Hearing Block 12 - Opening Address - Commissioner Nick Kaldas APM

good morning ladies and gents welcome to Sydney for the 12th and final public hearing of the royal commission into defense and Veteran suicides I also want to begin by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the lands on which we meet the gadigal people of the aura nation and pay our respects to their Elders past present and emerging and we thank Uncle Allen again for his warm welcome to Country very much appreciate it we also welcome and acknowledge all First Nations peoples here today or watching on online we recognize your eldest past and present respect your continuing cultural spiritual physical and emotional connection with the lands Waters and community of our shared Nation as always we would also like to acknowledge the serving and ex-serving members of the Australian Defense Force and their families for the unique and important sacrifices they have made on behalf of our country we honor you for all that you do and all that you have done speaking to to you today at the opening of this final hearing block we must reflect on the past 32 months of our inquiry when we began in July 20121 the national tragedy of defense and Veteran suicide was apparent with 1273 deaths by Suicide confirmed between 2001 and 2019 for serving and ex-serving ADF Personnel who had served since 1985 this undoubtedly underestimated the true number of deaths as it does not include deaths where the intent could not be confirmed nor does it include veterans who served before 1985 as many of our Vietnam veterans did sadly the number of confirmed suicide deaths has continued to grow illustrating the magnitude of the issue we have been confronting we now know there have been 1677 confirmed deaths by Suicide between 1997 and the end of 2021 for those who served after 1985 we include if we include confirmed suicide deaths back to 1985 that number grow by 330 to 27 if we look further back to tragic deaths that were not confirmed as suicide but include deaths of ex-serving members by drug and alcohol poisoning both accidental and undetermined intent as well as chronic liver diseases that number Rises by another 825 to that we must also consider the additional 623 EX serving veterans who died during the same period due to road crashes some of which may well have been unconfirmed suicides these numbers represent a staggering loss of life of some of Australia's finest and require us to confront this National tragedy headon the Royal commission has worked tirelessly looking for systemic factors where change can be leveraged across the broad veteran support ecosystem to stem the tide of these deaths when we speak of the veteran and support echosystem this encompasses governments defense the ADF DVA other relevant federal state and territory departments oversight bodies ex-service organizations and other veteran support organization and the organizations and the communities more broadly our inquiry has been a complex undertaking in a complex environment dealing with a complex issue in that time we've conducted 11 public hearings and heard from 308 Witnesses with some 40 Witnesses scheduled for this hearing block we've received 5,889 submissions all of which have been studied and read multiple times and coded for the key themes that they reveal we've conducted 746 one-on-one private sessions with people with lived experience with up to 200 more still to be completed before June this year these have been completed with the assistance of our recently appointed assistant commissioners Mr Bob Atkinson former Queensland Police Commissioner and a former commissioner on the child abuse Ro commission an eminent Health practitioner Dr Susan young we've issued more than 1450 compulsory notices and received more than a quarter of a million documents in response we've undertaken 26 visits to defense bases across Australia to hear directly from current service Personnel about the challenges and opportunities of life in our Navy Army and Air Force we've reviewed academic literature we've conducted a range of qualitative and quantitative analysis of data and information made available to us we've commissioned external research from esteemed academics and we've engaged broadly with stakeholders in Australia and overseas including speaking with approximately 300 key informants in our five five eyes partner countries but most importantly our lines of inquiry have been informed by the voice of lived experience and we want to acknowledge the courage of all those who have come forward and shared their story with us in submissions private sessions and public hearings it's been their deeply personal and often often harrowing experiences that have sha a bright light on the cultural and systemic issues that are failing serving and ex serving ADF personnel and which are contributing to the National crisis of defense and Veteran suicide for many it's taken extraordinary resilience and strength to relive these experiences and while heartbreaking it's been essential for us to hear their stories which have greatly influenced and shaped our thinking many of the people who came forward told us of their immense pride of serving in the for their country but also expressed expressed a strong sense of disappointment and betrayal at being let down by the organizational responses to the issues they've raised some are angry or bitter many are sad others are shattered but almost all want to to help make it better they want the Defense Force to succeed they do not want others to have the same experiences that they have had they want DVA to provide the support needed for veterans to live meaningful lives and participate in their communities to the fullest extent possible and fundamentally they want dignity and respect to be heard to be treated fairly and with compassion this is absolutely what this roal commission wants as well in September last year I spoke at the national Press Club in cam about the tragedy of Veteran suicide my speech outlined how successive governments government departments and the ADF have failed those who serve our nation in uniform we urge government and defense leadership to see this role commission as an opportunity not a threat to drive the long avue change that is needed to ensure a sustainable strong and better ADF which provides a psychologically safe workplace for its people my fellow Commissioners and I were heartened by the response from stakeholders and the public with whom our message resonated perhaps there were many who had been touched by one of the more than 3,000 deaths since 1985 that should have been preventable if only the lessons to be learned over the decades had been heed and the necessary diligence applied to ensure that the desired outcomes were achieved perhaps it was their own experience in service or of Post Service life or those of their loved ones where the cord was struck such memories do not fade easily but make no mistake this Ro commission is responding to a national crisis that has been decades in the making a crisis that has not yet been stemmed rarely a week goes by that we are not alerted to the untimely death of another serving or EXs serving member which serves to remind us of the seriousness of the issue we note that the Defense Force is currently faced with multiple complex challenges including the recruitment retention crisis and geopolitical tensions we have consistently sought not to undermine Australia's defense capability nor have we sought to tarnish Australia's proud military history we are not the cause of the adf's troubles troubles but our data analysis has confirmed that their greatest enemy lies within the adsf itself and its resistance to change it's apparent from the evidence we've uncovered that there are Dee rooted cultural and systemic challenges within the ADF and dvf a and across the broader veteran ecosystem which have had dire consequences they need to be urgently addressed considering there's been at least 57 previous reviews and inquiries that have not succeeded in delivering impactful or sustained change what is required for leaders across the veteran ecosystem is to accept the failures we have uncovered and to act now to address the issues affecting the health and well-being of veterans and their families there is no time to waste no longer can these systemic issues be denied dismissed diminished or deflected by those in the halls of power and positions of leadership their lack of ownership of these issues their lack of curiosity about contributing issues and their willingness to accept glossy versions of History over Stark facts cannot continue no more can the silate fragmented and incremental approach to veteran support be tolerated there must be collaboration cooperation governance and accountability for all parties while government and the ADF frequently say people are their most important asset it is very arguable that there has been inadequate accountability and frankly Curiosity on the part of Defense leadership in relation to issues of suicide and suicidality among members I reiterate that this inquiry should be viewed by governments and all agencies as an opportunity for positive change notwithstanding the recommendations we will make in our final report which are due to the Governor General on the 9th of September we know that sustainable change will take time and without continued scrutiny and robust independent oversight may never be achieved that is why we believe there should be an entity to follow this role commission with sufficient powers to independently monitor the implementation of our recommendations and to ensure the issue of defense and Veteran Sude side remains a key priority and focus for governments and agencies within the veteran ecosystem into the future bipartisan commitment will be required to ensure the longevity of the reforms we will recommend there should be no politicization of these issues and the Parliament must must maintain a stronger focus on these issues to ensure government and its agencies are delivering on their commitments we look forward to hearing from the minister for defense The Honorable Richard miles and the minister for veteran affairs and defense Personnel The Honorable Matt K MP who will appear before us for the first time during these hearings we also look forward to hearing again from Senator Jackie lambi regarding the role of parliament in driving sustained change we will hear from two State and one territory Veteran Affairs ministers to further inform our understanding of the commonwealth state divide when it comes to supporting veterans and their families and will hear from the chief of Defense the vice chief of the ADF and the tri service Chiefs as well as a number of other senior military leaders about what they're doing to address our concerns in the areas of culture leadership governance and accountability and plans for future action DVA and its approach to veterans in tolerance will again be a key Focus over the next few weeks at our adate hearing we heard from the Secretary of DVA Allison frame who apologized unreservedly for for past practices of the department that have caused hurt and distress to the veteran Community we acknowledge that DVA have made significant progress to eliminate the backlog of compensation claims based on the recommendations in our interim report and we congratulate them on beginning on their journey to improve however the problems inside DVA are not restricted to the claims backlog we have uncovered a range of cultural systemic and structural issues that need to be urgently addressed work on some of these issues has already commenced and is continuing but more needs to be done and of course we will again hear from people with lived experience during the course of the hearings as we have said many times this role commission must be a Line in the Sand serving and ex serving ADF members have done all their nation has asked of them they have Dawn the uniform trained hard worked hard prepared constantly often leaving their loved ones for long periods of time and when asked they have gone Where Angels Fear To Tread our nation owes them a debt of gratitude and we must ensure that all the co the issues causing them preventable harm are addressed we have heard the rhetoric about human capability and about people being the adf's greatest asset our recommendations to government will be designed to make this rhetoric a lived reality for all members and their families we again urge the Prime Minister relevant ministers and the leadership of defense and DVA to see this roal commission is an opportunity to drive the long overdue change that is required to ensure serving and EXs serving ADF members and their families have the support they need and deserve it's important to recognize that there will be no quick fix to these issues and real longlasting and meaningful reforms will take time and a concerted effort from both sides of politics and all concerned and it's imperative these issues are not politicized the public and the media media also have a role to play there is scope for more involvement and greater awareness and interest from all Australians in the plight of our military personnel and Veterans we as a nation owe those who pull on the uniform of our Navy Army and Air Force and enormous debt of gratitude for The Unique sacrifices they make in going to work each day to protect us it is not enough to reflect on the sacrifice of our veterans only on days of commemoration and Remembrance finally a warning that some people may find the evidence presented at this hearing distressing so I remind everyone who is present that we do have counselors available should you need them for those watching our live stream please get in touch with our counseling and inquiry support team if you require any assistance the phone number is on our website thank you I now invite Council assisting Miss eron Longbottom KC to make her opening remarks