Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I just want to start by echoing the comments of the member for McMillan, Mr Broadbent, when he was saying that we support the minister. Of course we support the minister. He's got an extremely important job to do, but that doesn't mean that this issue always has to be bipartisan in nature when it comes to improving policy. Some advice, I guess, I would give to the minister is to remind him that he's not a press secretary for the Department of Veterans' Affairs; that's not his job. His job is to look at ways, after consulting with the whole veteran community, to improve the way we care for our veterans in this country. It is to challenge the department about their processes. It is to work to improve that culture and the connectivity of that organisation. Of course, the people in that department do great work, but there is much work to be done. The problem is significant, and to fix the problem we need a comprehensive veterans support system across the nation. It's not all the job of DVA, it's not all the job of the ex-service organisations and it's not all the job of community organisations. We all have a responsibility in this area.

I won't talk too much about the evidence that's been presented to the various inquiries except to say that we need to be very clear about what the problem is. One of the strongest indicators of the problem is that suicide rate of ex-serving men in particular is more than twice as high as that for those serving full time or in the Reserve. We have heard other speakers go to this issue of transition from Defence back into the community. So those men in particular who have left Defence and are in that transition period are twice as likely to die by suicide. Also the suicide rate for those who were discharged involuntarily is 2.4 times as high as that for those discharged for voluntary reasons. Involuntary discharge could be medical discharge.

They are the veterans and ex-service people who are coming into contact with the department. They are four times more likely to die by suicide. So there are significant problems in this process, and we shouldn't put it mostly down to an IT system. Whilst I welcome the changes that have been looked at for the IT system, connectivity in general and culture are much more important issues that we need to fix.

When it comes to leadership, we have to look at the priorities that we have. The department and ex-service organisations, like the RSL, have different priorities, whether they be ceremonial or providing advocates to help veterans with their claims. I say again that what we need is a comprehensive veterans support system. We are committed to family engagement. The shadow minister has outlined that we are committed to a family engagement support strategy. That will seek to address the current lack of engagement. It also speaks to the importance of families to our veterans. It's incredibly important.

In terms of providing support to veterans in my electorate, I have held a forum for veterans to get issues off their chests and to get some more coordination between ESOs. I have been supporting events. One coming up involves Soldier On, but there have been many other events run by veterans to increase awareness, understanding and support.

I think it's important that we all understand the perspectives. One that I'll give you is of a wife who is totally on egg shells around her partner. If they go out anywhere, she can see the rising anxiety in her husband. She has talked me through the effect it has on their life and their interaction with the claims system through DVA. It has caused a lot of anxiety. So it has real effects on the families of these veterans, and we need to be more aware of that.

Another family member of a veteran I have been speaking to, a father, has lost contact with his son. The son has returned from a very difficult period of service in Afghanistan and has gone off the reservation and doesn't talk to them much. The anxiety in that family is that they are losing their son, who is having difficulties with the system. It is literally destroying families, so we must be focused on the families and on working with those families.

Why does this happen? Having come from the military, I have some understanding of the pressures on veterans. When you're in the military, you have a set of values as a scaffold around you to support you. Also, to do your job, you have that identity and purpose of serving your country. When you transition out into the community, that scaffolding all of a sudden largely falls away and people find themselves floating and not able to integrate back into society. If there's one thing we need to do, it is to make sure that our people, once we get them into Defence and they have trained well, remain connected in the community because this will allow the transition to work more effectively. I would encourage everyone who has the ability to enact change for more connectivity between Defence members and the community to do so.

I just want to acknowledge the individuals who work with veterans, because they've definitely got their heart and soul in the job. We just need to improve the culture, we need to improve connectivity, and we need to improve coordination between ex-service organisations. I think there are about 2,780 ex-service organisations in Australia currently and about 3,400-plus charity organisations with veterans nominated as their beneficiaries. We need to become more efficient in using those resources, but I do want to acknowledge all those who are doing such innovative work. There's been a boom in the number of ESOs because they're seen by younger veterans in particular as more agile, innovative and responsive organisations.

In Darwin we have made some changes in the ESO community. The Northern Territory branch of the Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia is actually looking at dropping the word 'Vietnam' from their name. They'll vote on that soon. That is a direct pitch to young veterans. It says: 'You are welcome in our organisation. You are part of our organisation.' I commend the branch for doing that. The minister mentioned a united veterans voice. I think there's some merit in some sort of peak body, but a lot more care and trust will be required, particularly with younger veterans, to build confidence in some of the larger organisations before that can become reality.

I just want to finish by commending the shadow minister for talking about the value of our people in her speech the other day. We should be hearing a lot more about that. That is the point that I'd like to finish on. The value of our veterans to our community cannot be understated. What I personally want to say to veterans out there in our country is: we see you, we hear you and we respect you; you are very much valued by the country that you love and have served.

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