Australia’s military has serious questions to answer about the well-being of personnel and veterans amid a “national tragedy” of defence force suicide, the chair of an inquiry into the issue says.
The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide is sitting in Adelaide for two weeks.
The 10th block of hearings is looking at how aspects of military life like leadership, postings and promotions, deployment and career management can impact mental health.
Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie —a military veteran—last week queried whether the inquiry was going “hard and fast enough” and said veterans were starting to question its utility.
Inquiry chair Nick Kaldas on Monday said cases of “sailors, soldiers and aviators doing it tough” raised serious questions about what the ADF was doing to address the “occupational stressors” influencing mental health.
“The high rates of suicide and suicidal behaviour among our military community are undeniably a national tragedy,” Mr. Kaldas said.
It was often a bleak situation, but the commission was committed to overcoming “inertia” in creating a “psychologically-safe workforce”, he said.
There were at least 1,600 Australian veteran deaths by suicide between 1997 and 2020, according to the inquiry.
The rate of suicide among male veterans was 27 percent higher than the general Australian population, and for ex-military women, it was 107 percent higher.
“The impact of these losses is a tidal wave of grief and anger that washes over friends, family, colleagues and the wider community,” Mr. Kaldas said.
“The numbers speak for themselves.”
The inquiry has issued more than 900 notices to produce material and analysed about 230,000 documents.
Discussions were ongoing to resolve stonewalling by some officials, Mr. Kaldas has said.
Also on Monday, high-ranking military officials conceded more could be done to help defence personnel—the “human pool of capital”—be supported as people.
Commodore Eric Young and Brigadier Andrew Moss, the director-generals of Navy People and Army Career Management, respectively, both agreed their divisions could be better utilised to support defence people.
Regarding whether the ratio of career managers to personnel was right, Brig. Moss said, “I think we could have more people”.
Air Commodore Karen Ashworth was quizzed over whether case managers in her area were overworked, saying at times, workloads were very high and “pressure points” existed.
The probe was told a restructure in personnel was underway - set to be completed by November - as the military faced “significant workforce challenges”.
It was told the ratio of career managers to junior personnel in the Navy was one to 247, while for some army ranks it was more than one to 300.
A final report with recommendations is due to be delivered to the governor-general by June 2024.
The royal commission was set up in 2021 to look at systemic issues and risk factors related to military and veteran suicides.
The inquiry continues on Tuesday.
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