Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to take note of the interim report of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. The royal commission has been doing some great work. I commend the commissioners and especially commend Commissioner Kaldas for his leadership. I would also like to thank and acknowledge the veterans and the families, especially the mothers, who fought for the royal commission over the three or four years leading up to it. And it was not just them; this fight went on for many, many years. It actually started with Vietnam veterans and then went on through the Australian Peacekeeper and Peacemaker Veterans Association. There were a heap of fathers in there who had lost sons. I want to thank you all sincerely. You all played a big part in making sure we achieved the royal commission.

I also want to thank the 6,000 Australians who made submissions, plus the hundreds of witnesses who have showed up so far—because there are more to come—to tell their stories. I can tell you, Madam Acting Deputy President, it has not been easy. It is painful and it can be triggering. These veterans and their families have had some of the roughest treatment imaginable, and that is despite them serving their country. The royal commission is hearing a truth—a truth that veterans and their families have known for decades. That's a remarkable achievement, given that the Australian Defence Force, the Department of Veterans' Affairs, the Australian Government Solicitor and, of all people, the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force have done nothing but stonewall the royal commission all the way.

Commissioner Kaldas called this 'stonewalling' in his own speech at the National Press Club and, quite frankly, all four of you that I just read out are still not acknowledging your stonewalling and your behaviour. I'll be totally, brutally honest with you: the culture has not changed. That the sad state of facts here today. The culture has not changed. The senior brass still doesn't want to know the truth and doesn't want it to come out. I can tell you that, if the Minister for Defence were paying any attention, the CDF would have gone a long time ago. Let's be brutally honest about that. We've got retention issues in there because of the leadership. But, oh no, not Minister Marles. He's still saying: 'I don't want to know about this. I don't want to address these issues.' You could be showing some leadership right now, Minister Marles, and starting to clear the decks, but you don't want to do that. I think you're going to pay the price for that in your ministry in the future, to be honest with you. I have no doubt about that.

Serving your country is a choice for all Australians. We don't have national service or conscription. We are one of the lucky countries at this point in time that does not need that. I emphasise 'at this point in time'. To serve for us is a choice, and we do that because we love our country and we put our country first. That is what we do. We don't ask for a great deal in return; in fact, we pride ourselves on being in that situation and having the capacity to shut up and get on with the job, because, once again, we love our country. Most service personnel say nothing when they get a raw deal, because we just get used to it. We just shut up and we take it. Adversity is part of the job, and diggers are trained to be tough—and we are. We get used to the tough environments. But, when it's your own people making it tough, when it's your own people who don't care—

Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Lambie, your time has expired. Would you like to seek leave to continue your remarks?

Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to seek leave to continue my remarks. Thank you very much.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.