Radio interview – ABC Perth with Nadia Mitsopoulos

E&OE
ABC Local Radio Perth
Mornings with Nadia Mitsopoulos
Tuesday, 9 September 2025

SUBJECTS: AIHW veteran suicide monitor; The Royal Commission into Defence and Veterans Suicide recommendations; New wellbeing agency

HOST, NADIA MITSOPOULOS: Well, despite being talked about more openly, more funding being put into services and a Royal Commission, suicide is still the leading cause of death amongst Australian Defence Force veterans. Now, there's been a study by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, and it did find that suicide accounted for 42 per cent of deaths among male veterans and 44 per cent of deaths for female veterans. And between 1997 and 2023, 1,840 serving and ex-serving ADF members died by suicide, more than the general population. So, why is this still happening? Well, Matt Keogh is the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Defence Personnel and with me now. Good morning.

MINISTER FOR VETERANS’ AFFAIRS AND DEFENCE PERSONNEL, MATT KEOGH: Good morning, Nadia.

NADIA MITSOPOULOS: How do those figures sit with you, Minister?

MINISTER KEOGH: Well, I think one death is too many, Nadia. And that's certainly why, given what we were seeing in these stats over a period of time, as you've just spoken about, we called for this Royal Commission to be established, the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. And one year ago we received its report, its final report, and we've been working hard to make sure that we implement its recommendations so that we can see the rate of suicide and suicidality amongst our service members and our veteran community fall. And I'm pleased to say that at least over the last few years, that rate, that's the number of people dying through suicide in our veteran community, is falling. But any suicide is one too many. And we're really committed to tackling that through implementing the recommendations of the Royal Commission.

NADIA MITSOPOULOS: Is the Department failing its veterans?

MINISTER KEOGH: I think what we've seen over the last few years is that the dramatic increase in investment into the Department of Veterans’ Affairs is having dividends, but there's a lot more to do. And when we look at what you're seeing here in the statistics we need to be doing more when it comes to assisting our serving personnel transition in particular. We know that the highest rates of suicide are in that cohort that leave Defence involuntarily. Making sure that they get the wraparound supports they need, not just at the time that they leave, and we have improved those, but also after some time after they've left as well. And that's where there's a recommendation in the Royal Commission about establishing a new wellbeing agency within the Department of Veterans’ Affairs that looks at wellbeing more holistically is really important. And we've been doing a lot of work on the co-design and consultation about that new wellbeing agency over the course of this year.

NADIA MITSOPOULOS: So, when will that open? When will that be set up?

MINISTER KEOGH: Yeah, so we're preparing to have that set up next year. The Royal Commission was very, they wanted to see a co-design model. They wanted extensive consultation with the sector. That's what we've been doing over the course of this year. And at the moment, we're just finalising the operating model, how that works. Because one of the functions the Royal Commission wanted it to take on was not just work that had been traditionally done by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs but expanding that across a more holistic wellbeing approach and taking on some of the work that Defence had been doing around supporting serving members as they transition to back into civilian life. And so we're working through that at the moment to set it up for next year.

NADIA MITSOPOULOS: Don't these figures, though, concern - and obviously, you know, I'm sure that is welcome news about this wellbeing agency being set up? Because don't these figures sort of show the gap or the failings of the Department to look after its veterans, given that 85 per cent of those people who took their lives had actually accessed mental health services or some form of medical care, and it didn't help them?

MINISTER KEOGH: Well, certainly what it demonstrates is there's a real important issue here and it's why we had the Royal Commission established and now we're working through the implementation of the recommendations. There were 122 recommendations. The most important one, actually, the Royal Commission called for was the establishment of a statutory oversight body to not just monitor government's implementation of the recommendations but provide ongoing advice on how we can bring down these rates of suicide across the defence and veteran community. We've legislated that already. It'll be up and running in just a few weeks’ time. So, that's an important step to making sure that we're not just making the improvements now, but we continue to see ongoing improvements in both Defence and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs--

NADIA MITSOPOULOS: What are the other main---serving members and veteran community. What are the other recommendations that have been implemented, in a nutshell, quickly?

MINISTER KEOGH: So, the recommendations that have been implemented are that one around the oversight body, that's the new Defence and Veterans Service Commission. There's also a range of recommendations that go to disciplinary matters in the Defence Force and how they are dealt with, making sure that we are taking proper care of those people where they are the subject of discipline matters. Because as I said before, we see in these stats that the highest rates of suicide are amongst those that leave Defence involuntarily, but also making sure that we are taking a very clear and hard line when it comes to issues like sexual misconduct in the Defence Force, that that will not be tolerated and that we are being very clear about how that's reflected in our discipline systems as well. So, those have been implemented and there's a range of more to go in that area.

NADIA MITSOPOULOS: So, have you committed to every recommendation?

MINISTER KEOGH: We agreed, or agreed in principle, to 104 of the 122 recommendations and of the 17 other recommendations, we referred them to a task force that was separate to Defence, separate to DVA to provide further advice to the government. Right now, we've implemented nine of the recommendations, and we're undertaking work on 110 other recommendations. So, we're not just working on those 104 that we agreed and agreed in principle, but some of those others that we noted as well, working through how they can be implemented.

NADIA MITSOPOULOS: Because you know people who might be thinking, and you've been actively recruiting because your numbers have been low over the last couple of years in the Defence Force, so you've been recruiting, but people might look at this today and go, "You know what? For the sake of my mental health, it may not be worth enlisting in the ADF. Maybe the culture hasn't changed enough."

MINISTER KEOGH: Certainly. The Chair of the Royal Commission was actually very clear on this point that for the vast majority of people that serve in our Defence Force, they have a really successful time, they enjoy themselves and they go on to lead very successful careers after their time in the Defence Force as well. That is the experience for the vast majority. And we're seeing, though I think you're right, people do reflect more when we are dealing with these sorts of issues. And I think what we hope is that people are also seeing that Government is taking this incredibly seriously, that we're taking the actions that have been recommended by the Royal Commission. And I think we are seeing that somewhat reflected in that we are seeing a turnaround in our recruitment figures now that we have more people joining than before, because they can see that this is an issue we take seriously. We want to see a defence force where people know that when they sign up to serve our nation, when they put on our nation's uniform, that they will be well supported when they're serving their country, both when they are in the defence force, but also when they leave as well.

NADIA MITSOPOULOS: All right, I'll leave it there. Thank you for talking to me. Matt Keogh there, he's the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Defence Personnel. 

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