Gavin Pearce (Braddon, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm honoured today to speak in favour of this bill, the National Commissioner For Defence And Veteran Suicide Prevention Bill 2020. Before I do so, I want to tell a story, a story that I've alluded to in the Federation Chamber, but I think it's important that it's said today. In the months preceding my discharge from the Australian Regular Army I was called to a civilian police station. They put me in the back of the car and they took me down to the Gold Coast hospital. They took me down to the morgue, where I was required as a sergeant major of that unit to identify one of my soldiers, who had taken his life in the early hours of that morning. I can tell you now that's a difficult thing to do. It's one of those things that we do in the military called our duty—and you do your duty. So, having done that, I then returned to the unit back in Toowoomba: 7th Signal Regiment, electronic warfare. The commanding officer and I broke that tragic news to the brothers and sisters that that young digger had in the unit. I can tell you what, Deputy Speaker: I can still today, in this particular second in time, close my eyes and see the looks on their faces and the looks in their eyes. The grief, the shock, the sadness.

In the military we are a family. We would gladly in an instant give our life for our friend and we mean that; it's not just something we go by. No one says it, but we all know it. And, as a leader in the military, there's an added issue that we all need to consider, and that is the responsibility issue. I can tell you that, as the sergeant major and the leader of that unit, I still feel responsible for losing that digger that day and all the other diggers I've lost, sadly, under my watch. I was the one who then had to go back and grab his mates. We went back to the lines and we cleaned that kid's room out. We packed his stuff up—his personal stuff, his letters. And I can still today in this place remember the looks on those friends that he had as they packed his room up.

I told them to keep one uniform aside—his polyester uniform—and later I'd take that back to the funeral director and I'd help the funeral director dress him in his polyester uniform. I can remember standing there with that open coffin, with that kid with his polyester uniform on, and telling him that I was sorry, that I didn't see it, that I didn't recognise the signs, that I should have seen it coming and it was my job to know the dire situation and the global impact that this was having on that young person. I missed it.

Fifteen years later I'm still sorry and I'm sorry for all those veterans that we've lost through suicide, and I mean that so sincerely today. It's something that I live with every day and every night. It's something that those mates of his live with every day and every night. We went through the funeral process, and those young blokes were trained by me to carry that coffin draped in the Australian national flag, his bayonet and his accoutrements. At the end of that service we folded the Australian national flag in a very ceremonial way. I grabbed it off the young bloke that folded it, and the commanding officer and I then walked over to the next of kin and presented her with a flag. I can still remember the look in that mother's eyes as she took it. She clenched it and she cried and, as her flag was covered in her tears, I couldn't help but think that that is the only thing that poor mother has of her own flesh and blood, of her precious son. I guarantee you she thinks about that every day and every night and every week and every month, and next year and the year after she will continue to think about that.

That is why it is so important that the measures that we put in place as a government, as a nation, look after our veterans not just today, not just tomorrow, not just next week but forever. An ongoing commissioner is what we need. Sure, you can have a royal commission that will look retrospectively at what happened and what occurred and put recommendations in place, and they will sit in some department somewhere. But is that going to be any good for that mother that's going into next week and next year? This needs to be an ongoing commission. It needs to have the powers of a royal commission. It needs to have the ability to subpoena witnesses and to put things in place that will stop it and fix it. And that is why this is so important.

The military is a big family, and I was proud to spend 20 years of my life in that family. I acknowledge my mate and my colleague the member for Herbert, because we're brothers; we'll always be brothers. But the point I make is: the impact and the fallout from a death, particularly by suicide, has a dramatic and devastating impact on a family. That is why I support and I welcome the Veteran Family Advocate and Commissioner Gwen Cherne's appointment to that position. Families are important. Families are going to play their part in the transition process of leaving the big family that we have as the military—in my case, the Army. When you leave that after 20 years, you feel that a part of you has gone. You've got to start a new life. And that's where families come in, and that's why families are so important. That's why the family commissioner is so important, in enabling this to happen smoothly.

We need to reconnect our veterans to a new family, to a new way of life. We need to give them purpose again. These are some of our finest young men and women that we're talking about here. They stood on a wall with a rifle and they said: 'Not on my watch.' They were prepared to lay their life down for their mates and for their nation. They're proud people. They're competent. They're smart. They're driven. They have a set of principles that is unmatched in any civilian space. These are the people that we need to help to make that transition.

As we leave, certain things will stay with us, and I'll talk to you briefly today about the things that stay with me: the thoughts that I have; the responsibility that I carry. And it's a burden. I don't mind saying that I suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and I'm medicated daily for it. I don't say that for pity—don't get me wrong. I say that to let all veterans know that, yes, I understand that you may have a similar affliction, like me or my mate from Herbert, but there's help there, and it's a positive thing. You can still function at a high level and get on with your life and look after your family, and this is a positive thing. Too often we see conventions and seminars and meetings about mental health, and it's all a dark picture—it's all so dark. But I want to tell the positive story, that help is there. It's there today; it'll be there next week and next year; it will always be there. And blokes like the member for Herbert and I will make sure that that happens, I can tell you. But it's a positive thing.

The other thing that I will also talk about is the fallout on the family. When I left the military, my little boy was 2½ years old. He was eight years old when we buried his mother. She was also a serving member, the operations officer at 1 Aviation Regiment before she discharged. That little boy is now 18. He understands that he has a life. He understands that Dad recognises him as an important part of his transition, and we worked together; we stood alongside each other. That's the Australian way. That's what we do as Australians. We look after our mates, shoulder to shoulder. When your mate falls over, you're there to help pick him or her up. It's no different in this place. It's no different when you look at how we treat our veterans. That is exactly what this rolling commissioner, this standing commissioner, and the Family Advocate, will do: be someone to stand there by you; someone to pick you up when you need it. We're not there to mother you or to mollycoddle you. We're there just to be a mate and to make sure that you've got access to resources and the things that you need so that you can transition and make a new family, a new way of life. We're there to reconnect our veterans to a purpose.

Our private enterprise, our businesses, will play an important part as well. I want to assure every business owner today, right across the nation, that employing a veteran is good for your business. Yes, veterans might have had to do a tough job, but not all veterans have a degree of illness or affliction that would preclude them doing a fantastic job. They're talented, they're smart, they're driven, they understand team work and they understand sense of purpose and mission focus. If there's a problem in front of them a veteran will look for the way around it, roll his or her sleeves up and get on with it, and that's what we need to help them do—get on with it.

To bring this back, a royal commission will look over their shoulder, and I was taught as a young bloke that if you look over your shoulder too long you'll end up tripping over. I was taught to look forward. I was taught to stick up for my mates and to help them when they need it most. I was told to be positive, that the glass is half full and not half empty. I'm here to tell the veteran community and the whole business community out there that veterans are good for your business and they will excel in whatever they do. All you need to do is give them a go.

Finally, I give my wholehearted support for the National Commissioner for Defence and Veteran Suicide Prevention. I support this bill and I commend it to the House.

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