Radio interview - Drive, ABC Perth

GARY ADSHEAD: So, today is actually one year since the Albanese Government responded to the Final Report of the Royal Commission that was held into Defence and veteran suicide. There were a whole range of issues that came up with that. Some of the recommendations have been dealt with. There are others to go. Now, today, because of that important date, the Minister for Defence Personnel and indeed the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Matt Keogh, addressed the National Press Club with an update on all of the situations and he joins me now to go through it. Thanks very much for your time, Minister.

MINISTER FOR DEFENCE PERSONNEL: Great to be with you, Gary.

GARY ADSHEAD: Ok, I'll just sort of quote if I could the speech that you gave today and of course the Q&A that you had at the National Press Club, you said that “ensuring the wellbeing of our people isn't soft, it's about making sure we have the best war fighters ready when we need them.” You said “there's no shying away from Defence still not getting this right. Lots has been done, but people, especially women, are still experiencing this behaviour.” Why?

MINISTER FOR DEFENCE PERSONNEL: Well, it's a great question, Gary, and it troubled the Royal Commission as well. And it's something that past inquiries have looked into. There's certainly been a lot of work that has happened in Defence following those inquiries and more recently about investing in Defence culture, changing policies. One of the things the Royal Commission has given us, though, is some really clear direction about policy changes that we need to take. So, for example, we’re now operating on the basis that if you commit a sexual violence offence, if you behave in that way in Defence, you are presumed that you will be leaving Defence, we will be terminating you. That is a very clear line to everyone in Defence about the consequences of this sort of behaviour. And we'll be backing that up with legislation next year to support that policy implementation. So, there's lots of work to continue to do. And what I'm really looking forward to with the inquiry into sexual violence that will occur next year, which was another thing recommended by the Royal Commission, is that they will be able to look at what past inquiries have said, how that implementation has gone in Defence, and give us advice about how we can make that better going forward.

GARY ADSHEAD: So, how will that inquiry run, by the way? Obviously, it’s very sensitive in nature what you're talking about. I'm assuming we are behind closed doors predominantly.

MINISTER FOR DEFENCE PERSONNEL: So, at the moment we're actually doing consultation on the draft terms of reference for the inquiry. It will be obviously engaging with Defence, it'll be engaging with experts who operate in this field. We’ll be appointing someone to run that inquiry independently, so that they make sure they get all the information they need, evidence that they need, to support being able to address the terms of reference that are in the process of consultation at the moment. It's not going to be an inquiry that runs for years and years though. We want to make sure that we get the best advice and recommendations from that inquiry so that we can deal with this issue promptly.

GARY ADSHEAD: So, is this more about how it's approached in the Defence areas or is it something that would lead, if you talk about sexual violence, to criminal matters?

MINISTER FOR DEFENCE PERSONNEL: Well, certainly ADF personnel are subject to criminal law in the civilian space as well. And you know, that's something that we've been doing a bit of work around, making sure that people know that they are liable to criminal law, that people can bring their complaints to police where that conduct occurs, so that people are properly held accountable. That's important. But in terms of the inquiry, it will be focusing on what happens in Defence, but it'll also look at, say, the differences between how Defence has been approaching these things and how they might be approached in the civilian sphere and what do we need to learn from that to make sure that we're dealing with these things appropriately in the Defence context.

GARY ADSHEAD: If I asked you whether, you know, in your role, would you feel confident in saying that it's much better now? For example, I watched a passing out parade for some army recruits the other day. A friend of ours has gone into the army recruits, a male. I could see some females in the ranks there during the march out. Would you feel confident in saying that those women are safer now than they would have been if we go back five, ten years?

MINISTER FOR DEFENCE PERSONNEL: I would. And I say that for a number of reasons. One, that's the anecdotal evidence I get when I talk to women in the Defence Force that they have seen an improvement over their time of service and that's a good thing. The Chair of the Royal Commission himself said that for the vast majority of people that are in the Defence Force, they have a great time and they go very well through their time in Defence and they succeed when they leave Defence as well. And so, I think that's really important to reflect on. But that doesn't diminish that for those people who do suffer sexual violence and misconduct during their time in Defence, that that is not acceptable, and we want to see that eliminated.

GARY ADSHEAD: Can I ask you, it is a year on since the Government received that Final Report of the Royal Commission, what are you particularly proud of in that year?

MINISTER FOR DEFENCE PERSONNEL: Well, I think over the course of the year since we provided the Government response, we've been able to implement a quarter of the recommendations, including what the Royal Commission itself said was its most important recommendation. We've established a legislative oversight body, the Defence and Veterans’ Service Commission. But we've also got pathways forward now to set up a new veteran wellbeing agency and, of course, getting this inquiry into sexual misconduct, going with the draft terms of reference out for consultation. They are all critically important recommendations. But the work that's happened in refining policies within Defence, moving forward in the wellbeing approach, and what we're doing to support prevention and treatment and rehabilitation in DVA is also very important. Making sure those claims are being processed more quickly, which we've continued to do. Very important outcomes of what we're doing.

GARY ADSHEAD: I know you point out that 500 additional staff to do that, to process those claims. There's been criticism from the Opposition about the number of public servants swelling. What do you say to that? And is it justifying the sort of timeframe that you've brought it down to the additional staff that have been employed?

MINISTER FOR DEFENCE PERSONNEL: So, yeah, we're very alive to the criticism that we had previously seen from the Opposition about the additional staff that we've put on, which I think is pretty horrendous when you consider that these are staff that are processing the claims of our veterans. But what we have seen as a consequence of bringing those staff on is that the 42,000 claims that were in what the Royal Commission called the backlog when we came into government, they were claims made to DVA that no DVA staff had even looked at yet. We have processed those claims. That's important. But it also means now, so calendar year 2025, almost at the close, any claims that's lodged is looked at within 14 days. And on average, we're processing an initial liability claim under the MRCA legislation, which is the most common sort of claim that you'll get, we're processing those on average within 110 days. That's a dramatic improvement. Now, there's still more work to do, we understand that, but that is a dramatic improvement. And when I go around to RSLs and to other veteran organisations around the country, that is acknowledged that they are seeing that improvement. We'll keep working on that. But it's good to see that veterans are actually seeing the benefit of that additional investment in claims processing in DVA.

GARY ADSHEAD: I might just go back, if I could. I note that the Australian Human Rights Commission will be running research into prevalence and effects of what you call military sexual trauma. What's the aim there? I mean, because if you've got an inquiry running, how will they operate together?

MINISTER FOR DEFENCE PERSONNEL: So, the inquiry into the prevalence of military sexual trauma and violence, which will be run by the Australian Human Rights Commission, will feed into and be something that's taken into account by the sexual violence inquiry. And it's looking at what have been, what are the statistics, what are the rates, how does that compare to other sectors when we're seeing what we've been seeing in Defence? In the last annual report that Defence just published, there was a lot more data, a lot more transparency, around the complaints that we've been receiving for sexual violence, sexual misconduct. That's important. We're being transparent about what's happening, but we need to understand that in a historical context as well, as being able to compare that to other sectors and industries. That will then help inquiry going forward.

GARY ADSHEAD: Just quickly, if I could just on the other day, of course, Richard Marles and Pat Conroy outlining the changes to Defence structure to a degree, and this new agency that'd be set up, and I think I asked at the time, Pat Conroy, you know, do you get concerned that when changes like that are made within a bureaucracy like Defence, perhaps any bureaucracy, you know, there's a lot of anticipation, a lot of anxiety perhaps about it. Are you sure you can manage that in terms of personnel and how they cope with the bringing together of these three agencies into one?

MINISTER FOR DEFENCE PERSONNEL: Yeah. So, what we're doing is taking three existing groups within Defence that are there to deliver on new capability, acquire new capability, sustainment, and moving them into a separate and independent agency, the Defence Delivery Agency, and that's to make sure that it's properly accountable to government, reporting directly to the Ministers and has its own separate budget, so we can concentrate on delivering those in a timely way. So, we get the best bang for buck and allow Defence to concentrate on its main task, which, of course is operating and supporting the Defence force with those capabilities that are being acquired. Now, it does involve changes for a significant number of uniformed personnel and public servants. And I've been engaged with how we make sure we manage that, to support those people as those changes occur. And we will be doing that. But for most of the people that are engaged in those existing groups, they will continue to be engaged in supporting the acquisition and sustainment of those capabilities, and they'll keep doing that.

GARY ADSHEAD: Minister, thanks very much for speaking with us.

MINISTER FOR DEFENCE PERSONNEL: Thank you very much.

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.

Authorised by The Hon Matt Keogh MP.