Count without exposure
Veterans Count asks for enough information to place a count in the right federal electorate, not enough to turn anyone into a public example.
Why Veterans Count exists
Politicians count votes.
Veterans Count helps show each MP how many people in their electorate are connected to Navy, Army or Air Force, past or present, whether through service, family, caring, support, clinical work or another connection, and which issues need attention.
Veterans Count asks people connected to Navy, Army or Air Force, past or present, to add a simple count by electorate.
Its purpose is simple: show the size, spread and concerns of the people whose lives are connected to service.
Not a party campaign
MPs should be able to see the local count.
Veterans Count does not ask who anyone votes for and does not ask anyone to vote together. It shows MPs, electorate by electorate, who is connected to Navy, Army or Air Force, past or present, and the issues that matter.
I first tried this idea in 2018. The idea was simple then and remains simple now: service shapes lives well beyond the person who wore the uniform.
Veterans Count is the rebuilt version: simpler, mobile-first and designed around one practical aim: make the local count visible through credible aggregate data.
Mark Croxford20-year Navy veteranFormer media and political adviser to a Minister for Veterans’ AffairsFounder, Veterans Count
Electorate by electorate
The count shows how many veterans, serving members, reservists, families, carers, friends and supporters are present in each seat.
Numbers make MPs listen
One veteran can be treated as a file. One family can be treated as a private burden. A visible electorate-level count is harder to wave away.
Why the margin matters
Every electorate is decided by a number.
The margin is the number of votes that decided the seat. Veterans Count gathers electorate-level numbers so we can compare the current count of people connected to Navy, Army or Air Force, past or present with that margin over time.
That is not a prediction and not a claim that veterans vote as one group. It is a way to show whether veterans, families, carers, friends and supporters have the local presence needed to deserve serious attention.
What this is and is not
An electorate-level accountability tool.
Veterans Count is
- a count of people connected to Navy, Army or Air Force, past or present by electorate
- a quiet way to be counted without being asked to expose yourself
- a public accountability tool for MPs
- a method for turning scattered concern into local numbers
Veterans Count is not
- a party campaign
- a casework service
- a place to send medical records or DVA claim files
- a replacement for veterans’ organisations
Be counted
A count only matters when the quiet people are included.
Veterans Count starts with only the basics needed to count people connected to Navy, Army or Air Force, past or present by electorate: the postcode where you are currently registered to vote and how you are broadly connected. Issue detail is optional after you are counted.
No name is required. No service number. No DVA claim details. No medical information.
Who is behind it
An independent project by Mark Croxford.
Veterans Count is an independent project by Mark Croxford. It is not a party campaign, not a casework service and not connected to the Department of Veterans’ Affairs or Defence.