One person's input
When you add your count, you provide individual data about your electorate, your connection to Navy, Army or Air Force, past or present, and the issue you believe needs attention.
Why Veterans Count exists
Showing each federal MP the electorate picture.
Veterans Count is an independent national accountability platform organised across Australia’s 150 federal electorates. It helps show each federal 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 exists to drive evidence-based change for the betterment and benefit of veterans and the people connected to them.
Collective evidence
When individual contributions are brought together, they become collective evidence, electorate by electorate.
Issues made visible
That evidence helps show each federal MP how many people in their electorate are connected to Navy, Army or Air Force, past or present, and which issues need attention.
From data to evidence
The individual count is the starting point.
One person's count is individual data. Many individual counts, brought together electorate by electorate, become collective evidence.
That evidence can show where issues are appearing, which electorates are affected and which issues require attention.
The count is not the end goal. It is the evidence base for informed strategic engagement aimed at better decisions and better outcomes.
Not a party-political campaign
Federal MPs should be able to see the electorate count.
Veterans Count does not ask who anyone votes for and does not ask anyone to vote together.
It shows federal MPs, electorate by electorate, how many people 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.
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.
Mark Croxford20-year Navy veteranFormer media and political adviser to a Minister for Veterans’ AffairsFounder, Veterans Count
The bigger picture
Different organisations hold different parts of the picture.
The Department of Veterans’ Affairs knows where many of its clients are. But many veterans have never engaged with DVA, or will not engage with it, so DVA data cannot show the full footprint of people whose lives are connected to service.
The 2021 Census gave Australia an important snapshot of ADF service, past or present.
Ex-service organisations also know where their members are. But there are many and varied organisations, each serving different groups and understandably protective of its membership information.
Each source holds part of the picture. Veterans Count adds individual contributions to help build a broader electorate-level picture.
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 the current count can be compared 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 the local footprint is large enough to warrant 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 way to turn individual data into collective evidence
- a way to identify which issues need attention
- a public accountability tool for federal MPs
Veterans Count is not
- a party-political campaign
- a casework service
- a place to send medical records or DVA claim files
- a replacement for veterans’ organisations
Add your count
Your individual input becomes part of the electorate-level evidence.
It takes about a minute. Use the postcode where you are currently enrolled to vote, choose your connection and identify the issue your federal MP should see.
No name is required. No service number. No DVA claim details. No medical information.
Federal responsibility
National accountability sits principally with federal MPs.
Federal Members of the House of Representatives hold primary responsibility for the national issues measured by Veterans Count.
Structured outreach to state and territory parliamentarians, mayors and councillors is a separate way to raise awareness, strengthen understanding and amplify concerns. It does not imply that those representatives control federal policy.
Each federal electorate page includes an email helper for preparing and personalising an email to your federal MP. You send the email through your own email account, separately from adding your count.
Who is behind it
An independent project by Mark Croxford.
Veterans Count is an independent project by Mark Croxford. It is not a party-political campaign, not a casework service and not connected to the Department of Veterans’ Affairs or Defence.