Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs (House)) Share this | Hansard source

The member for Kennedy will of course have an opportunity to contribute to this really important debate given the procedural agreement just made by the Leader of the House and the Manager of Opposition Business. I rise as the shadow defence minister and I haven't been in the portfolio for long. Only a few weeks ago I met Julianne Finney in my office. Many of you have met her and have known her longer than I have. That one meeting was all it took for me to understand not only the hurt, anguish and pain that she and many others like her have endured but also that it is critical that we move from the position of considering an independent commissioner to the position of considering a royal commission into veteran suicide. Nothing less will do. If you had any doubts, you need only listen to the member for Herbert, the member for Pearce or the member for Solomon. ADF personnel, who put themselves in harm's way with their colleagues, troops and comrades, are telling us we need to do better.

I believe the minister who rose to speak on this today has been doing the right thing. But the reality is that the bill before the Senate is not supported by the Senate. It is not seen as sufficient to truly and fundamentally examine the problems we are beset with in this area. As the member for Blair said, after leaving the defence force a person is nearly twice as likely to suicide than a person in the wider community. It is far more likely for a person to contemplate self-harm if they have left the defence force than it is for a person in the defence force. We need to get to the bottom of that. What is it that leads to this national tragedy, this national shame? Insufficient support? Our failure to provide assistance for the transition to a new life? A failure to find pathways into employment? Why are so many veterans homeless? So many veterans self-medicate, have family breakdowns and are not speaking to their family members because of the anguish, the hurt and the experiences they have confronted that we have not found a proper way to deal with.

It seems clear that the entire parliament agrees that a royal commission is necessary. I assume that nobody will rise in this place today and speak against the need for a royal commission. So the one question remaining is: what will the government do about it? The passing of this motion is very important—the bipartisanship nature of it, as the member for Kennedy said, across the spectrum. But it will amount to nothing if the government doesn't announce a royal commission, doesn't publicly release draft terms of reference, doesn't foreshadow the time lines that are required for a new examination of this absolutely critical matter, and doesn't ensure and make a commitment to responding properly and fairly to the recommendations of that royal commission.

This is a remarkable debate, one of the best I think we have seen for some time in this place, so compellingly argued by, in particular, ADF personnel. I want to pay tribute to Senator Lambie, who has been advocating in the other place on this issue for many months, if not longer, as she does on many defence issues. If this motion is passed today, it will amount to nothing if the Prime Minister does not indicate a royal commission is imminent, the terms of reference and the time lines.

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