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UNE wins national employment award for supporting 'weekend warriors'

November 01, 2005

Professor Peter Flood receiving awardThe University of New England has won a national employment award for its support of Defence Force reservists.

UNE was one of five organisations recognised for their support of reservists at the Defence Reserves Support Council's (DRSC) National Employer Support Awards, held this week at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. UNE shared the award in the government category with Edith Cowan University in Perth.

Earlier this year UNE was named NSW's best employer of Defence Force reservists at a ceremony at Victoria Barracks in Paddington.

UNE was nominated for the awards by several reservist members of staff.

UNE offers good leave conditions to Australian Defence Force members to allow them to undertake military activities. This includes paid leave for short periods of military service and unpaid leave for lengthier deployments. The Federal Government helps fund leave for UNE's reservists through its Employer Support Payment Scheme.

UNE-employed reservists have undertaken a wide range of military duties, ranging from two-week combined-forces exercises to extended deployments. In 1990, Andrew St John Brown, a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy Reserve, took 18 months off from his job as Assistant Registrar at UNE to support the Navy's Gulf War operations in Sydney. More recently, Tony Bock, a Warrant Officer in the Army Reserve, gave up his job in the university's Finance Directorate for three months to serve in Operation Gold, the Australian Defence Force mission to support the Sydney 2000 Olympics. He later received a Medal of the Order of Australia for his service in the Army Reserve.

David Campbell, a programmer in UNE's Information Technology Directorate, and part-time crew commander with the 12th/16th Hunter River Lancers in Armidale, said the university had been “extremely supportive” of his military career.

“The leave provisions at UNE are great,” Mr Campbell said. “They've allowed me to attend courses, including promotion courses, as well as exercises, like the combined forces exercise my unit did with the US Marines at Shoalwater Bay two years ago.”

Iain Spence, an Associate Professor in UNE's School of Classics, History and Religion, and a Colonel in the Army Reserve, said the award was a “great mark of recognition” for the university's support of its reservist employees. The university's flexible policies allowed staff to meet their requirements to the Defence Reserves, while also meeting their requirements to the university, a situation that reflected well on both the university and the military, he said.

Pictured at the awards ceremony are Professor Peter Flood; the Hon Teresa Gambaro MP, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence; and the Hon John Jobling OAM, Chairman DRSC NSW.

For more information contact Associate Professor Iain Spence on (02) 6773 2794 or Leon Braun (UNE Public Relations) on 6773 3771. A picture is available to accompany this story.

Posted by Leon Braun at November 1, 2005 04:23 PM