Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

One of the central social policy targets of the Morrison government is that Australia has zero suicides. It's a bold target—probably the most bold of all of our social policy targets—that indicates how much we value human life and how important it is that we deal properly with this issue. In order to get us towards that position of zero suicides the government is doing a range of very important things, including a record $5.7 billion investment in mental health and suicide prevention in this year alone; doubling the number of appointments that are Medicare funded that people can take with a psychologist; a boost for the way back program, which in my view targets those people who are most at risk, that is those people who have made an attempt on their own life. It's such an important program because we know exactly who those people are and we know where they are. It's important that we provide services to them because if we do that's our best chance of reducing the target.

Sadly, in the most recent year for which we have statistics 3,046 Australians died by suicide, that's eight people every single day. One of the things that I've seen in my time working in this public policy area, as the chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Suicide Prevention, is that there is a very important development that is happening in public policy thinking in this space, and that is that when you look at those who die by suicide there are certain groups that are overrepresented and those groups require a bespoke approach. I think about those tragic suicides that occurred in the Kimberley and the government's response of a particular bespoke package in the Kimberley to deal with suicide prevention to ensure that that doesn't happen again. Today we are discussing a bill that deals with the bespoke approach to deal with veterans. I suspect we will see more of these bespoke approaches, and I applaud that particular approach to dealing with suicide generally.

The way we treat our veterans says a lot about us as a country. It says a lot about us in two respects. Firstly, it says that we put a premium on the sacrifice and service of people who are prepared to lay down their lives to defend our way of life. Secondly, by properly treating those who've served we encourage others to put their hands up to serve, and we were to do otherwise we would actually actively discourage people from taking on that service. The culture of service in the Defence Force in this country is fundamental to the fabric of our identity. We have a growing number of veterans who are now continuing their service in this place. There are others like myself who are the grandsons and great grandsons of veterans who are inspired by their family's service in the ADF to serve in this place as well. So I think that this response, through the National Commissioner for Defence and Veteran Suicide, is a great demonstration of the government understanding and underscoring the values of Australians and the values that we place on veterans and those who are prepared to serve.

Sadly, the latest reports from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare on suicide amongst serving and ex-serving ADF personnel don't paint a pretty picture. Looking at the rolling three year averages we see it's ex-service people, rather than serving members, who are most at risk of suicide. While the suicide rate is lower for people who are serving, including in the Reserves, it's higher for those who have been discharged and particularly high for those who are discharged for medical reasons. Ex-serving women are more than twice as likely to die by suicide than the average for the Australian population. It is for these reasons that bespoke support is needed. Unique services and supports are needed because of the unique situations we ask our ADF personnel to be in. For those of us who haven't served we cannot properly imagine what it is like to be in those situations of life or death, the regimented nature of service life and then suddenly to be put back into civilian life. We who haven't been there can't truly imagine what that is like. As a result of people's service, and as a result of the things people have seen and been asked to do, many people have ongoing health needs due to physical or mental injury. The change and the adjustment back to civilian life can be overwhelming for people.

In my work as a member of parliament, particularly a member of parliament interested in suicide prevention, over the last few years I have had the privilege of meeting a remarkable young woman called Charlotte Officer who came to my office as part of the Macquarie University PACE Program. Charlotte was then studying a degree that's helped prepare her to now study a medical degree. She came to do some work on the history of mental health responses to Australia, in particular looking at the role in which the funding of the medical system helps drive particular outcomes in relation to mental health and suicide prevention.

Charlotte was motivated to do this work because she is the sister of a veteran and the partner of a veteran. Charlotte's brother, Marshall Officer, spent six years in the infantry. He was deployed to Afghanistan in 2014-15 as part of the Force Protection Element-2, and he spent a year as an instructor for the School of Infantry in Singleton. Marshall and two of the friends he served with in Afghanistan, Dan Hunt, Charlotte's partner, and Nathan Barnes, have a company called Anvil Training and Development, which serves veterans by providing them with learning opportunities, physical training and mental health support. Dan spent five years in the infantry and Nathan served for over seven years.

As Charlotte said to me when she wrote to me recently: 'When my brother left defence I witnessed him try to transition to civilian life. I watched him work hard to reintegrate and appreciate how his life would now be difference and how his experiences in defence impacted his life. I watched the highs and the lows and throughout all of this he was supported by the other veterans he had served with.' Charlotte became passionate about veteran mental health and suicide because of Marshall's work as a soldier. She said—and this is beautiful: 'Not only is Marshall my big brother and my hero; he's one of my closest friends. The longer he served the more I became conscious of how his experiences had shaped him.'

Charlotte's currently studying a postgraduate Doctor of Medicine with a hope to specialise as a general practitioner with a subspecialty in mental health, where she wants to work with veterans. She's motivated to do her work because of her family experience and because of her experience with her partner. Both Charlotte and Marshall, when I met with them, emphasised to me the need to ensure that services that are provided for veterans work for veterans, and this means listening. As Charlotte said, 'It's important to spend time speaking with veterans about what works and what doesn't work and with educated medical practitioners and create change and awareness in this space.'

I think the defence and veteran suicide prevention commissioner will do exactly that on behalf of all of us. This initiative of the defence and veteran suicide commissioner builds on a number of things we have already been doing. In 2017 we expanded access to free health mental health treatment to include any mental health condition, regardless of whether or not the condition is linked to a veteran's service. This now has uncapped funding so that when there is a need that very same need is met.

We're doing more to help people build a civilian life and career through supporting people to succeed in new employment. We have given people a better bridge from defence, making support needs based, improving the communication between the Department of Veterans' Affairs and defence, and ensuring those most at risk have the support they need when they need it. Discharge from service and adjusting to civilian life is never an easy period. There are many that struggle with it, and many of those people come to the offices that all of us run in our electorates. But ensuring that there is better support, ensuring that systems work better and ensuring that we not only honour and remember our service men and women but actually provide them the support that can ensure them a successful transition is so vital.

I want to come to a point that was made by the Leader of the Opposition, who immediately preceded me in this debate, about the national commissioner versus a royal commission. I'd like to address the particular point that he made. I think for many Australians the concept of a royal commission has become the highest form of public policymaking in our public life. Whenever we see a major problem, we see a royal commission. There are some strengths of royal commissions and there are some weaknesses. I think we need to be cognisant of those strengths and weaknesses. One of the reasons why I think that the National Commissioner for Defence and Veteran Suicide Prevention is a better deal for veterans than a royal commission is this. Royal commissions tend to shine a bright light on an issue for a time. That light burns bright, but then it dims and fades and, very soon, the issues for which the commission was set up are quickly forgotten and they're no longer the subject of public debate. They're no longer the subject of broad attention.

Why this is a better option is that this is the equivalent of having a royal commission all the time because what we are giving the national commissioner is the same powers as a royal commission. And what are those powers that make a royal commission different from any other investigatory body? They can compel the production of evidence and summon witnesses. Those are the two fundamental powers that a royal commission has that other bodies that do inquiries don't have. We are giving those powers to a permanent national commissioner who will effectively be running a royal commission every single day.

But rather than having the traditional royal commission model, which everyone 'lawyers up', there are a lot of wider functions the national commissioner is given because the national commissioner has a broader remit. There is a lot that we need to understand as policymakers about the systemic issues that lead to the problems we have with suicide among our veterans. The national commissioner will lead this work. The national commissioner, just like a royal commissioner, will be independent of government, an independent statutory authority. We are setting up the statute here with this bill to give them that independence. They will have the powers of a royal commission not just for a day, not just for a week, not just for a couple of years but for all time. The commissioner will be able to gather evidence and information including by consulting experts and families, by summoning witnesses and by obtaining relevant information and reports from government departments—whether that is DVA, the Defence Department or the tri-services themselves. This will enable them to undertake broad-ranging inquiries relevant to their role and hear from any relevant party, including veterans and their families. The position of the families is so important here. The families in these instances are often those who are bereaved by suicide, the loved ones who are left behind.

The national commissioner will be able to conduct their hearings in public or in private. And that's important too because of the sensitive nature of some of the discussions that will take place between veterans, their family, defence personnel and the national commissioner. As I said, very importantly, they will be given those powers that a royal commissioner is given to compel the production of evidence and summon witnesses. If there is somebody who has done some wrongdoing and they are trying to hide, they will not be able to hide. If there is evidence of a cover-up, that evidence can be brought forward. These are the important powers which, under this bill, we are giving the national commissioner.

The national commissioner is ultimately accountable to the Australian people through the members of parliament. Each and every year, the national commissioner will report to the parliament, and the government and will have to report back on what they are doing and what has been recommended to government. That's so vital. We owe it to the veterans, we owe it to current serving defence personnel, we owe it to the families of veterans and we owe it to anybody who might be considering serving our country in uniform to let them know that this is an issue we will take seriously, that we will put in place positive measures, that we will give due ventilation and oxygen to the issues that are raised as a result of the terrible number of deaths by suicide that we see particularly from our veterans committee.

As the chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Suicide Prevention I'm proud to be part of a government that is so committed to dealing with one of the great social policy challenges not just of our country but of our age. I think this important bill, in a very structured, very thoughtful and very measured way, targets a group of people that are, sadly, overrepresented in the statistics of those who die by suicide. I'm proud to associate myself with this bill and to associate myself with all those veterans who sit in this place who have lobbied hard for this particular measure to be taken. I'm delighted to commend the bill to the House.

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