Ms Rishworth visited Launceston and will visit Ulverstone this afternoon for a similar forum in the North-West.

She said the forums, that have been held nationally, were aimed at finding out what issues were affecting veterans across the country and those from different conflicts.

“We are here to hear directly about what can be improved for services for veterans,” she said.

“There are some issues that we need to address nationally, but what we have are veterans from different conflicts and some of those issues are unique to the conflict.”

Bass Labor MHR Ross Hart said Tasmania had a high proportion of veterans because of its ageing population and it was important politicians understood what was affecting them.

He said as the local member he often was approached by ex-servicemen about the issues they faced.

“One of the major issues is around people being sent to Melbourne in particular for surgeries,” he said.

“Those travelling arrangements are not ideal in some cases, particularly when people are asked to travel on low-cost airlines and they have lengthy walking trips between terminals or taxi ranks.”

Ms Rishworth said it was also important to note that support services were available for families of veterans.

The forum was held on Thursday morning at Legacy House, Launceston.