Ventia is one of the largest essential infrastructure services providers in Australia and New Zealand. Listed on the ASX and NZX, it employs more than 35,000 people across over 400 sites and delivers maintenance, operations and support services across defence, water, telecommunications, transport, electricity and gas, and resources. Ventia is recognised as a Veteran Employer of Choice via the Veteran Employment Commitment.
Defence sits at the centre of Ventia's history. Its legacy businesses have partnered with the ADF since 1989, and today Ventia is one of the largest providers of integrated essential services management to the ADF, delivering base and member services and maintenance contracts that keep critical Defence assets operational nationwide.
Few businesses are built around Defence the way Ventia is. As one of the ADF's largest service partners, with people on bases and estates every day, employing veterans is not a program they run alongside their work. It is how the work gets done, giving their commitment a permanence that stand-alone initiatives rarely achieve.
Ventia's close connection to Defence shapes its workforce. Veterans, reservists and Defence family members work throughout the business, from base operations to national leadership, including 299 employees in its Defence portfolio alone. They employ more than 700 veterans, reservists and Defence family members, who stay an average of 7.9 years (2.5 years longer than their non-veteran colleagues).
In 2023, Ventia brought its long-standing support for this community together under a single framework: the Veteran, Reservist and Defence Family Member Working Group. With executive ownership and leadership from a dedicated Defence People and Capability team, the Working Group sets Ventia's priorities for recruiting and retaining veterans, reservists and Defence family members. A national contract network strengthens the program by enabling reservists and Defence family members to continue working as they move between postings, rather than resigning and starting again.
Ventia's commitment to veteran employment has earned it the Department of Veterans' Affairs Veteran Employer of Choice status, along with recognition in state and national awards.
What sets them apart is that they have solved both sides of the transition, not just opened the door. Rather than recruiting veterans and hoping they settle, they built two focused programs to help them thrive in their new roles. The first equips hiring managers to understand military experience accurately, ensuring veterans are assessed on what their service actually equips them to do. The second carries veterans through arrival, covering their culture, building networks, career planning and wellbeing support. One shapes how they hire; the other shapes how veterans stay.
