Television Interview - Afternoon Briefing, ABC

OLIVIA CAISLEY, HOST: A landmark independent inquiry into sexual violence in the Australian Defence Force will go ahead a year after the Federal Government committed to holding one. It follows last year's Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, which found victims were often deterred from reporting for fear of being punished. Minister for Veterans' Affairs Matt Keogh announced the inquiry at the National Press Club today and I spoke to him a short time ago.

Minister, thank you so much for your time today. Before we get to the contents of your very important speech at the National Press Club, I just wanted to raise the fact that we've received images of this Chinese flotilla. It was announced by the Defence Minister Richard Marles yesterday that they’re essentially tracking it as it moves through the Philippines Sea. It does appear that it is heading towards Australia. Is this something that the Government will raise with Beijing as a point of concern?

MATT KEOGH, MINISTER FOR VETERANS’ AFFAIRS AND DEFENCE PERSONNEL: Well, as Richard Marles, the Deputy Prime Minister, outlined yesterday, we're tracking the movements of the PLA-N flotilla that you referred to that have been up around the Philippines and we'll continue to do that. That's quite away from Australia, though. But we'll keep monitoring where they're heading and what their intentions are. But at this stage, we're in that monitoring phase.

CAISLEY: Ok. And we don't know, for example, whether there are plans to conduct live firing exercises or that kind of thing, as they did earlier around the timing of the federal election?

MINISTER KEOGH: No, we don't have a sense of what their plans for that group of ships are at this stage, but we'll continue to monitor them, as the Deputy Prime Minister said yesterday.

CAISLEY: Alright, well, I would love to get to your speech to the National Press Club today. So, you've confirmed that there'll be a standalone inquiry in military sexual violence. This fulfils a recommendation from the Royal Commission. It's not the first time that we've seen, I guess, a closer eye or scrutiny on military sexual violence. What's going to make this particular inquiry different and actually result in change?

MINISTER KEOGH: Well, I think there's a few things. So, having this inquiry next year does fulfil one of the recommendations of the Royal Commission. It's able to build on the work that came before it, there have been other inquiries in the past. The Royal Commission, in the course of its work, spoke a lot about inquiries that have occurred and where recommendations haven't been implemented subsequently. And so, what this inquiry is able to do is look at what has occurred in the past in terms of inquiries, what recommendations have been made, what were implemented but maybe haven't worked as they'd hoped, but which ones also weren't implemented, and be able to provide advice back to Government, recommendations back to Government, about things that we can do in addressing sexual violence in the Defence Force. And I have no doubt that that will tie into also analysing the policies that have been implemented within Defence since that time, trying to address these issues and how we can go further to make sure that we do eradicate the scourge of sexual violence in the Defence Force.

CAISLEY: And so, will it be run by the Defence and Veterans’ Service Commission?

MINISTER KEOGH. So, we haven't made a final call about how it will be conducted, but certainly one of the available options is to use the new commission that we've established, the Defence and Veterans’ Service Commission, to conduct that inquiry. That commission has already been given all of those powers that it would need to conduct an inquiry like this, and so that would make sense. Once we've worked through the consultation on the terms of reference which is occurring right now, we'll be able to then announce exactly who will be conducting the inquiry and how that will work.

CAISLEY: Ok. And so, when it comes to that kind of consulting period, so you've allocated two months for that, so it will be delivering its findings in February. Is that enough time, do you think, to take a close enough eye at what's a very important issue?

MINISTER KEOGH. So, Government, with the taskforce that we created following receiving the Final Report of the Royal Commission, has been doing work on developing those draft terms of reference, and that is now being conducted by the Australian Human Rights Commission. They have already been doing some targeted consultations with stakeholders and experts in this area. And now this is open in a more broader sense for the next few months, going into February next year, so that we've got a broader catch of people who may have feedback on how those draft terms of reference are developed. Of course, it's about the terms of reference, it's not the actual inquiry itself that is occurring over the next few months, but as I say, the Human Rights Commission already started some of that work. 

CAISLEY: Okay. And so, I guess this has sort of been in train for about a year, but you're moving now. Does that timing, should I say, have anything to do with the fact that there is this class action underway as well?

MINISTER KEOGH: No. We've been working with the task force that we established following getting a final report of the Royal Commission, and the task force was designed to be able to give us advice on those recommendations that were noted, but also how does government go about staging the implementation of all of the recommendations in the most effective way. We place so much urgency on getting these recommendations done, but it was important to stage them properly as well. That's why we were looking at the inquiry occurring in 2026 and why we're keen to get draft terms of reference out this year.

CAISLEY: Ok. And the Royal Commission, it did find that part of the reason members often don't report these kinds of instances of sexual violence is that they're basically fearful of getting punished. How are you going to crack down on those that do punish members, whether that be perhaps medically, administratively or otherwise?

MINISTER KEOGH: Well, certainly any reprisal type action is contrary to the policies of Defence now, but it's about making sure that that's effective and certainly one of the things that we've included in the draft terms of reference for the inquiry is specifically looking at that issue and making sure that we've got the best advice around how the policies are currently at work and where they may not be as effective as we need them to be, and so how we can improve that, both in the policies themselves and how they're applied.

CAISLEY: And just going to sort of the other parts of your speech, I just wanted to drill down on the Senate inquiry into advocacy. So, that did urge the government to introduce legislation to address commission-based advocacy. Your remarks today suggest that regulation is still some distance away. Is that a fair characterization? Do you have a timeframe for that regulation?

MINISTER KEOGH. So, we very much agree with the recommendations around the need to regulate the advocacy sector. And for people who don't understand, advocates are people who support veterans making a claim to the Department of Veterans’ affairs to access medical and support services, as well as compensation. What I said today is that it's important we regulate this space, it’s important that we get advocates that are taking unfair advantage of our veterans out of the system. But it's also important, given that so many of those advocates are volunteers, that we don't just take a too heavy-handed approach to how that regulation works. So, we want to work with the sector to develop a system that gets the outcomes we need, that protects our veterans, but also doesn't make the regulatory burden too onerous, because we don't want to do something that sees great volunteer advocates that are supporting our veterans go out of the system either. And so, over the course of next year, we’ll engage with the sector broadly to get their feedback. I outlined some ways in which we thought we could set up a regulatory system around this in the speech. That's a starting position to engage with the sector around making sure we get that that regulation right, gets the wrong players out, and make sure that we keep all of those great volunteer and employed advocates that are providing a service for free to the veterans that they are able to stay in and keep continuing to provide that great service.

CAISLEY: I mean, that regulation, part of things to try and improve the way that things are done in this space is so important. Would you like to see it implemented by, say, the end of next year? Do you have a kind of, I guess, goal in mind on that?

MINISTER KEOGH: My problem with the Royal Commission is I keep trying to get everything done by yesterday.

CAISLEY: Okay.

MINISTER KEOGH. So, I would like to see this move quickly, but I'm also conscious that we need to do it with the sector. They've got to be brought along this journey to make sure we get it right. What I don't want to see is us trying to rush some legislation through where it creates unintended consequences for parts of the veteran advocacy sector. And so, over the next few months, we'll work on that. We've got other legislative plans that we need to bring forward over the course of next year as well, implementing a range of other parts of the Royal Commission. So, we'll need to fold it into how we bring that legislation forward as well.

CAISLEY: Certainly, a lot to do. Thanks so much for your time today.

MINISTER KEOGH: Thank you.

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.