Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I acknowledge all those who serve or have served, including those with us this afternoon, including the member for Braddon, who is still in the chamber. Of course, I too acknowledge Heston Russell, Julie-Ann Finney—who has had to leave us—and Sapper Tim Lowe, who have been maintaining a vigil in the Speaker's gallery throughout the course of this debate. I also, too, as others have done, acknowledge Senator Jacqui Lambie, who has been on a real crusade with respect to veterans' issues and in particular the atrocious level of veteran suicide. It reminds me never to get on the wrong side of Jacqui!

A commissioning certificate hanging on the wall in my office reads as follows: 'I, Phillip Michael Jeffrey, Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, pursuant to section 64 and 65 of the Constitution, hereby direct and appoint the Hon. Joel Fitzgibbon MP a member of the federal executive council to hold the office of Minister for Defence and to administer the Department of Defence and the Department of Veterans' Affairs.' Unsurprisingly, I occasionally pause to read and reflect on that certificate—what it means and what it meant to me. Unsurprisingly again, these private moments bring different emotions at different times. Sometimes it's pride. Sometimes it's regret. And, sometimes, it brings great sorrow. On days like today, it's a mix of regret and sorrow. I regret I missed an opportunity to do more for our veterans, and I think we all take collective responsibility for that. I, of course, feel sorrow for those who have paid such a terrible price, whether it's because they've lost their lives in theatre or after serving they've taken their lives or they've suffered disability.

I have sorrow for the families who have been affected by loss, disability or any consequence of the service of a loved one. The grief of parents who have suffered the loss of a child when wearing the Australian military uniform is unimaginable to those who haven't experienced it. The member for New England and others have acknowledged the fact that I have a son who served. Even with that, I cannot imagine—and don't want to imagine—how terrible that must be. Next week I'll officially launch Hugh Poate's account of the murder of his son, Robbie, and two other Australian soldiers in Afghanistan, and it will be a great honour to do so. Hugh's account of that loss and the family's search for honesty, transparency and closure is a very, very powerful one indeed.

Each year the government allocates $11.5 billion to the Department of Veterans' Affairs. Some $230 million is dedicated to mental health. We may need to spend more; we may just need to spend better. I don't think any of us are sure. Certainly, we have to commit the resources necessary to fix this terrible problem we have, which is surely an embarrassment to our nation state. We should not lecture others in other countries about human rights and the extent to which they respect and protect their people while these numbers are so horrifying. It's time for a royal commission. Too often there are calls for a royal commission, and each of the causes is worthy, but we all know we can't have a royal commission into everything. Royal commissions must be reserved for the most serious of matters, the most complex matters, and those matters requiring interrogation of people under oath. A royal commission must be the foundation for the beginning of the journey—the beginning of fixing this problem. The proposition put forward by the government is a good one, too. We should have both. We should have the royal commission, helping us to learn about the mistakes, and we should have the commissioner taking us forward to oversee that we are doing the right thing and the only thing to do into the future.

I began by reflecting on my time serving as defence minister. One emotion that never leaves me when reflecting on our commissioning certificate—the one thing that never changes—is my high regard and respect for all those who serve, particularly those who go beyond the wire. While my memories of being defence minister are mixed, one thing that left me with overwhelmingly positive memories was getting to know and understand those who do go beyond the wire—those who, when they go out, don't know whether they're coming back and who know that they may never see their families again. It's a powerful thing to stand alongside those people in the theatre—not beyond the wire, in my case—and, although we don't fully understand, we better understand what they go through. I send them all a message with respect to the Brereton report. The Brereton report is a very, very serious one. Those who have acted unlawfully will need to be held to account. There can be no walking away from that. But there are enough of us here on both sides, I think, to allow me to say to the overwhelming majority that we have your back and that we all fully appreciate and understand and highlight the mitigating circumstances—the fact that we sent them to war without a plan to win and we sent them there under the command of others. We sent them to fight an enemy that neither fights to any rules nor serves in uniform while at the same time they were expected to comply with both domestic and international law, regulations and the like—the list is very long. We sent them to do all that without properly resourcing them. That is the truth of it. They didn't always have the medevacs they needed. They didn't always have the close air support they required. That is a terrible thing. And when we start to see those things flow from the Brereton report, all of us will have to be held to account. Those who served as defence minister, those who served in the National Security Committee of Cabinet, those who served as CDF and those who served as chiefs are all responsible. Many of us in this place, if not all of us in this place, will ensure that the fallout from the Brereton report is not something that will just fall on them but will fall on all those who were responsible in some way, in any way, for a culture that developed in Afghanistan and all the consequences that flowed from it. The most important point is that we need to stand behind our men and women in the Australian uniform.

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