Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It has been over four years since Neil Batten told me the story of what happened to him as a 15-year-old boy at HMAS Leeuwin in 1971—44 years ago. His parents, now in their 80s, told me that when Neil left home he was excited and proud to be starting a career of naval service for his country. Neil was so proud to be wearing the uniform of the Royal Australian Navy, yet when he came back home prematurely—just nine months later—he was irrevocably damaged and changed. It was many years before Neil was able to tell his parents anything about what had happened to him. The abuse that was inflicted on Neil was horrific. It was disgusting.

My contact with Neil and his wonderful, tireless advocate, Barry Heffernan, who has helped him and so many others, has led me to ask the Senate to send two references related to abuse in the ADF to the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade. Those references were supported by all sides in this place. The same year that Neil Batten told me his story—2011—was the very year that the so-called Skype affair occurred. The then Minister for Defence, Stephen Smith, launched a number of reviews and inquiries into aspects of abuse in Defence. One of those inquiries was the review of allegations of sexual and other abuse in Defence—the so-called DLA Piper review—conducted under the leadership of Dr Gary Rumble. Dr Rumble, an eminent and respected lawyer with specialty in Commonwealth government issues, led that review with great diligence, thoroughness, fairness and integrity.

The Rumble review delivered its final report in April 2012. That report ran to 33 large ring-binder folders, 30 of which were confidential. It was clear from the publicly-released parts of that report that Neil Batten's story of horrific abuse and a shattered life was not unusual. It was apparent that many other boys who had joined the Defence forces in the decades from the 1950s to the 1980s had experienced similar abuse and had been damaged for life. It was also shockingly apparent from that report that other vulnerable young people male and female have also suffered serious abuse up until recent times and that victims who are still in the ADF are under strong pressure not to report the abuse.

The Hon. Len Roberts-Smith, in his capacity as the head of the Defence Abuse Response Taskforce—the DART—said in his third interim report in September 2013 about the individuals who had come to his review:

… many of the Taskforce's complainants are in their fifties or older and, almost 70 per cent are male. They relate tragic stories of lives greatly affected by the abuse and the further trauma they experienced as a result of failure by those in authority to acknowledge or respond to it.

Many individuals never reported their abuse and have never spoken of it before, even to their partners or families. Many have spoken about their experience of severe mental and emotional harm as a result of the abuse, including alcoholism, drug addiction, social isolation and, mental illness.

The more I have learnt about the history of abuse in the Defence forces, the more ashamed I have become as an Australian and as a senator about the decades of failure by Defence and successive governments and parliaments to protect boys and young people like Neil Batten. I am also ashamed that successive governments have failed to assist and support victims of abuse in the ADF. A great deal has been done over the last few years to prevent abuse occurring in the ADF. I believe that there is still much more which can be done. I believe that this parliament must maintain a role of rigorous and ongoing oversight of what the ADF is doing to protect our service personnel from abuse. There is no one-off fix for these issues.

I also believe that more can be done and should be done to address the reality that individuals suspected of perpetrating abuse are still serving in the ADF. During the most recent Senate estimates hearings I asked specific questions of Defence as to how many referrals to the DART involved alleged abusers still serving in Defence. The answer on notice was: 151. I am deeply concerned that, according to the ADF's own answers, as of 1 June 2015, of the referred matters involving allegations of rape, 22 individuals are currently serving or employed in Defence, with the highest rank being a permanent member of the ADF of colonel equivalent. None of these alleged perpetrators still serving in the ADF has been stood down, which raises many serious questions about how the ADF has handled these allegations. I will continue to press those issues. However, today I wish to focus on what has not been done and what needs to be done to give ongoing help to people damaged by the abuse in the ADF. The Defence Abuse Response Taskforce, established in November 2012, has done a great deal to assist the individuals who came into its processes. However, the DART's work will soon end and Neil Batten and the others like him will continue to suffer.

The Department of Veterans Affairs administers an existing framework of benefits and support for former members of the ADF who are suffering, physical, mental and emotional harm as a result of their service in the ADF. However, Neil Batten and others like him, including many whose claims were recognised as plausible by the DART, fail to get past the barriers for access to DVA benefit and support. In large part, this is because these poorly resourced, damaged and isolated individuals lack the resources to make the case to the satisfaction of DVA. Furthermore because the victims of abuse were often damaged as new recruits in training establishments, their time in the ADF was often very short and they fail to meet statutory minimum service requirements for some DVA benefits. They are regarded as not being so-called 'real' veterans, but the pain, the suffering, the anguish and the devastation they feel are all too real. In my view it is unacceptable, it is a disgrace that these victims are shut out of DVA administered benefit and support frameworks.

In its October 2014 Report, Processes to support victims of abuse in Defence, the Senate Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade References Committee made series of important, specific and unanimous recommendations. Those recommendations included, in recommendation 5 that the Australian government introduce amending legislation to remove the three-year minimum service requirement for eligibility for non-liability health care and to make NLHC available to any person who has had completed any service. Recommendation 6 recommended that the Minister for Veterans' Affairs direct the Department of Veterans Affairs to commence consultation with veterans' representative organisations and to report back on the legal and practical barriers there are to victims of abuse in the ADF succeeding in establishing the facts necessary to access entitlements to DVA benefits and that what Defence and DVA could do and what resources they will require to gather and share information to assist people who were subjected to that abuse, and what can be done to liaise with veterans' groups, other Australian government agencies and community groups to reach out to individuals affected by abuse who may be eligible for DVA benefits, including individuals who had previously applied and been rejected. Recommendation 7 recommended the Department of Veterans Affairs examine options to provide financial assistance to support a national, community-based approach to assisting veterans who have suffered abuse.

The government tabled its response on 16 June 2015. The general theme in the government's response to the three recommendations is that these recommendations would have to be considered in a broader budget context. This is woefully inadequate. These issues have been drifting since they were first identified in the April 2012 Rumble report. It would a tragedy and a travesty for the damaged victims of abuse in the ADF who are not receiving the DVA benefits and support which they could be receiving if we drift into yet another budget process next year without sufficient analysis having been done to size the costs of helping those victims, who must be helped. There needs to be guidance from the government to the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defence on what substantive work is required to cost these proposals so that these proposals can receive the genuine consideration which they deserve as soon as possible.

I wish to acknowledge my colleague Senator Jacqui Lambie, who has worked closely with me on these issues and has been outspoken and at the forefront of fighting for the victims of abuse and for victims' rights generally. I am pleased to be able to say that the Minister for Defence has met with me today and has agreed to discuss with his ministerial colleagues whether further direction can be provided to the Department of Veterans Affairs and to the Department of Defence about what needs to be done to provide an informed basis for decision on the committee's recommendations. I genuinely thank the Minster for that commitment. I will work constructively with all my colleagues for a just and overdue outcome for the all-too-many victims of Defence abuse. When I spoke to Neil Batten a few minutes ago, I reiterated that promise to Neil, for whom I have great admiration. We as fellow Australians in this place owe that much to them.