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

Next year, 2019, will be the 20th anniversary of the INTERFET force going into Timor-Leste to restore order following the popular consultation. It will be a source of great pride for our country when that occurs. However, something we can't be proud about is the way that some of our people in the armed forces who were members of an antimalarial trial involving the mefloquine family of drugs have been treated on their return to Australia as they have tried to get on with their lives. I've been contacted by members of my old battalion, the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment, when former members are struggling. I've been contacted by former members of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment and other units that served in Timor and were a part of those antimalarial drug trials. I've been contacted by widows whose partners took their own lives as a result of severe PTSD symptoms, severe depression and anxiety. The Turnbull government committed to doing something to help the men and women who were the subject of these trials, but so far we have seen very little action and that needs to be fixed, and fixed soon.