crisis amidst an already stark skills shortage: the Australian Defence Force partner unemployment rate is twice the national average, with 92% of these affected veteran partners being women.
As part of its overall mission to support the unmet needs of veteran families, and to counter this issue, the Guild has created The Rise Together Initiative, exclusively for defence and veteran partners, including war widows. This initiative is being predominately funded by a grant formally announced by the Minister for Women, Katy Gallagher, at Parliament House earlier today.
The project started with one widow wanting to support other women whose loved one has or did serve in the ADF, to mitigate the impacts of that service on their careers. This widow has privately funded 4 Defence and veteran spouses to complete this program and in 2025 will fund another two, together with government funding which means 12 spouses will now have access to this program.
The initiative has been designed to build career confidence for defence and veteran spouses. In 2025 it will improve leadership skills, and career confidence for 12 defence and veteran partners nationwide. Its focus is to empower participants to recognise their value beyond being a veteran spouse, equipping them to excel in the workforce and into positions of leadership.
We are so proud today to demonstrate what we are about as an organisation. The evolution of our work in this area has only been possible through the generous support and wishes of a war widow to ensure defence and veteran spouses have opportunities she didn’t.
Fundamentally this initiative is about women, helping women. It is a powerful story and legacy and serves as an example of what the Guild stands for.
Renee Wilson, CEO of the Families of Veterans Guild, said: “Veteran spouses face unique career challenges due the nature of a life tied to defence. They have sacrificed much for their partner’s career and Australia but often go unrecognised and unsupported. The Rise Together Initiative is designed to empower these individuals, providing them with the skills and confidence to pursue leadership roles and make meaningful contributions to a workforce in dire need of diverse skills, perspectives, resilience and determination.”
She continued: “As a veteran partner who has been through the program, I highly encourage members of the community to apply via the Family of Veterans Guild website—it is truly transformative.”
If you are interested in signing up or finding out more information, please visit our website here.
