Doorstop interview - Parliament House

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP
PARLIAMENT HOUSE
WEDNESDAY, 11 SEPTEMBER 2024

SUBJECTS: Final Report from the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide; Mothers Daughters Sisters Wives Rally.

JOURNALIST: We've heard from Julie-Ann Finney and others who have lost loved ones and themselves been abused in the military. How quickly can the Government realistically affect change?

MINISTER FOR VETERANS’ AFFAIRS AND DEFENCE PERSONNEL, MATT KEOGH: So we've now received the Final Report of the Royal Commission, which is over 3,000 pages. It's 122 recommendations. We are working our way through all of that as soon as we can, because we do understand the urgency, as people like Julie-Ann Finney and so many others across the veteran community and families have expressed to us and to everyone that we need to act quickly on these recommendations, and we're working our way through them as quickly as we can so we can produce a Government response.

JOURNALIST: Why is it that convicted rapists and people who are convicted of sexual crimes are allowed to serve?

MINISTER KEOGH: I have no idea. I completely understand that the recommendation that's been placed there. If people have been convicted of serious offenses, then they don't have any place in our military.

JOURNALIST: One of the recommendations is around data for suicide and how much, I guess, goes goes unknown. How much bigger of an issue do you think it is than what we know?

MINISTER KEOGH: The Royal Commission identified this in its Interim Report as well, that the usual determinants of the reason and cause of death is often through a coronial inquiry. And the way in which state coroners undertake that work and determine causes is different between states and territories around the country, and they've identified that in the Final Report as something where work needs to be done so we can have a better understanding of the data of where deaths are death by suicide, whilst also protecting some of the important equities for families in the way in which coroners undertake their work with certain types of deaths as well. Getting that balance right is important, but we do need to have a better understanding of the rates of suicide.

JOURNALIST: The chapter about sexual violence in the ADF was 600 pages long, with the workplace survey from last year showing one in eight women have reported sexual violence. Did that shock you?

MINISTER KEOGH: I was aware of those statistics because we've seen the reports there. Very concerning reports that we’re seeing, but importantly, we're also seeing that there is more reporting of unacceptable behaviors by witnesses to that unacceptable behavior, not just victims. And that's a good thing, that where bad things happen, which we don't want to have happen, that they are being reported that represents a positive change, but we don't want those things to be occurring in the first place, and that's what the recommendations in the Royal Commission go to.

JOURNALIST: Can the Government intervene to make sure that no one with a serious criminal history can actually enter our Defence Force?

MINISTER KEOGH: And when it comes to entering our Defence Force, then we do a full review of criminal history and people with serious offenses don't join our Defence Force. There are some important gaps that have been identified by the Royal Commission. And obviously we've got to work through the detail of what's sitting behind that, how is that occurring, to make sure that we can take appropriate action.

JOURNALIST: But then, if they are convicted of a sexual assault in the Defence Force that's not communicated to state or territory police so they could work with kids or work in an aged care home?

MINISTER KEOGH: Yeah, the military discipline system is a separate system to our civilian discipline system, and there are different categorisations of offenses, and the Royal Commission has identified that and that there's more work that needs to be done to make sure that how conduct and misconduct is categorized from a criminal point of view is properly aligned to the civilian system.

JOURNALIST: Is that something the Government can enforce and will enforce?

MINISTER KEOGH: So we need to work through all of the recommendations, and that's one of the recommendations –

JOURNALIST: But that seems like a fairly obvious one, right?

MINISTER KEOGH: There are many things in the Royal Commission Report that seem fairly obvious, but we've also got to work through the detail. And I don't want to piece through one recommendation and another recommendation. We do need to take these holistically as well as while we consider our formal response.

JOURNALIST: The Royal Commission paints a picture that the ADF is a pretty unsafe place to work. How quickly will you guarantee making it safe, so, you know, people would recommend that their loved ones do join the Defence Force?

MINISTER KEOGH: So the Royal Commission has outlined some really important work that we need to undertake to improve the safety and culture within the Defence Force. But the Royal Commissioners also acknowledged that the vast majority of people that serve in our Defence Force have very successful careers in the Defence Force and go on to have very successful lives following their time in the Defence Force as well. So whilst that is the experience for the vast majority of people who serve in our Defence Force that we still need to make sure that we tackle these issues for the people that are suffering misconduct, are not being treated appropriately or not experiencing a safe workplace. We want the Defence Force to be an employer of choice in this country.

JOURNALIST: Just on a timeline, though, for when you’ll make it safe for everyone. Can you give us some sort of indication?

MINISTER KEOGH: So we've already done some things, like made sure that we applied a special respect at work program to the Defence Force, because otherwise it's usually exempt from employment regulations generally. So we've taken some steps around that already, but we need to respond to this Report and all 122 recommendations together, we are doing - we're working through that already, and we will respond soon.

JOURNALIST: Just in terms of community expectations, this is a like completely devastating review. Every element of the culture of the Defence Force has been exposed, and so many issues can Labor really guarantee that things will change within this term of Government, or even if re-elected, this is going to take generational change won’t it?

MINISTER KEOGH: There are a lot of issues that have been identified by the Royal Commission, and the Royal Commission itself has stepped out some recommendations that it wants to see happen sooner than others, and some that have set up reviews that should occur after a certain period of time so that we can consider those the timeliness of those recommendations in our development of our response.

JOURNALIST: Just in terms of responding, do you think you might do it in a staggered way, respond to the most urgent recommendations and then to the others? Because obviously 122 is so many to get through.

MINISTER KEOGH: Well, we're trying to work through all of them now. We only received this Report on Monday. We are making good headway on that so that we can respond as quickly as we can to all of these recommendations, so that the entire community across Australia and of course, serving personnel, veterans and families can have clarity around what we will be doing in response to this Royal Commission to improve the lives of people currently serving, as well as those that have served and their families.

JOURNALIST: Thanks Minister.

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