Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide – Speech in the House of Representatives 10/09/2024

Hansard 10/09/2024  House of Representatives

Mr LLEW O’BRIEN (Wide Bay) (13:33): As a nation, we are rightly proud of how our Defence Force personnel and veterans have served our nation, keeping us safe and securing our freedom. Honouring current and former members of our Defence Force is part of Australia’s identity, but, tragically, Australia hasn’t supported our veterans in their time of need nearly as much as we’ve commemorated their sacrifice.

The former coalition government, with Peter Dutton as Defence Force minister, recognised that service personnel and veterans were being failed by the country they’d risked their lives for, and we responded by initiating the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. The royal commission found that the number of defence and veteran suicides between 1997 and 2021 was upwards of 3,000 men and women.

It’s clear that the system that is supposed to support our diggers in their time of need has failed abysmally. The words ‘thank you for your service’ are absolutely meaningless unless we have a properly resourced veterans’ affairs system that gives veterans the support they need when they need it.

I thank everyone who contributed to the royal commission and urge the government to work with Defence and veterans and their families to implement the findings with the crucial urgency that the issue demands.