Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I've been fortunate to meet many current and former service men and women in my first 18 months as a federal member of parliament. I met them in Afghanistan whilst I was over there on an ADF parliamentary program tour, I have met them through my Fisher Defence Industry Initiative, I spoke at the RSL Queensland AGM at Caloundra this year and I've also been approached by many committed veterans advocates.

The service men and women and the veterans that I have met have raised three main issues, in particular, with me. Firstly, they've impressed upon me the importance of the provision of appropriate equipment for our men and women serving in the ADF. Secondly, they've discussed with me the importance of the help that is available when transitioning from service life to civilian life. Thirdly, they've talked to me about mental health and the support available to veterans and their families.

Tragically, we know that the challenges of transition can have terrible consequences for too many of our veterans. In 2013, of the 148,000 veterans with service related disability being supported by the Department of Veterans' Affairs, 46,400—almost a third—were living with an accepted mental health disorder. These included post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorder, depression and substance dependency. In the 13 years to 2014, there were, sadly, 292 deaths by suicide among people who had served in the ADF for at least one day since 2001. Among male veterans, the suicide rate is 13 per cent higher than for the equivalent general population. Among those men aged 18 to 24, veterans are twice as likely to commit suicide than the wider population. There have been 23 deaths since 2001 among that statistically small group.

There are many veterans living on the Sunshine Coast, and our community comes together to provide what support we can for them. In Fisher, we have very active RSL sub-branches at Caloundra, Beerwah and District, Kawana Waters, Glass House, and Maleny. I've attended numerous events at these RSLs and I was delighted to join the Caloundra RSL and also the president of the Glass House Country RSL just recently.

Separate to the RSLs in my community, we have the Young Veterans Sunshine Coast group. This is a group with 268 members, headed by Jane McFadden and Tay Sukhanthapree aka 'Barrow'—they called him 'Barrow' in the Army because he had so many letters that he had to carry a wheelbarrow around, and that nickname has continued on into his civilian life. They are a great young bunch of men and women that come together about once a month to share in each other's company. They are a terrific bunch of young men and women because they just get together and share each other's company. There are no counselling sessions or anything like that. Just being around one another seems to be of great benefit to them. I want to do what I can to encourage them and support them because many young veterans, sadly, feel there is a disconnect between them and the older RSL groups. There's another group headed by a gentleman by the name of Kevin Moss, from Caloundra. He operates an organisation called Vet-Treks Australia and has done so since 1999. It provides repatriation benefits and health education services to war veterans and widows in rural and remote areas of Australia.

The Sunshine Coast community provides wonderful support for veterans. But as a government we owe it to our current and former service men and women to lead the way, and that is what we do. There are 291,000 veterans and family members who currently receive government support, and 48 per cent of these are women. In total we deliver $11.3 billion to veterans and their families each year.

In helping veterans to transition to civilian life and in providing support for their mental health, the coalition government is already taking comprehensive and decisive action to deal with veterans' concerns. We are investing more money and we are making bold reforms. In January last year, the government reformed the rules so that the Department of Defence could inform the DVA that a serving member has left the service and become a veteran. That ensures that more veterans can receive much earlier engagement. The government is investing $2.7 million in the Prime Minister's Veterans' Employment Program launched in November last year. This money will be used to help businesses understand the unique skills and attributes that a former ADF member can bring to civilian life and to their employment. It is a wonderful initiative. In terms of mental health, last year's budget made treatment for depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and drug and alcohol misuse free for anyone who had served full time in the ADF. However, the tragic case of Jesse Bird, who took his own life this year at the age of only 32, reminds us that much more can and must be done.

Men and women in the ADF have a sense of purpose. They have a feeling of belonging, a sense of tribe and a sense of mission. Alongside this sense of direction and belonging, they have structure provided in their lives. The day that they leave the ADF they lose that structure, they lose their place in the tribe and, most importantly, they lose their sense of purpose. One minute they're driving, flying or sailing multibillion-dollar equipment; the next, they can't get a job driving a car. How is that so? How can we as a nation allow that to continue?

Our ADF personnel are highly trained. They have learnt and developed the highest level of skills in their fields. Out in civilian life, however, these skills are not widely acknowledged and they are too often not valued by employers and educational providers. As a society, we do not take advantage of these skills as we should. I'm optimistic that, given time, the Prime Minister's Veterans' Employment Program will help with this situation, but we need to do more. Fundamentally, we need to help our veterans get that sense of purpose back. As a nation we need to throw our gratitude, love and support around our veterans in return for the service they have given. Most importantly, I believe, we need to help our veterans have their skills and qualifications recognised by employers and educational institutions. We need to help them get a meaningful job. I believe that is what will make the greatest difference to their transition to civilian life.

I know that the government is as committed as I am to improving our veterans' transition. As I have described, the Minister for Veterans' Affairs and the Prime Minister have already brought forward many important reforms and new initiatives. As the minister's statement has shown, they have accepted the recommendations of the Senate report and are already working on new programs, like the development of targeted new suicide prevention programs and the expansion of online engagement.

As I said, we still need to do more. There is scope to do more. We need to encourage our service men and women to return to education to get degrees and other qualifications and to have the experience they've had in the service acknowledged in civilian life, because that will be the key to their success in civilian transition.

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