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

I recently spoke with a former Australian commando, Paul Scanlan, about a hidden and often devastating plight affecting far too many Australian and Allied veterans. Mild traumatic brain injury, or MTBI, affects ADF members who, both in training and on operational deployments, use weapon systems that send shock waves into their brains, affecting their brains. Symptoms include headaches, fatigue, depression, anxiety, irritability, dementia and impaired cognitive function. There have been cases of suicide that may be able to be reasonably attributed to it. Things like breaching in a counterterrorism role, firing an 81-millimetre mortar, using a Carl Gustaf anti-armour 84-millimetre rifle or using an antitank round can all cause MTBI. You often can't diagnose and physically see the damage to a soldier's brain until a postmortem is performed.

In the United States, the US Congress has directed its Department of Defense to inquire into this unreported issue. It's one that the ADF also needs to look into urgently, as I think this parliament has a responsibility to our men and women in uniform to do everything we possibly can to monitor, understand and prevent MTBI.

I call on all ADF members and veterans affected to talk to their local members about this very important issue so we can lower the rate of it.