Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Prime Minister. Every member of this parliament agrees that reducing the appallingly high rate of veterans' suicide in Australia should be an absolute priority. We both met with Julie-Ann Finney, whose son, David, a veteran, died earlier this year and whose petition has already attracted a quarter of a million signatures. Will the Prime Minister agree with Mrs Finney's calls, join with Labor and establish a royal commission into veterans' suicide?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I met with Julie-Ann Finney just last week here in Canberra, and we had another very productive discussion. Her son, David, had died by suicide earlier this year. I also met with many other parents in Sydney recently to discuss their proposal for a royal commission to be held into veterans' suicide. We all know that the rate of mental illness amongst veterans is unacceptably high. The suicide rate for ex-serving men aged under 30 is 2.2 times that for Australian men of the same age, and about a third of those who have left the ADF in the past five years have reported high to very high levels of psychological distress.

This matter has been made a national priority by my government as part of its broader focus on our 'towards zero' goal to address mental health issues and to address suicide prevention. Christine Morgan has been appointed as the National Suicide Prevention Adviser. We have held quite a number of detailed policy sessions with officials, including with the heads of the Defence Force and those directly responsible in the Department of Veterans' Affairs, and have been working through the many challenges. I want to stress that many changes are being made both in the way that the Defence Force operates and in how the Department of Veterans' Affairs operates. I thank the department and I thank the ADF for the changes that have been made. I said to Julie-Ann: 'I wish that those arrangements had been in place when her son was in the Defence Force. I wish they had been in place for all of those Australians who have served in our defence forces and have passed away by their own hand.' The lessons are being put into place.

I have remained open to this question and I remain open to this question. I'm working closely with the Minister for Veterans' Affairs and, I must say, I'm working closely with the veterans who are in this chamber and I would welcome that input and feedback from veterans on the other side of the chamber. Only today I met with the member for Herbert and many of his serving friends to talk about these very issues. I've given an undertaking that we will continue to reflect on these things over the break before making a decision on this matter, but I can assure you of this: what I'm seeking to do is ensure that, whenever a veteran has, sadly, taken their life, whether in the past or, sadly, in the future—I would like to say it would never happen again, but no-one can stand at this dispatch box and say that—on every single occasion there must be justice, there must be accountability, there must be learnings and there must be change. That's what my government and I are committed to.