Phillip Thompson (Herbert, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister outline to the House the action the Morrison government has taken to establish a national and permanent rolling commission into veteran suicide and its prevention, so we can better serve and protect those who served us, including veterans in my electorate of Herbert?

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

I thank the member for Herbert for his question and I thank him for his service, as I thank all members of this House who've served in that way—in our defence forces. I thank all Australians who've served in our Defence Force and who are veterans, or who are currently serving. I thank them for their service.

The price of peace is eternal vigilance, and we must be eternally vigilant about the mental health and wellbeing of our veterans and our service personnel. Veteran suicide is heartbreaking—any suicide is heartbreaking—and the incidence of suicide amongst our veterans is alarming: 2½ times the rate of what it is otherwise in the population. I commend the Minister for Veterans' Affairs for the excellent work he has done in consulting and listening, not reacting in a knee-jerk way to leap onto this issue. He did the work of listening, understanding and caring, and in response to that it has been his recommendation, which cabinet agreed to this week, that we will establish a national commissioner for defence and veteran suicide prevention. This commissioner will have the rolling powers, effectively, of a royal commission to ensure that we can look at every single occasion—to understand it and learn from it—to ensure that we can prevent any further such suicides amongst our veteran community.

In addition to that, we will be ensuring it has a first task to look back at those veteran suicides that have distressed so many, to learn the lessons and to understand what needs to be done to address those situations. There will also be a veterans' families advocate, because as we listen to the families—and, in particular, I pay tribute to Julie-Ann Finney, who led this courageous and brave advocacy to bring this to our attention and to understand it. My response to her is that we need more than a royal commission. I was pleased to speak to her last night and convey to her the decision that we have made. She told me that she was going to tell her son.

This is the right thing to do. This is the right response. This puts us on the footing of eternal vigilance on behalf of our veterans, to ensure that we understand what happens, the stresses that they are under and the terrible outcomes that occur from the decisions they take in these instances.

I want to say this though: our veterans are strong, our veterans are not broken, our veterans have served and they continue to contribute to our country, and they are outstanding contributors. If you're a veteran out there today, all of this chamber believes in you. All of this chamber believes in your capacity, in your potential. If you're a veteran out there today and you're daily battling this, then this chamber, the other chamber, this nation stand behind you, and the national commissioner for defence and veterans' suicide prevention will be there to support you.

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

on indulgence—I associate myself with the support for action when it comes to veterans' suicides. I spoke to Julie-Ann Finney just last week. It was the day after the anniversary of her son's tragic death, and she had not visited the grave of her own son, who went into the Defence Force to defend our nation and who was, tragically, just one of the many victims of suicide of veterans. We called for a royal commission last year, but we are not going to let the perfect be the enemy of the good. We will support what the Prime Minister has announced. We will be vigilant to make sure it's properly resourced. We say that today is a day which should give comfort to people in the veterans' community, including Julie-Ann, who have campaigned so strongly for this.