Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I'm pleased to follow the member for Braddon, and I thank him for his service to our nation and his work to improve the lives of veterans. I was fortunate enough to attend a veterans forum in Burnie in the great state of Tasmania a few weeks ago with the member for Braddon and to see the great work that he's doing in supporting veterans.

Australia has lost more serving and former serving personnel to suicide over the last 20 years than through operations during the same period in Afghanistan and Iraq, and that's a tragic statistic. That's the tragedy behind the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide and the individual stories of Australians who have lost those inner battles—the devastation wrought on families, friends and communities. The tragedy has been compounded by the fact that successive Australian governments have failed those who've served our nation. Governments have also failed families who've carried the critical burden on their own through the pain and suffering that they've experienced. That is why we need help to find a way forward. The royal commission's recommendations will assist in prioritising the necessary and important work ahead to better the lives of defence personnel, veterans and their families.

Recently, the royal commission released its interim report. It contains 13 recommendations to government. The Minister for Veterans' Affairs responded on behalf of the government in the parliament in September. The interim report follows 2,000 submissions, 178 private sessions and testimony from 208 witnesses. It's important to note that the commission's been continuing with its important work, with hearings this week being held in Wagga Wagga.

The interim report's 13 recommendations fall into three key themes: improving the claims process, royal commission administration and access to information by loved ones. The Albanese government has already implemented one of the recommendations—that is, recommendation 5. They've agreed to nine, agreed to one in principle, and noted two others. We agree with the commission's recommendation for urgent and immediate action.

Recommendation 1 seeks to develop a pathway for simplification and harmonisation of veteran compensation and rehabilitation legislation. That process has begun. A taskforce has been established in the Department of Veterans' Affairs to work with government, veterans organisations and the Defence Force to simplify that important legislation.

Recommendation 2 goes to eliminating the claims backlog. The government has agreed to this recommendation. We know there has been a backlog of claims for support through the Department of Veterans' Affairs. Unfortunately, much of that problem was related to the cap on numbers in the Department of Veterans' Affairs that was put in place by the previous government. The new government, the Albanese government, has removed that cap. We're in the process of employing 500 additional staff to DVA. I've been travelling around the country, visiting DVA offices, and the anecdotal evidence that I'm receiving is that that the backlog is starting to come down because DVA now has those additional resources to ensure that veterans get the support they deserve and need.

Recommendation 3 seeks to improve the administration of the claims system. The government has agreed to this recommendation as well. It's clear that veterans and families have not had a good experience. They've not been able to access the support they deserve.

Recommendation 4 suggests that the Department of Veterans' Affairs provide, on a regular basis, advice to government on funding needs. The government has agreed to this recommendation.

Recommendation 5 suggests removing the Department of Veterans' Affairs average staffing level cap. As I mentioned earlier, that cap is now removed. We all know the importance of permanent, secure work for people working in the Australian Public Service, particularly those working in the Department of Veterans' Affairs. In the past, under the previous government, people were employed by labour hire companies to do work contracted to DVA to avoid the staff cap issue. It was a ridiculous situation. It was probably costing the government more money simply to meet an ideological commitment around staff caps in the Public Service. What was happening was that, people were being trained through the labour hire agency on the technology and processes at DVA to deal with claims, and, once they had that Public Service experience, they'd get a job at another government department on a permanent basis. All of that work that was put into them by DVA was lost to another government department. Why wouldn't they? If you have public sector experience and you see a permanent job being offered in another government department, surely you'd take it. If you had a family to feed, you'd take a permanent position. What the former government was doing was counterintuitive. This government is fixing that by removing that staffing cap and putting people on permanent employment.

Recommendation 6 calls for increased protections for people who engage with the royal commission, and the government will take forward legislative reforms to the Royal Commissions Act after wider consulting on the drafting of those amendments. The government will also work with the royal commission to ensure serving and ex-serving ADF members have protections to communicate information to the inquiry without breaching general secrecy offences in the Criminal Code.

Recommendations 9 to 13 all relate to improving the release of information by Defence and DVA to family about a deceased family member, and the government agrees to those important recommendations. We note that communication between Defence and DVA has impacted families and left a lot to be desired, and that's been raised by many families in their evidence to the royal commission. Work on that has already begun.

I want to thank the royal commissioners—Nick Kaldas, Hon. James Douglas and Dr Peggy Brown—for their work in producing the interim report, and their ongoing work with the royal commission. I also want to thank those who have contributed to the inquiry. Your courage, your bravery in sharing your experience is deeply appreciated. And we are, of course, committed to the task of saving lives and ensuring that we have a better future for defence and veterans' communities.

The government called for the royal commission when in opposition, and after years of reports of too many deaths and the lives of too many being made worse off because of endless discussions. It's time to get on with it. Indeed the latest report, released last month, into the rate of suicide amongst current and former serving ADF personnel reaffirms that suicide prevention must be a matter of national priority. The report Serving and ex-serving Australian Defence Force members who have served since 1985: suicide monitoring prepared by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare is the fifth annual suicide monitoring report commissioned by DVA. The latest report found that 1,600 ADF members and veterans with service after 1985 died by suicide between 1997 and 2020. It includes an additional 327 deaths by suicide since last year's report, largely due to an expanded study period. That rate is too many. We all know we need to get that down. That is why we welcome the recommendations of the royal commission. We look forward to the final report in 2024, but the government are wasting no time. We're getting on with the job of those interim recommendations and providing DVA, ESOs and other organisations with the support they need to support those that do deserve it the most—our serving ADF personnel, veterans and their families.

See this speech in context