Radio Interview - ABC Melbourne - Drive with Ali Moore

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
ABC MELBOURNE
DRIVE WITH ALI MOORE
MONDAY, 9 SEPTEMBER 2024

SUBJECTS: Final Report from the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.

HOST, ALI MOORE: Well, the Final Report of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide was tabled in Parliament this afternoon. 122 recommendations, seven volumes of Report. They had 6,000 submissions. So, how is the Government going to respond? Matt Keogh is the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Defence Personnel. Matt Keogh, welcome to Drive.

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

MOORE: How much or how much have you had a chance to really go through the 122 recommendations?

MINISTER KEOGH: Well, it's a seven volume Report with over 3,100 pages, so we've started working our way through it. I've gone through all of the recommendations, 122 of them at a headline level. But of course we've got to get into the detail of each recommendation and of course, the commentary that the Royal Commission's provided around those as well.

MOORE: Your gut response?

MINISTER KEOGH: My gut response is that we really benefit from a huge body of work that the Royal Commission has undertaken here, hearing from veterans, from family members, from current serving personnel, in public and in private sessions. The Royal Commission's clearly done very detailed work here in examining the issues that contribute to Defence and veteran suicide. And we as a Government now need to make sure we get into that detail in reviewing all of these recommendations so that we can get on in providing a Government response and doing the work that's necessary to address the scourge that is suicide amongst our Defence and veteran community.

MOORE: I take your point that you've only been able to have a look at the recommendations on headline. You would have heard Nick Kaldas, the Chair of the Royal Commission, saying that he hopes this will be a call to action once and for all. And the points been made that there have been so many inquiries, so many recommendations, but in the words of Nick Kaldas, the dial hasnt moved. Is the Government amenable to accepting all of those 122 recommendations because these Commissioners have done the work?

MINISTER KEOGH: Yeah so, we need to work through each of these recommendations now. But one of the things that I’m pleased to see amongst those recommendations is that a lot of the recommendations cover areas that since we've been in Government, we've been undertaking work in relation to those areas. So, there's some really good alignment here between things that we've started work on and areas that the Royal Commission has addressed in its recommendations. And obviously we need to calibrate that work, to make sure it actually aligns with the recommendations that have been made. But it's good to see that in many respects, we're heading in the right direction. But there's obviously a lot more work to do.

MOORE: In your headline reading of the 122, is there anything you don't like?

MINISTER KEOGH: Look, there's all of the recommendations that are there, we understand how they've arrived at those recommendations and why they are there, but we've got to work through the detail behind those recommendations as well. There's seven volumes. It's not just the content of a recommendation, it's some of the other commentary that the Royal Commission provides with that.

MOORE: Of course, it is early days, early hours, I should say. But one of the conclusions was that they don't believe the Department in its current form can deliver and bring the support that the community needs. And they've recommended establishing a new executive agency co-designed by veterans. Do you support that?

MINISTER KEOGH: Well, as you just pointed out, we've only had these recommendations for a few hours, so I can't get into the detail of that recommendation. But certainly the area of work that they want that body to look at or to be responsible for is an area that we've been looking at within the Department already. So, in terms of making sure that we improve that service for veterans, completely understand the nature of that recommendation and we've got to get through the detail now, what that means in terms of the recommendation itself.

MOORE: I take your point there, Matt Keogh, but you do know your Department very well. You either have complete faith that it is capable of delivering services or you would take on board some of what this Royal Commission is saying about its inability to deliver. Do you think that they are the right place to be delivering this support?

MINISTER KEOGH: I'm very receptive to the feedback from the Royal Commission on its commentary on the conduct of both Defence and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs here. And I think, you know, that reflects the feedback that they, and we, as a Government, and I'm sure previous Governments have been receiving from the, from veterans and families as well, completely understand where they're coming from there. And that's why we've got to look at the detail of these recommendations, so that we can work through them, because they are important recommendations and they're founded on the basis of solid evidence that's been brought before this Royal Commission, and that's why we need to get into it and get into it quickly.

MOORE: They've also been, the Commissioners have been scathing about the difficulty that they had in accessing documents that they needed to run the inquiry. I mean, I think they talked about severe institutional resistance. How do you respond to that?

MINISTER KEOGH: Yeah, this was an issue that Commissioners raised with me and with the Defence Minister and the Attorney-General as soon as we came into Government. Very quickly after we came into Government and we set about making sure that the Royal Commission was getting access to all of the documents that needed to be able to perform that work and that there was a proper understanding around the issues that they raised and they touched on that in their Interim Report. And so, yeah, that was an issue that they were quite concerned about. I noticed the Commission was out this morning and they said that they're now comfortable that they've seen all the documents that they needed to see to do their work. And so a real concern that they raised and I think we've been able to manage that since we came into power.

MOORE: But I guess the point is that there was that institutional resistance in the first place. What does that say about the organisation that bottom line is there to serve?

MINISTER KEOGH: Well, I think the institutional resistance they're referring to was sort of a cross Government approach to the Royal Commission, which was problematic, which we made sure that we addressed. But certainly we are committed to making sure that the change that is required as a result of this Royal Commission occurs. And we understand these sorts of resistant points that they've raised in the Royal Commission that people have been confronting for some time, and that's what we're committed to making sure we address so that we can make change so we can have a positive impact on veterans and families.

MOORE: Matt Keogh, what's your promise to all the families and 6,000 submissions. So, many people with so many really, truly horrific stories in many cases. What's the Government's promise?

MINISTER KEOGH: Well, our promise is to take the appropriate action as required. And, you know, we called for this Royal Commission. We've heard the calls for the need for the Royal Commission and the evidence that's been given. And when we got the Interim Report from the Royal Commission in the middle of 2022, we took swift action to respond to it and to take action on the recommendations and we took action on every recommendation that was in that Interim Report. And indeed, many of those recommendations have already been implemented. So, based on that, we will take a similar approach with the Final Report, which is obviously a lot longer and more detailed and has many more recommendations. But we do want to move swiftly because when we look at why there were calls for this Royal Commission, the rate of suicide that we've seen across Defence and veterans is just completely unacceptable. It is a national tragedy and we need to make sure that we reverse that. And implementing recommendations from this Royal Commission is how we get about that.

MOORE: And Minister, when you would say move swiftly, what's your definition of swiftly?

MINISTER KEOGH: Well, we now need to absorb all of the detail of this seven volumes of Report and I need to work with Ministerial colleagues, obviously, the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Defence Richard Marles, as well as the Attorney-General and others, to develop our response and to take that through a Government process. But we don't want this to drag on either. We owe that to our serving personnel, veterans and families, that we move swiftly and that's what we'll do.

MOORE: So, are you setting a time frame for the Government's official response?

MINISTER KEOGH: I'm not putting a particular date on it because there are many variables that are outside the control of Government when we come to developing these things, but we are going to move with great intensity about getting through this and developing our response. You know, it's clear to the veteran community as well as to government agencies what we expect to occur.

MOORE: Matt Keogh, I appreciate your time this afternoon. I know it's a very busy day for you. Thank you.

MINISTER KEOGH: Thank you.

MOORE: That's the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Defence Personnel on the Defence Royal Commission, as you just heard, 122 recommendations, but we'll have to wait to see which ones, maybe all, but which ones the Government accepts and how they're going to be implemented. And if you've been affected by that Royal Commission, if you've been following it closely, I'd love to hear from you. 1300 222 774.

END

Open Arms – Veterans & Families Counselling provides 24/7 free confidential crisis support for current and ex-serving ADF personnel and their families on 1800 011 046 or the Open Arms website. Safe Zone Support provides anonymous counselling on 1800 142 072. Defence All-Hours Support Line provides support for ADF personnel on 1800 628 036 or the Defence Health Portal. Defence Member and Family Helpline provides support for Defence families on 1800 624 608