Victoria Chapter

CHAPTER MEETINGS ARE HELD ON THE FOURTH MONDAY OF THE MONTH AT THE CLAYTON RSL FUNCTION ROOM AT 1900

Next meeting Monday 27 July 2026

The Clayton RSL is located at 171 Carinish Rd, Clayton and is conveniently situated near the Clayton railway station. There is ample parking adjacent to the railway station.

Guest Speaker: Captain Paul Scott RAN (Rtd)

 “Pacific Partnership 2010 – Its Role in Regional Engagement”

Paul Scott joined the Royal Australian Navy in 1986.  His naval service has included a wide range of roles in Australia and overseas. Unusually, he qualified as a Mine Clearance Diving Officer (MCDO), Principal Warfare Officer (PWO) and later as an Information Warfare Officer (IWO); a rare combination of primary warfare qualifications that provided experience across the physical, maritime and information domains of naval operations. He has commanded HMAS Tobruk and HMAS Diamantina, with operational deployments including to East Timor, the Solomon Islands and the Middle East. He has held a range of senior leadership positions in workforce management, military ICT, cyber and information warfare, culminating as Director Cyber Warfare within the Information Warfare Division.

He commanded HMAS Tobruk in 2010, during Pacific Partnership, one of the region’s largest multinational humanitarian assistance and disaster relief engagements. Working alongside regional partners, military forces, government agencies and non-government organisations, the deployment demonstrated how trust, relationships and sustained presence can deliver strategic effects well beyond the immediate humanitarian mission.

Drawing on operational experience, Paul will reflect on the enduring value of maritime partnerships and explore the connections between Pacific Partnership and the Royal Australian Navy’s contemporary flagship regional engagement activity, Indo-Pacific Endeavour. He will examine how naval diplomacy, persistent engagement and people-to-people relationships remain central to Australia’s role as a trusted regional partner, and how the strategy and objectives of regional engagement have evolved over the past decade.

Today, Paul continues to serve in the Navy Reserve, is an Adjunct Professor at RMIT University, and was recently appointed a Governor of the Shrine of Remembrance.

Members and Guests are most welcome

A relaxing meal and drink beforehand in the RSL’s delightful Sovereign Bistro provides a pleasant prelude to the 1900 meeting.

Membership of the NHSA automatically entitles you to be part of the Victoria Chapter and to share in its activities.

We hold our monthly meetings in the Function Room which is on the ground floor.  Our program is listed on the website, and we either have a Guest Speaker or show a film.  Meetings start at approximately 7.00 pm and finish by 9.00 pm.

Please be seated by 5.45pm if you are staying for dinner to ensure the meeting starts on time.

Our Secretary Lynda Gilbert coordinates the booking of tables, so please let her know in advance by email lynda.gilbert@aol.com if you are intending to join us for dinner.

If joining us for the first time, please let us know when you plan to visit by contacting Andrew Mackinnon and we will ensure you are made welcome.

The Chapter produces a monthly newsletter called the ‘Three-Headed Dog’, containing a variety of articles of interest.  Edited by Andrew Mackinnon, this is published eleven times a year and is distributed by email to Victorian members free of charge.  Copies of the latest and previous ‘Three-Headed Dog’ newsletters can be found on the Navy Victoria Network

Speakers for future meetings are as follows: