If you asked someone who served in the Australian Army what their favourite movie was, you’d be forgiven for expecting classics like Platoon, Saving Private Ryan or Gallipoli.
For our inaugural Chief Executive Brendan Cox, it’s a simple choice: Guardians of the Galaxy, because in his own words, it’s a film ‘about the importance of family.’
As the youngest of seven children and one of three brothers who have served in the Australian Army, Brendan has lived a life of service as both a soldier, and family member. A life that has taken him to Bosnia alongside the British Army, the streets of Dili in Timor-Leste, and the dusty landscape of Afghanistan. The three brothers have devoted themselves to a combined century of service in our nation’s uniform, and their families have been along for the ride.
Brendan understands the challenges families of veterans endure and overcome, and this understanding has fuelled his dedication to supporting the veteran community post-ADF service.
After medically separating from the ADF in 2014, Brendan set off to find renewed purpose. In 2016, the threads of service, leadership, and duty came together when he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Legacy Brisbane – an organisation founded on a promise first made in the trenches of the Western Front during the First World War, ‘to support the families of the fallen’.
For the next decade, Brendan worked tirelessly to address the challenges faced by the community while pursuing a path of self-development, which saw him awarded the prestigious Paul Tys Churchill Fellowship in 2022.
This commitment to service saw Brendan travel the world once again, only this time his mission was to investigate international best practices in providing holistic support for families caring for a veteran suffering from psychological and physical injuries.
Brendan completed the fellowship in 2023, and its findings are informing a new model of care at the Greenslopes Hospital and Research precinct — proof that Brendan’s work has helped improve wellbeing outcomes for veterans and families of veterans.
This journey of service has now led Brendan to the Veteran and Family Wellbeing Agency (the Agency) as its inaugural Chief Executive, a role guided by a firm belief that ‘family wellbeing is central to veteran wellbeing.’
‘The system of care needs to respond to the veteran in the context of their family, whatever the make-up may be for the individual,’ he said.
While there are ‘a lot of moving parts’, Brendan says the Agency has an opportunity to help create a system that truly supports the people at the centre of it.
‘When I look at the 122 recommendations made by the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, to me, this is the key recommendation,’ he said.
‘This is calling on Defence, DVA and the sector to get it together and connect the stovepipes of excellence and create a true system of support.
‘A system where the veterans and families who have served our nation come back to their communities with the respect and dignity they deserve.’
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