Appointment of Charlotte Webb as the first full-time Defence Family Advocate

The Albanese Government has recognised the significant role of families in supporting ADF members by upgrading the Defence Family Advocate role to be full-time, with the appointment of Ms Charlotte Webb as the new head of Defence Families of Australia.

I congratulate Charlotte Webb on her appointment as the Defence Family Advocate.

The Defence Family Advocate provides advice to Government and Defence on families’ concerns, provides a forum for families to raise matters and assists families in accessing the Defence information they need.

Family support is crucial to sustaining and growing the Australian Defence Force, and underpins Defence’s most important capability – its people. 

The appointment of Ms Webb follows a nationwide recruitment process.

Ms Webb has long been actively involved in the Defence community, both as a Defence family member and as an Army Reservist. In her most recent work she successfully delivered support and services to veterans and families in the Riverina and implemented new initiatives to better support the veteran and family community across NSW. 

I look forward to working with Ms Webb to achieve positive outcomes for Defence families as we work towards finalising our Defence Family Support Strategy.

My thanks to the former Defence Family Advocate, Sandi Laaksonen-Sherrin, for her hard work, advocacy and engagement with me whilst in the role. Defence families benefitted greatly from Sandi’s work.

More information on Defence Families of Australia can be found here.