Radio interview, ABC Radio Perth

SUBJECTS: Government Response to the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.

NADIA MITSOPOULOS, HOST: Well, the Federal Government has today unveiled its response to the findings of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. Now, that Royal Commission made 122 recommendations in its Final Report. It included the establishment of a new dedicated body to help Defence personnel transition to civilian life and access ongoing support. The Commissioners had also called for an inquiry into the prevalence of sexual violence in the ADF and a national register of suicides and suicide risk factors for serving personnel and veterans. So, how far will the Government go? Well, Matt Keogh is the Minister of Veterans’ Affairs and with me now. Minister, good morning and thank you for your time.

MINISTER FOR VETERANS’ AFFAIRS AND DEFENCE PERSONNEL, MATT KEOGH: Good morning, Nadia. Great to be with you.

MITSOPOULOS: 104 of the 122 recommendations have been accepted. If we could just go through the main ones. You're setting up a new body to improve suicide prevention. How will that operate?

MINISTER KEOGH: So, we're establishing the Defence and Veterans’ Service Commission. This is going to be a statutory body, an oversight body. That was recommendation 122 of the Royal Commission. The Royal Commission acknowledged that there'd been so many reviews in the past, so many inquiries, and the ball had not been moved forward enough on this issue. And really the recommendation was that there be this body to oversight the work of Defence and the work of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs to make sure that the Royal Commission's recommendations are being implemented and we're actually improving the lives of serving personnel, veterans and dealing with this issue that led to the Royal Commission, which is the absolutely appalling rate of suicide that we've seen.

MITSOPOULOS: So, what sort of person would head this body?

MINISTER KEOGH: So, it's going to be a body that sits separately to Defence and separately to the Department of Veterans' Affairs. And so the body itself needs to be able to conduct inquiries, it needs to be able to review evidence, it needs to be able to conduct research and review research and provide advice to Government from a place of authority and experience, based on the work that it undertakes, to Government about where reform may need to occur or where we need to change the way responses to the Royal Commission have been implemented or to ensure that the things that we've said we are doing are actually occurring to the benefit of veterans.

MITSOPOULOS: And so I guess what I'm getting at is you'd want somebody that's got some separation from the Defence Force. You wouldn't necessarily want to be - you'd need some independence, I guess. People won't want somebody appointed that's very close to the ADF, for instance.

MINISTER KEOGH: Certainly, that's right. But they also need to have an understanding of service and the impacts of service on our veterans and their families as well. So, in that regard, yes, it's quite a unique set of experience, I guess, that you need. That someone is absolutely at arm's length of Defence, and that is very much something that families and veterans have been calling for, as well as someone that understands those unique impacts of service as well.

MITSOPOULOS: A formal inquiry will be established into military sexual violence in the ADF. Who will conduct that?

MINISTER KEOGH: So, we haven't identified that at this stage. We've just agreed to the recommendation to have that inquiry undertaken and we very much recognise the importance of that work and it will build on the work of similar inquiries that occurred about a decade or so ago and so a bit over a decade, in fact. And so we're working through that now. And it's why a key part of what we've announced today, with our response to the Royal Commission, is the establishment of a task force in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, so separate from Defence, separate from DVA, to develop and work through some of these issues that we need to work through in terms of implementation and getting inquiries up and running, and that sort of work now.

MITSOPOULOS: And so that means people who have experienced sexual violence within the ADF would be able to come forward and give evidence?

MINISTER KEOGH: How that inquiry is undertaken is something we're working through now.

MITSOPOULOS: But military personnel found guilty of sexual offences, would they be expelled automatically, if you get to that point?

MINISTER KEOGH: So, we have accepted the recommendation or agreed in principle that we need to work through that process. So, that there is a, what if you like an assumption where that sort of offending occurs, that that is incompatible with continued service in the Defence Force, very much recognising that. And that's already something for some other sorts of offending that occurs in respect of ongoing Defence service, then we've taken that on board here.

MITSOPOULOS: Sorry, so you're saying yes to that question?

MINISTER KEOGH: So, there was a recommendation which we've agreed in principle to implement. There's issues that need to be worked through in terms of identifying the precise offences to which that would relate to so that we can implement that. Because that sort of offending is not compatible with continued service in the Defence Force.

MITSOPOULOS: So, it could be broader than just sexual offences.

MINISTER KEOGH: Well, we're working through that because there's a broad description of the sorts of offences in the recommendation from the Royal Commission and we now need to turn that into something that's actionable. And the Royal Commission talks about making sure there's a fair process with that as well. And so we need to put that into place.

MITSOPOULOS: 16 to 11. You're listening to Matt Keogh, who's the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Defence Personnel. Just a couple of the other recommendations that caught my eye. The recommendation to scrap the differences in compensation for war versus training injuries. Now you've knocked that back, why?

MINISTER KEOGH: So, this is a recommendation that has been basically came out of an inquiry back in 2019. We looked at this in some detail when we were drafting our veterans entitlement reform legislation, which is currently before the Parliament. It recognises the very real difference between operational type service and non-operational service. This is an issue that's also really deep - people in the veteran community hold some very deep views about and it can be quite divisive within the veteran community. We don't think it's helpful to add to that division, especially when what we're seeking to do here and responding to a Royal Commission is about enhancing wellbeing for our veteran community. But this is a long standing way in which compensation for veterans has been dealt with for over a century and we'll be continuing it in the same way.

MITSOPOULOS: The recommendation that was only agreed to in principle was in regard to blast induced brain injury. I'm just wondering then, how will traumatic brain injury be addressed?

MINISTER KEOGH: So, what blast industry is - blast injuries are, in this context, mild traumatic brain injury, what we've agreed to in principle there is absolutely, we need to do work about better understanding these sorts of injuries and how they can be best treated. Veterans already have access to medical supports for all of these injuries, but we need to do work building on work that's being undertaken by our Five Eyes partners to look at what they are learning and how we best apply that in the Australian context as well. That's why it's an agreed in principle recommendation. But we're absolutely committed to making sure that we're providing the best support for our veterans that are suffering from mild traumatic brain injury, but also understanding its causes better so that we can implement any reform that's needed around making sure that we are minimising and removing the occurrence of mild traumatic brain trauma.

MITSOPOULOS: Do you think you have a better handle now on the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder amongst veterans and the difficulties they have transitioning to civilian life?

MINISTER KEOGH: I think we have seen over many decades a dramatic improvement. In fact, firstly, the acknowledgement of PTSD in the first place and now understanding how we can treat it and how we can improve the lives of veterans that are suffering from PTSD. Indeed, a couple of years ago we launched some work around some world class changes to how we treat PTSD which we see are more effective because veterans are able to engage with that treatment better and that's providing really good outcomes. And the research on that is good, but there is definitely more work to do and some of this is around complex cases where it's not just PTSD that veterans, it's not their only condition that they're suffering from and making sure that we're providing those supports without cracks. This is why there's a recommendation for a veteran wellbeing agency to be set up within DVA to make sure that we're providing that more holistic service and support for our veterans.

MITSOPOULOS: And a more specialised service. But that's part of the issue here, isn't it? It's almost like when they talk about coming out of military service, they have a different language, it's a different skill set, they feel very isolated from the mainstream workforce and feel like they've never had a specialised service.

MINISTER KEOGH: Certainly, actually the treatments for PTSD are specialist and in fact the treatments for PTSD in Australia are developed because of the work that's been done for veterans. That's actually where it started. If there's any area of work that is specialist to veterans, it's treatment for PTSD, but it's making sure that there is that broad suite of services that are targeted and designed around that service experience for veterans, that is very important. And indeed, when it comes to employment, it's why our $24 million veteran employment programme has been about being able to inform employers about the very real benefits of employing a veteran, because of the unique experiences and training that they've had around teamwork and leadership and being able to work under pressure and being agile, which is so important in any workplace, but also work to support veterans as they're transitioning out of Defence to recognise their skills and experience through advanced standing and recognising prior learning for university qualifications or vocational qualifications, and helping them translate that, the qualifications they've picked up through their Defence service into civilian qualification language. So, they're able to sell that when they're putting it on a CV or when they're engaging with potential employers.

MITSOPOULOS: And, Minister, will there be a suicide register?

MINISTER KEOGH: So, we already have a number of suicide registers that operate across a number of different agencies at the moment, and that's why the Royal Commission has called for there to be a singular suicide register. That's something we're going to work towards, as well as a veteran data asset, which is the much broader piece that's been recognised there. So, those recommendations are about bringing that together into a singular register and working out where that best fits. So, for example, Defence, as you would expect, has one, as does the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. And so it's about. We need to bring those together to have a single source of truth, if you like.

MITSOPOULOS: All right, I'll leave it there. I appreciate your time. Thank you.

MINISTER KEOGH: Thank you.

MITSOPOULOS: That's Matt Keogh there, the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Defence Personnel.

END