Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for External Territories) Share this | Hansard source

Firstly, I commend both the minister and the shadow minister for their speeches in the parliament just a day or so ago. Coming to this statement, as a former Minister for Veterans' Affairs, I was delighted to see the bipartisan fashion in which the matters which have been raised in both speeches are being addressed. I do notice that there are some initiatives which the shadow minister referred to, and I'll come to those shortly. I want to make some observations about aspects of both speeches, in particular concentrating on the transition out of the Defence Force to the civilian community for Defence Force personnel and also on issues to do with mental health. I note, in particular, the release yesterday of the report by the Senate inquiry on suicide by veterans and ex-service personnel and its recommendations.

I think it's worthwhile acknowledging for a moment some of the data which was introduced in the statement by the minister himself. This is pretty compelling information. On average—this is not new to me, but may be new to many—our ADF personnel serve around 8½ years, and each year about 5,200 will leave the ADF. This data is from the minister's speech. Over the last 12 months 1,400 members of the Defence Force separated for reasons not of their choosing. That's important because that means, effectively, that they were shown the door. Then there's the whole issue of who serves, how they've served and what age they are.

We know that the Department of Veterans' Affairs—again, this is important—supports over 291,000 veterans and their families. That number has come down over recent years simply because the Second World War veterans are dying, but there are many veterans' spouses who remain alive and they obviously become part of the veterans community for the purposes of the Department of Veterans' Affairs. Over half of those people are veterans or currently serving members of the ADF, and around 48 per cent are women and around 82,000 are widows or widowers. That just gives you an idea of the magnitude of the work that the Department of Veterans' Affairs is required to do, and that of itself raises serious questions about how the department is able to be adaptable, flexible and provide the services that are required at the time for a range of people. Effectively, the department is looking after the children of veterans from birth, potentially, until their death. Once you march into Kapooka as a recruit, you are a potential veteran from the day you arrive, and you will be at some time point, whether you're a serving veteran or an ex-serving veteran, someone who will be in the frame for veterans services or veterans support till the day you die. That's important.

What I particularly want to talk about here, and it's a really complex issue, is suicide. This document, the minister's speech, raises this important question. An AIHW study commissioned by the government has told us that the suicide rate is 53 per cent for men serving full time in the ADF and 49 per cent for men in the Reserve, and that compared with the general population these suicide rates are lower. In all male ex-serving members, the rate of suicide is 13 per cent higher than the general population. However, men who have left the ADF between the ages of 18 and 24 have twice the risk compared to their peers. To me, that raises a really big red flag. As I said earlier, the average length of service is 8½ years. So, if you're recruiting people when they are 18 or 19, you can expect that most of them will be out of the Defence Force by their mid-20s. Those people who have had a career in defence are clearly covered by the data that I have just referred to about the lower rates of suicide, but there is a higher rate of suicide for young serving and ex-serving people—primarily men.

This is a really complex area, but it does raise the question about the transition space and how you actually look after people who are in their early to mid-20s who have decided they're leaving or have been told they have to leave the Defence Force. They depart the defence community and they may be lost to us in the sense that they don't have any attachment; they're not necessarily at that point of being clients of the Department of Veterans' Affairs but they may well be in the future. One of the problems which Defence and the Department of Veterans' Affairs are trying to address, I know, is how to follow these people who have left the Defence Force and how to help them transition to a space which is safe, comfortable and where they have got opportunity. That opportunity is really very important. I know from the work which has been done previously and is currently being done that this transition space is really challenging the Department of Defence and the Department of Veterans' Affairs. Both agencies know they have a shared responsibility, and that shared responsibility is very important. I support the views of both the minister and the shadow minister about ensuring the Department of Veterans' Affairs stays as an entity and is not subsumed by another agency, which was on the cards at some point and I know work has been done—nefarious work, I must say—in this space by the current government in terms of looking at that possibility. Nevertheless, it is not going to happen, and that's very important. It means that there should be an absolutely symbiotic relationship with the Department of Defence and the Department of Veterans' Affairs when it comes to dealing with veterans who may be serving as clients of the Department of Veterans' Affairs and people who leave the ADF out of uniform, who may not at that point be clients of the Department of Veterans' Affairs but who one day may be, or their families may well be.

The issue about these young people who are at twice the risk of suicide compared to their peers in the general community raises really a serious and very difficult question: how do you look after the interests of these people? How do you make sure that the transition period is long enough so that they don't just hand in their card and walk out the gate and that's it? There is a process they're required to go through when they're exiting, so we have a way to track what they're doing and look after their interests, should that be required. That means making sure they get access to other job opportunities, professional counselling and education opportunities—guaranteeing them a pathway beyond the gate.

Some of them will have chosen that pathway, but we do know that there are people in the Defence Force who've done eight, nine or 10 tours of active duty and we know from the figures that, whilst they're in uniform they're relatively safe but, once they leave, God knows what their state of mind might be in five or 10 years time, when they need assistance. So it is absolutely imperative to make sure we have a capacity to track those individuals when they leave, as they leave, and work with them together with the organisations in the broader defence community. One of the issues, of course, is the plethora of defence-based organisations assisting these veterans. There needs to be far more unity among them, so they share the responsibility. I know there are great organisations out there, such as Soldier On. The RSL needs to do a lot more. Frankly, over recent years, it has failed many younger veterans. We have to do a great deal more to guarantee that the transition space is properly addressed and that the mental health issues are properly addressed.

I commend the recommendations of the Senate inquiry which I referred to earlier. I say to members of parliament, some of whom may have no experience of veterans or the defence community, that we all have an obligation here. Let's make sure we fulfil that obligation and look after our men and women in uniform, when they leave the defence community, and their families. That's our primary obligation here in the parliament. (Time expired)

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