Royal Commission into Defence and veteran suicides hands down final seven-volume report

The primary body responsible for supporting veterans and their families is not trusted by diggers or up to the task of addressing the high rates of suicide in veterans, a scathing report following a three-year Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide has found.

The final report, which was publicly released on Monday, was critical of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) – the primary body responsible for supporting veterans.

Royal commission chair Nick Kaldas and fellow commissioners James Douglas and Peggy Brown concluded they didn’t believe the DVA in its current form and level of resourcing could deliver the wellbeing support to the community.

The royal commissioners have recommended establishing a new executive agency to be co-designed with veterans.

The body, which the commission said should have “distinctive branding, separate to the DVA”, would help ex-servicemen and women identify veterans who were not accessing supports, empower them to understand their entitlements and help them navigate the system.

It follows the royal commission’s finding there was no body focused on proactively reaching out to veterans in the two years after they leave the Australian Defence Force, with about up to 6500 – mostly aged in their 20 – transitioning from full-time ADF service every year.

The call for a separate body was among the 122 recommendation released in the seven-volume report following the suicides of at least 1677 serving and former defence personnel between 1997 and 2021, more than 20 times the number of members who died in active duty.

The report also acknowledged the “difficult” adjustment for ADF staff to civilian life, and lashed the transition system for being “overly complicated,” and “fragmented”.

It said “fundamental change” was needed to give the adequate and proactive level of support, including transition screening for “psychosocial readiness” for transition, and helping ex-members establish relationships with fellow members.

The commission has also recommended the government undertake an external, independent, expert inquiry into sexual violence in the ADF, focusing on the effectiveness of the military justice system.

While it acknowledged victims may feel frustrated and disappointed at an additional inquiry, commissioners said the decision was not taken lightly, and did so “in order to honour the severity and scale of evidence we have heard during the course of this royal commission”.

Other recommendations around sexual violence included a “presumption of discharge policy for members who are found to have engaged in certain forms of sexual violence,” and mandatory discharge policy for members convicted of sexual offences and related offences such as stalking and intimate image abuse.

Tabling the report, Defence Minister Richard Marles thanked the advocacy of Julie-Ann Finney who was present in the public gallery.

Following the suicide of her son David, a Royal Australian Navy veteran in 2019, Ms Finney lobbied for a royal commission.

While Mr Marles said the government would work through the recommendations in “a timely and methodical manner”.

“The royal commission’s final report and recommendations will strengthen our approach to the mental health and welfare of Defence personnel, of veterans and of their families, and we will now work through the recommendations in a timely and methodical manner,” he said.

The Coalition’s spokesman for veteran affairs Barnaby Joyce paid tribute to the veterans who have died.

“We have a responsibility in this nation that when someone signs their name on the dotted line, therefore they offer their life for this land, that we protect them when they come home,” he told the parliament.

“There is something wrong… when a person is more likely to die once they finish their service… than when they are actually in the service.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese acknowledged the release of the report would be a “difficult day” for veterans.

“This will be a difficult day for many Australians but I pay tribute to all those who have endured a difficult day today in order to make tomorrow better for those veterans,” he said.

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Opposition Leader Peter Dutton gave his bipartisan support to what he describe as “one of the most critical issues facing our country”.

He acknowledged Australia’s “shameful” treatment of returning soldiers from the Vietnam War and the Middle East, which has had an “enduring scarring impact on them individually,” and on their families and subsequent generations.

“The fact is that over a long period of time, our country hasn’t done well enough in providing support to those people,” he said.

“Defence has let people down, the Department of Veterans Affairs has let people down, and both sides of politics have let these diggers down as well.”

Mr Kaldas urged the government to enact the recommendations, lashing the previous inaction as a “failure in leadership”.

“When there’s been dozens of inquiries, hundreds of recommendations, and no one’s gone back to check whether they’ve acquitted the intent of the recommendations, I’d say that’s a failure of leadership,” he said.

“What is clear from some of the horrible stories that we’ve heard is that many people simply turned a blind eye, over many years and felt that it was too hard, or they simply didn’t care enough to tackle the problems.”

Throughout the inquiry, the commissioners said they faced severe institutional resistance, with defence and government officials slow to act on information requests.

Mr Douglas said as an “emanation of the federal bureaucracy”, he did not expect the royal commission would need to fight for access to certain documents.

In addition to officials dragging their heels, he said there were blatant hurdles, such as parliamentary privilege and “claims of public interest immunity”.

“I think eventually, we saw pretty well all we wanted to see,” he said.

“I think that it’s odd when the federal government sets up a royal commission and wishes governmental activity to be looked at, to keep things from the royal commission.

“We’re an inquiry set up by the federal executive government and should be provided with the documents, and on a pretty quick basis.”

Veteran and Soldier On ambassador Ange Harper said stronger supports for defence personnel when they return to civilian life was critical.

Ms Harper left the military in 2001 after more than a decade of service as an aviation paramedic with the Army.

“When I got out there was nothing,” she told NewsWire.

“I got a gentle kick up the bum and a ‘catch you later’.”

She left the Army a mum, her husband still in active military service, to pursue a career in journalism that led her to the Parliament House Press Gallery.

Her family and friends made up the support network that helped her “successfully” transition to civilian life, filling the vacuum left by the ADF.

“That’s really what drew me to Soldier On,” she said.

“It was the only organisation really focused on that transitional phase.”

Key recommendations from the Royal Commission report:

• More responsibility for the ADF Inspector-General to review suicide deaths of veterans within two years of discharge, with a report of findings every three years.
• Conduct an audit into Defence workplace health and safety within the next 12 months, which includes a focus on psychosocial health and a review of hazard trends.
• Expand and strengthen healthcare services for veterans, including support for primary and allied care providers which focus on health needs of veterans.
• Calls for DVA to fund and facilitate a network of suicide-bereavement resources which are tailored for the military community, and accessible for anyone affected by veteran suicide.
• Increase the amount of support to help ex-members access qualifications, and employment once they go into civilian life.
• ADF to “prioritise” the development of a sexual misconduct prevention strategy, which includes plans for primary prevention and early intervention, plus behavioural change programs for perpetrators.