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ASAC
(Armed
Services Assistance Centre)
(Incorporated
– ABN 12 345 678 999)
Providing free
assistance with welfare,
pensions, compensation and
entitlements
to Veterans, serving and ex
members of the Defence Force and
their families.
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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.
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ASAC
National President, Noel Payne
observes as Mobil Car Care Group
Chairman,
John Ritchings seals the
sponsorship deal.
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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.”
ASAC
National President, Noel Payne
accepts a sizeable donation from
Mobil Car Care Group Chairman,
John Ritchings.
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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.
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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.
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