Television Interview, ABC News Breakfast

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

HOST, EMMA REBELLATO: The Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Defence Personnel Matt Keogh, joins us now from Townsville. Minister, thank you very much for joining us on News Breakfast.

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

REBELLATO: So, this is quite a hefty report. So, I want to just get through a couple of particular issues. This new statutory body to oversee reform, including suicide prevention, what type of person are you looking for to take control of that body?

MINISTER KEOGH: Well, certainly we have listened to the calls from the veteran community and families that they want to make sure that the person who's running this is independent of the Defence Force and separate from DVA, but they are going to have to be someone that has an understanding of the impact of service life on our veterans and on their families as well, and is able to conduct the required inquiries and understands how the, how the operations of the public service operate as well, to provide useful advice to government about how we can continue to improve things for serving personnel, veterans and families moving forward.

REBELLATO: We heard from Nikki Jamieson, who lost her son to suicide in 2014, early on the programme. She says she wants these changes properly resourced and the RSL says it wants more funding in the next federal budget to implement the changes. Will that happen?

MINISTER KEOGH: Well, this is why we're setting up a task force to go through the implementation of these recommendations, making sure that we have a good understanding of not just the detail of what is required to implement them, but also what sort of funding needs to be put behind resourcing the implementation of these recommendations so that we can take that through the ordinary budget processes, which is really important so that we can get this right and we get the outcomes that people are seeking from implementing these recommendations.

REBELLATO: A new formal inquiry will also be established into military sexual violence in the Australian Defence Force. We know there have been, obviously this commission, there have been a lot of inquiries in the past. Why do we need this new inquiry?

MINISTER KEOGH: Well, the Royal Commission has recommended that we have this inquiry and the Royal Commission itself, in a whole range of areas, not just this one, recognised that past inquiries were not necessarily fully implemented by previous governments. And this inquiry is to build on top of those past inquiries looking at sexual misconduct in the Defence Force, looking at what has changed since those inquiries were undertaken a bit over a decade ago, so that we can make sure that on top of the recommendations that are already in the Royal Commission's report that relate to sexual misconduct, that we're able to pick up anything else that also needs to be occurring to make sure that we can stamp this out of our Defence Forces.

REBELLATO: Minister, some of these changes will need to be legislated. If Parliament returns in February, are we likely to see any legislation tabled then? How long do you expect it to take?

MINISTER KEOGH: In February, we expect to be dealing with the Veterans Legislation Reform Bill, getting that through the Parliament, which goes to veterans entitlement supports, compensation and rehabilitation. In terms of other legislation required to support the recommendations from the Royal Commission, some of them are quite complex and detailed, but also some of them require co design with the veteran community as well before we're able to bring that legislation before the Parliament. But some of the legislative changes required more regulatory in nature and we can start to work on those more quickly.

REBELLATO: The head of the Families of Veterans Guild says the government still needs to do more, particularly when it comes to families of veterans who've died by suicide, that there's still a gap in accessing mental health services. Is there scope for that to be looked at? How do you react to that?

MINISTER KEOGH: So, one of the recommendations in the Royal Commission is to establish a veteran wellbeing agency within the Department of Veterans’ Affairs. And the Royal Commission was clear that that needs to be designed with the veteran and family community and DVA will be doing that work and that's going to be an important part of how we engage. And the key part of that is the support for the operation of our Veterans’ and Families’ Hubs and the end families part of that is incredibly important and it's something that we've recognised since we came into government. That's why we put it into the names of the Hubs. And the Royal Commission has been supportive of that and they're looking for how we as the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, can provide better support and sustainability to those Hubs going forward with a veterans wellbeing agency.

REBELLATO: Minister, can you give us a bit of an insight into what it's been like to get to this point? We saw the Commission, the confronting details, the heartbreak in the Commission, you know, some, some really horrible stories as well. What's it been like to work through that and to get to this point?

MINISTER KEOGH: Well, certainly to go through the process of, of calling for the Royal Commission to be held in the first place, meeting with the families that were calling for the Royal Commission, observing the Royal Commission while it was being conducted, the evidence that was being given, meeting with veterans and families and serving personnel to hear their stories, myself as well. You can't walk away from that without having a very strong sense of the urgency of the need to make sure that we implement the recommendations from this Royal Commission and that we improve the life of our serving personnel, veterans and families. And it's why our government was committed to delivering this response to the Royal Commission's Final Report so quickly, in less than three months to give that clear indication to the broader veteran and family community of the Government's intent around these recommendations, our pathway forward to make sure that these recommendations are implemented. And so we're delivering on what they called for in having the Royal Commission established in the first place.

REBELLATO: Minister Matt Keogh, thank you very much for joining us on News Breakfast. And thank you for putting up with the inclement weather there as well. We appreciate your time.

MINISTER KEOGH: It's been great to join you from Australia’s garrison city here in Townsville.

REBELLATO: Thanks, Minister. 

ENDS