Royal Commission into Defence
Transcript
Ms WARE (Hughes) (16:25): I quote:
[N]othing will take away what it does to a person to literally sign a piece of paper to say they will go anywhere at any time and do anything—including sacrificing their own life—in the defence of our country. And then for that country to turn around and say to them they are not worth anything to them broken. Not worth anything to them injured. That they see me as nothing.
They are the opening four sentences of the report that was released yesterday, the final report of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. That is a comment that was taken by somebody unnamed. The quote is attributed to an ex-serving Air Force member. The report that was handed down yesterday consists of seven volumes, 122 recommendations and over 5,800 submissions. The royal commission ran for over three years. It received thousands of painful submissions discussing suicidality among serving and ex-serving members of our Defence Force.
There are 89,395 current serving permanent and reserve members of our defence forces. More than 6,000 Australians enlist in the Australian Defence Force on average each year. More than half a million living Australians have served or are currently serving in the ADF. I acknowledge and thank all of the men and women serving in our defence forces, former veterans and particularly their families. As the member for Hughes, I acknowledge all Defence Force personnel at Holsworthy Barracks in my electorate, as well as the RSL sub-branches that support them: Bundeena, Engadine, Heathcote, Woronora River, Ingleburn, City of Campbelltown and City of Liverpool.
The report that was handed down yesterday highlighted one very important thing among many. There has been no sustained reduction in the high rates of suicide and suicidality among serving and ex-serving ADF members over the last 20 years. That is simply not good enough, but this report is the beginning of us righting this. This report is an indication that we have started down the correct path.
Our job in parliament is to work together across the chamber to ensure that we put in policies and legislation so that, going into the future, we will be resolute. We will ensure that never again will serving and ex-serving ADF members feel they are not worth anything broken. I also want us to embrace the comments of RSL New South Wales to ensure that veterans' wellbeing is supported from the first day they enter service onwards. Let us work together. Let us ensure that never again will those who sign up to go anywhere, at any time, to do anything, including sacrificing their own lives, feel worthless and take their own lives.