Royal Commission into Veteran Suicide

I believe we urgently need an independent Royal Commission into veteran suicide to get to shine a light on this serious issue.

I speak to my colleague and friend Luke Gosling OAM MP about these issues regularly.

The latest Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) figures on defence and veteran suicides released on 9 October 2020 show that we are failing our veterans and urgently need a Royal Commission into this terrible scourge.

In total, the data show there were 33 suicide deaths among serving and ex-serving ADF personnel in 2018, and 465 suicides between 2001 and 2018, although many believe the actual figures are much higher.

The AIHW report shows that male veterans are 21 per cent more likely to die by suicide than men generally, while the rate of suicide among ex-serving women is twice as high as the general female population.

Alarmingly, the research found ex-serving men had a 66 per cent higher suicide rate when they discharged for medical reasons compared to men who discharged voluntarily.

This latest update is a wake-up call and shows we are losing the war when it comes to saving our current and former defence personnel.

Labor is concerned the Morrison’s Government’s proposed National Commissioner for Defence and Veteran Suicide Prevention will not have all the powers of a Royal Commission, as the Government has claimed, and will lack the resources and independence to ask the hard questions.

The Government introduced legislation for the National Commissioner during the Parliamentary sittings in August and this has been referred to a Senate inquiry, which will report back by 30 November 2020.

Labor will continue to engage with the veteran community and stakeholders and will come to a final position on the legislation once we have seen the outcomes of the Senate inquiry.

However, Labor’s view is that any permanent standing commissioner should first be informed by the findings of a Royal Commission.

The evidence is overwhelming that only a full Royal Commission with a clear start and end date will be able to investigate why so many defence veterans are taking their own lives, and determine what measures are needed to stop these tragic deaths.