ASAC

Press Release

Mobil Car Care Queensland Backs Service Veterans

Mobil Car Care Queensland has provided some corporate muscle to the quest for ex-servicemen and women who, as veterans, have a considerable range of claims and entitlements resulting from their service to our country.

The Mobil Car Care group, which operates 34 Car Care centres across the greater Brisbane area, has chipped in an undisclosed sum and product to the operation of the Armed Service Assistance Centre, from offices in the Queen St Mall.

This sponsorship allows a small group of ex-service personnel, fully qualified as advocates by the Department of Veterans Affairs, to seek out and prepare Veterans claims for Pension, Disability, Medical, Medals, and other Service–related issues.

The staff of the Armed Services Assistance Centre are unpaid volunteers who offer free services to all veterans and their families, and the Advocates, Pension and Welfare Officers attached to the Centre, do not receive payment from Department of Veteran Affairs or from any other Government department.

Chairman of the Mobil Car Care Group John Ritchings said, "We are impressed with the ASAC concept of mates helping mates without charge and in their own time, and remember they fought to keep the country we enjoy so much, free in times of crisis - So yes, we care about them too.”

Mr Ritchings said the Mobil sponsorship will be for one year with first option on 2002, and the group has struck an exclusive car-servicing offer for all veterans processed by the Armed Services Assistance Centre. $10 from each veteran’s motor vehicle service performed by the Mobil group will be donated to the operations of the Assistance Centre. A special card will be issued to veterans for this purpose, and required to be presented when booking the car in for service. This service carries a discount from $199 to $149 on any Major service undertaken by Mobil for veterans.

A further bonus will be offered to veterans simultaneous with the service offer providing them with 2c per litre discount on petrol purchases at any of the 34 outlets controlled by the Mobil Group. A Gold Fuel Card will also be issued to veterans for this purpose.

Mr Ritchings also said that while the cash component of the Mobil Sponsorship will bolster the operating budget of the Armed Services Assistance Centre, the $50 discount on a Major Service and 2c per litre discount on fuel would be considerable saving for veteran’s budgets.

The Mobil initiative, believed to be a first from the corporate sector for an ex-service organization, will be widely promoted through a number of Service websites including that of the ASAC and print media to include Ex-service Association newsletters, periodicals and journals.

RSL News the respected tabloid of that organization has been approached to carry news of the Mobil initiative to its widespread veterans readership across the Brisbane Metropolitan Area and Regional Queensland.

Noel Payne, Chairman of the Armed Services Assistance Centre said, “We are most grateful to Mobil Car Care for their kind and generous sponsorship and it could not have come at a better time. Our operation has exceeded our wildest dreams and we are already interviewing 30 veterans per week so further funding was essential until membership grows and we prepare our submissions to Veterans Affairs for support funding in the financial year 2002.”

He also said that recent legislation handed down by government had recognised service by veterans in a number of South-East Asian theatres and several thousand ex-servicemen were eligible to make claims, but didn’t know about it or did not know what to do.

Mr Payne said part of the Armed Services Assistance Centre Charter was to actively seek out Veterans and advise them or their families accordingly, and the search process is enjoying early success. Payne said” We are actively visiting near-provincial areas now and as we grow, regional Queensland will benefit from our services too, with a National profile the objective of our long–term business plan.

The Armed Services Assistance Centre is already recognised by the Department of Veterans Affairs as an important link between them and the Veteran, and ASAC believes their services will do much to ease the particularly heavy burden of Veterans Claims presently shouldered by the Returned Services League and other ex-service organizations.