These are the military spouse employment projects I’ve been involved with since receiving the Fellowship
Australian Institute of Families Study e-poster presentation
I’ll be presenting an e-poster at the Australian Institute of Family Studies 2020 AIFS Conference titled ADF Partner Employment – what’s changed in 30 years? in which I’ll be looking at how society and partner employment has changed since the Hamilton Report of 1986 and my current work in 2020.
The conference (originally scheduled for June 2020) will now be held 15-18 June 2021.
International Military Spouse Employment meeting
In May 2020 I’ll be attending the inaugural Five Eyes Meeting on Military Spouse Employment in The Hague, Netherlands. I’ll be sharing my insight from my Churchill Fellowship to stakeholders from Canada, USA, UK and Australia.
Update: unfortunately the meeting was cancelled due to Covid 19
Submission to ADF Pay and Conditions Mondernisation October 2019
In October 2019 the Chief of Defence Force asked for views from members and families on what modern ADF pay and conditions arrangements would look like in order to support them throughout their Service career and future transition to civilian life.
I responded with a written submission referring to my Churchill Fellowship report and highlighting the need for policies that allow for more even distribution of domestic workloads in ADF families in order to support dual income families (and promote gender equality. You can read my report below.
mccue_-response-to-cdf-re-adf-employment-offer
Career Development Association of Australia 2019 Conference
In October 2019 I presented at the Career Development Association of Australia‘s annual conference in Canberra with Maree Sirois from Defence Families of Australia. Our presentation was titled “Joining forces to improve Australian Defence Force spouse/partner career development”
Webinar: Australian Defence Force Partner Career Development June 2019
In June 2019 I facilitated a webinar hosted by the Career Development Association of Australia for it’s members to help them better understand the career development needs of the ADF partner population, and to raise awareness of the government’s Partner Employment Assistance Program. Guest speakers were Maree Sirois from Defence Families of Australia and Cathy Davis from Defence Community Organisation.
Meeting with the ACT Veterans’ Advisory Council June 2019
In June 2019 I presented to the ACT Veterans Advisory Council on the importance of ADF partner employment to successful transition from the ADF and on the importance of partner employment to the local ACT economy, including some suggestions on how to facilitate ADF partner employment in the ACT.
Meeting with Minister for Veterans and Defence Personnel and the Member for Fenner
In February 2019 I met with the Minister for Defence Personnel, the Hon Darren Chester MP at Parliament House (by invitation) to discuss my Churchill report on ADF partner employment and career development.
I also requested to meet with my local MP the Member for Fenner, Dr Andrew Leigh MP at his office in Gungahlin, ACT where I discussed myChurchill report on ADF partner employment and career development and the importance of partner employment to our local area with a large population of ADF families.
Webinar: Career Support for ADF Partners November 2018
In November 2018 I was pleased to host the webinar “Career Support for ADF Partners” on behalf of the Career Development Association of Australia (CDAA) in conjunction with Defence Community Organisation (DCO) and Defence Families of Australia (DFA).
You can access the slides and webinar audio recording from the DFA website at https://dfa.org.au/2018/11/21/summary-of-webinar/
Submission to the Parliamentary Inquiry into ADF Transition
In July 2018 I made a submission to the Parliamentary Inquiry into transition from the Australian Defence Force outlining the importance of ADF partner employment to ADF families in preparing for and experiencing a successful transition and post-ADF lifestyle. You can read the submission here
DFA Defence Partner Friendly Employment Program
I am pleased to have worked with Defence Families of Australia to create a checklist for employers on what makes an “ADF partner-friendly” employer as part of DFA’s program to educate Australian businesses on what they can do to recruit, hire and retain Defence partners as valuable employees please.
More Information
If you would like to learn more about military spouse employment or would like advice or assistance on a military spouse employment project please email spouseemployment@careerswag.com