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Letter from Director General Defence Community Organisation
For latest information from Director General Defence Community Organisation, click here (PDF, 51k)
DEFGRAM 664/2008 refers. Due to technical issues, any Defence employees that have attempted to register for updates from the Defence Child Care Program using the defence.childcare@defence.gov.au address may get an "undeliverable" message.
Any employees that registered prior to 1300hrs on 24NOV08 are requested to re-register using the above address to ensure that they receive any updates.
Defence Child Care Program-Update- 27 November 2008
The purpose of DEFGRAM 684/2008 is to provide personnel with children at Defence Child Care Centres with updated information regarding the situation with ABC Learning Centres Ltd.
Reports in the Media on ABC Child Care Centres
You may have read reports in various media forums that ABC child care centres have been identified as been on hitlists or under the axe. You may have also identified that all the Defence Childcare centres are on these list.
All Defence child care centres are on the list for further review at the request of Defence to ensure that all 18 Defence centres are treated as one entity. This does not mean that they are identified for closure. Defence continues to work closely with the Receiver and DEEWR to ensure that all of our Defence owned centres are considered in an inclusive and comprehensive manner to enable all of them to continue operations.
The Receiver and Defence are expecting to be able to provide further updates within the next week on the Defence-owned centres and the Defence expansion centres.
Michael Callan
Director General
Defence Community Organisation
Welcome by the Director General Defence Community Organisation
Welcome to the Defence Community Organisation website.
Defence is dedicated to recognising the very important and valuable role
of ADF members and their families in the achievement of the Defence mission. While carrying out their daily tasks, whether here in Australia or deployed overseas on operations, our personnel need to be assured that their families are well cared for and hav e the support they need.
For this reason Defence has tasked the Defence Community Organisation to support commanders in looking after the welfare of Defence families. We do this by providing a wide range of services that all members and their families can access to help them cope with aspects of the Defence lifestyle which may be new or different to them and may present challenges which they have not previously experienced.
This website is designed to provide you with information on these services and how you may access them. The site also provides contact details for you to seek support and advice, whether you are a commander, serving or family member.
I am confident that your association with the Australian Defence Force will be very happy and rewarding, and I wish you and your family all the very best for the future.
Michael Callan
Director General
Defence Community Organisation
About the Defence Community Organisation
On behalf of Command, the Defence Community Organisation (DCO) provides a broad range of individual and program related services to the ADF community.
These services aim to support ADF families to balance the demands of military service with personal and family commitments.
DCO also provides assistance in the case of accident, illness, hospitalisation or other family crises; and in the event of a casualty or in managing estates at times of bereavement. DCO Area Offices operates normal business hours, but can be contacted 24 hours
a day, 7 days a week in case of an emergency or a crisis.
The standards of service you can expect from us
You can expect us to:
- Respect your privacy and confidentiality, meeting our obligations under the Privacy Act.
- Be courteous and honest in our dealings with you.
- Provide accurate information.
- Be sensitive to issues of cultural diversity, disability and other special needs.
- Act on your request in a professional and courteous manner.
- Respond to phone calls, faxes or emails within 24 hours.
- Reply to correspondence within15 working days.
We provide quality services
Our team provides a quality service based on best practice guidelines. We strive to continually improve our services through quality review processes, research and evaluation.
We support your right to:
- Bring a friend or advocate with you to your appointments
- Discuss with the Area Manager if, for any reason, you want to change your Social Worker or Military Support Officer
- Ask to access information held by Defence Community Organisation about you in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act.
You can help us by:
- Treating our staff with courtesy.
- Giving us sufficient and accurate information to enable us to assist you properly.
- Providing feedback and comments on our performance.
If you are satisfied
We would like to hear from you if you are happy with the service you have received. This allows recognition of good service by our staff.
If you are dissatisfied
You have a right to raise concerns at any time if you are dissatisfied with our performance or our services. We take complaints very seriously and have a formal complaints process so we can respond quickly. This also allows us to identify areas where we can improve our services.
If you are dissatisfied with our performance, please raise the issue with the case manager involved. We will immediately begin investigating the matter, and inform you of the outcome.
If you are still not satisfied, you can follow a number of steps:
- Speak with the Area Manager.
- If you are still not satisfied, you can speak or write to the Regional Director.
- If you are still not satisfied, you can write to the Director General.
- You have the option to write to the Minister for Defence or your local Member of Parliament or Senator.
You also have the right to contact the Commonwealth and Defence Force Ombudsman on 1300 362 072.
Contact Details:
We have a network of more than 20 offices located across Australia and
we aim to meet your needs locally.
National Address:
Level 4
33-35 Brindabella Park
Canberra ACT 2600
02 6127 2354
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