TV Interview - Sky News Australia - Politics Now

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
SKY NEWS AUSTRALIA
POLITICS NOW
TUESDAY, 10 SEPTEMBER 2024

SUBJECTS: Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide; Veterans’ Legislation Reform.

HOST, TOM CONNELL: Welcome back. The Royal Commission into Veteran Suicide was handed down yesterday. This was one started by the Morrison Government. It's one both sides are pledging to take immediate action on to end what has become essentially a national shame. Joining the panel now is Veterans' Affairs and Defence Personnel Minister Matt Keogh. Thank you for your time. Advocates are saying in some form there have been 57 inquiries in the past three decades and this situation hasn't changed. Why is this different?

MINISTER FOR VETERANS’ AFFAIRS AND DEFENCE PERSONNEL, MATT KEOGH: Well, I think what the Royal Commission has done has really brought to light exactly that. There's been all these inquiries. There has been change over time, but a lot has been left to the side, not actioned, not implemented properly. The Royal Commission has really brought a key focus and part of that has been because it's heard directly from people with lived experience of the system, whether they are current serving members, veterans or indeed the family members of those who have taken their lives tragically, sharing their experience and speaking for those who don't have a voice to be able to present their own story.

CONNELL: There's a lot of different changes I'm sure my colleagues will go through, but I'm interested in the cultural element because is there a shakeup needed? Defence can be sort of very regimented. There have been people overseeing this system that have been making decisions seemingly that really haven't been in the best interest. Is there a shakeup needed within leadership as well?

MINISTER KEOGH: The Royal Commission's recommendation, there's 122 of them, which we've just received yesterday, certainly has a number of recommendations that go to culture. The Royal Commission itself has also acknowledged that for the vast majority of people who serve in our Defence Force, they have a very successful career and they transition well into civilian life. But there are very important issues that need addressing and the recommendations go to that. Some of those recommendations go to how do we select our leaders to make sure that we have the best people who are most appropriately placed to not only make sure that we have a Defence Force that's able to deliver on the war fighting capability that we need, but also able to look after its people so that they're available in our Defence Force to provide that most important capability.

CO-HOST, KIERAN GILBERT: When you look at the recommendations as well, and something that I think goes through a fair bit of what I've read in the Royal Commission is the DVA challenges, and you and I have spoken about this on many occasions. The staffing levels that it fell to, you've bolstered that capacity. Do you feel like you're already - you mentioned 122 recommendations, but do you feel like you're already overcoming some of the fundamental flaws exposed by the Royal Commission because of the investment in DVA, which you've seen in recent times?

MINISTER KEOGH: So, the Royal Commission, in the Final Report, acknowledges that work that we've done, clearing the backlog of claims that we inherited, some 42,000 claims that hadn't been looked at, employing 500 additional permanent staff in the Department, making sure that it's properly resourced. It's now the best resource it's been in three decades, but it also identifies where there's more work to do, especially around that, providing better wellbeing support to veterans and better service coordination and linkages.

GILBERT: So, it's not just about the more - the greater staffing numbers, it's about the structures internally, it's about expediting, say, psychiatry or other supports to vets. Is that what we're talking about?

MINISTER KEOGH: It's about making sure that services are better available to veterans. So, they highlight that there's a lot of services there that veterans don't necessarily know how to access or where they're available, that there's a role for DVA to better connect veterans to those services.

CO-HOST, ANDREW CLENNELL: What about this oversight body I reported yesterday? My understanding is the Commission believes this is the number one important thing. Reports on deaths, suicides per year. They have a similar system in the US. Will you commit to that?

MINISTER KEOGH: Well, I'm not going to be calling out any one of the 122 -

CLENNELL: Do you think it's a good idea?

MINISTER KEOGH: We completely understand what the Royal Commission's getting at. And it's not just the Royal Commission. I've been hearing from veterans advocates in this space. Trying to emphasise this point, and so I understand why the Royal Commission's made that recommendation. I'm not going to be drawn on any one recommendation because it's important that we consider all -

CLENNELL: How long is it going to take? I mean. I mean, how long is it going to take? I mean, you just heard from Tom. 57 inquiries. I mean, how long do veterans have to wait for the Cabinet to make a decision about this?

MINISTER KEOGH: Well, certainly I don't think anyone expects us to be making a decision within 24 hours of receiving the Report -

CLENNELL: Ok, what’s your timeline?

MINISTER KEOGH: But we do understand. We do understand, as I just said in the Parliament earlier, the urgency that is required by these recommendations and we will provide a response.

CO-HOST, ASHLEIGH GILLON: Are there any particular recommendations that you'll prioritise?

MINISTER KEOGH: There are certainly recommendations in here, where the Royal Commission itself has stepped out things that it wants done by certain times and things that it has said should occur after certain times. And so we'll take that into account in how we prepare our response to that.

GILLON: One of the complaints I've heard is around an actual resistance within the ADF to change. Has that been your experience? Do you think that's fair? And if so, why will there be a willingness to really shake up the culture now?

MINISTER KEOGH: I can only speak to my experience in dealing with the Defence Force and Defence since I've been a Minister in these portfolios. And certainly when Government makes its intent clear, the Department of Defence, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, the ADF, are responsive to that. And I'm sure when we deliver our response to this Royal Commission and our intent is clear around those, that we will see responsiveness from all of those agencies and departments.

CLENNELL: What went behind the decision, I guess to have Nick Kaldas and his Commissioners do this out the front and present it to Sam Mostyn and not be in the Blue Room with you, for example?

MINISTER KEOGH: So, it's always the case that Royal Commission Reports are presented to the Governor-General. That's not a decision of Government, that's how they operate. That's what happens with every Royal Commission.

CLENNELL: But you could have appeared afterwards jointly with the Commissioner. You didn't think that was appropriate?

MINISTER KEOGH: Sometimes what you'll see, depending on the nature of Royal Commission Reports, is that the Report's handed over to the Governor-General and then Government holds it to review all of the content and then provide the Report and the response at the same time.

CLENNELL: Yes.

MINISTER KEOGH: As with the Interim Report, we took the view that veterans very much wanted to see these recommendations as soon as they were made available to Government. And so we have made them available on the same day the Governor-General received them. So, we're all reading this at the same time, we're all getting through it at the same time. And as you can see, there's quite a lot to get through here. Over 3100 pages of Report and detail that sit behind the 122 recommendations. But we thought, as a matter of transparency, and I really, we owed it to the people that campaigned for this Royal Commission to occur in the first place, to be transparent, to provide the Report as soon as we received it, and now we will work through it as quickly as we can to provide our response. And no doubt that will be a Blue Room moment.

CONNELL: The figure we've heard a lot is three suicides of veterans or current personnel a fortnight. Is that essentially something you're confident you can bring down?

MINISTER KEOGH: The Royal Commission has done a full body of work here about what they have identified, where there's a number of cases of suspected suicide, or where incidents have occurred and are dealt with by coroners, but they're not found to be suicide. And that's the statistics they're drawing out there. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare refers to some nearly 1700 confirmed cases of suicide. No matter what that statistic is, it's too high. It's drastically higher than what we see across the general population and we do want to drive those figures down. That's why we want - that's why we supported, called for holding this Royal Commission. It's why we want to get through these recommendations.

CLENNELL: How alarmed are you at the fact that there's such a high rate of women involved in this and they appear to be mistreated in the ADF?

MINISTER KEOGH: The statistical representation of women in the statistics that we were just talking about, the way in which some women have Reported that they've been behaved towards and the conduct that they've had to put up with is diabolical and it's terrible. We don't want to see that happening in any workplace and we want the Defence Force to be a workplace of choice, frankly. And so we want to make sure that that's not what's occurring.

CONNELL: The Report matters, the response even more. So, we'll talk again down the track. Minister, appreciate your time.

MINISTER KEOGH: Absolutely. Thank you.

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