Hearing Block 9, closing remarks - Nick Kaldas APM (Chair)

foreign that brings us to the end of our ninth public hearing block here in Perth this hearing block has examined key issues of leadership and organizational culture within the ADF accountability And Timely action to learn from the past the evidence presented during this hearing again raises serious questions as to whether leadership within defense has been taking adequate And Timely action in relation to responding to the very real and pressing issues of suicide and suicidality within its ranks there has been a disturbing number of suicide related incidents involving our current Sailors soldiers and aviators these figures are not available on the public record at this time but I must rest that the magnitude of the problem must not be underestimated we've received evidence of a study that analyzed 59 reports in the 57 deaths by Suicide between June 2016 and June 2020 as Council assisting outlined this study does not represent all deaths during that period only the reports received during that time we've heard that the inspector general of the Australian Defense Force has taken on average more than 600 days to release individual inquiry reports into each of these 57 deaths by Suicide the study I mentioned was a non-technical analysis of these reports but it would seem from the evidence we've uncovered during this hearing that there is inadequate systemic analysis of suicide deaths or suicide behaviors by defense to inform meaningful action to ensure the mental health and well-being of its people we note the chief of Defense Force has appointed a brigadier or one star officer to head up a new mental health and well-being branch however it appears that that senior officer charged with looking at mental health and suicide prevention within defense at this time has clearly not been provided all the necessary information staff or resources to respond to these issues at an organizational level in fact seven months on the mental health and well-being branch has only a handful of staff and it is not clear what has been achieved practically the combat suicidal promote well-being the quiet brigadee Langford they are building the plane as they're flying it there is evidence that there will be no mature fully resourced and functioning Branch until at least January 2025. we know defense was able to stand up a very well resourced task force led by a two-star officer to assist this Royal Commission in a very quick manner yet defense's approach to investigating and Reporting on suicides has progressed at snail's pace and we are yet to find sufficient evidence of urgency in responding to these complex issues holistically even with this Royal commission sitting a question must arise how seriously is defense taking these issues at an organizational level defense is a large complex and geographically dispersed organization with three service arms and a large bureaucratic arm whose command structures are challenging for some to understand even for those members serving in them and it's important that we acknowledge that there are some very good people in leadership positions across the services who obviously care deeply about the well-being of their people and are doing their best we hope that this is the rule and not the exception but the chief of Defense Force and Senior leaders must have a sense of urgency on these matters programs and appropriate governance need to be in place to make sure the well-being of serving members of Paramount consideration all leaders within defense must be driven to make use of all information available to them to be more Curious given the autonomy to think outside the box when it comes to identifying risk factors for suicide and suicidality and opportunities for early intervention and then held accountable for the outcomes over the past two weeks we've again uncovered issues of culture and incident reporting across the services as well as command responses to unacceptable Behavior such as bullying harassment and misogyny we've heard contemporary examples of our service men and women doing it tough including increased pressures on our Sailors and submariners at hmas Sterling caused by the hollowness of the Navy's Workforce leading to a recurring cycle of burnout which is placing further strain on their Mental Health there was a tragic loss of three clearance divers to suicide in a space of two years and we heard that the Navy divers trust efforts to bring critical issues to the attention of Navy was seemingly to no avail from the evidence we have heard it is clear that leaders at all levels of the defense hierarchy need to be more responsible and accountable for their actions or lack thereof we feel strongly that measuring performance for accountability and transparency are essential as mentioned by Council assisting earlier in a closed session We examined issues pertaining to the Special Air Service regiment based at Campbell Barracks here in Perth the evidence provided a valuable insight into matters of relevance to the work of the royal commission insofar as they relate to this special unit within the ADF our inquiries are far from over there's an enormous amount of work still to be done as we work towards our final report the issue is under investigation are complex multi-layered and many in line with our terms of reference we will visit the United States one of Australia's key five ice Partners next month to examine how they've responded to similar issues in their military community and how they support their serving and ex-serving personnel this follows previous meetings with government and defense officials in the UK Canada and New Zealand we'll continue to hold private sessions with people with lit with lived experience to learn from their deeply personal experiences we've held about 470 private sessions today with hundreds more to be conducted for those who have already applied throughout 2023 and early 2024 we will continue to meet face to face with our service men and women as we visit defense bases around the country to hear about their experiences of life in the military we're committed to working collaboratively with experts and key stakeholder groups particularly as we look to recommend practical and long-lasting solutions to any cultural and systemic issues impacting our serving and ex-serving ADF members we will also continue to accept submissions from individuals and groups through until the 13th of October this year and there will be further public hearings including there's already announced for Adelaide and Melbourne hearing block 10 in Adelaide will commence on the 17th of July and we anticipate hearing evidence in relation to postings promotions and career management families family advocates and the role of Defense member family support the progress being made on claims management at the department at the Department of Veteran Affairs as well as some expert evidence in relation to leadership change management management and burnout that will be followed by hearing block 11 in Melbourne from the 28th of August as I stated in my opening remarks that Australia's defense capability first and foremost comes from the brave men and women who pull on the uniform if our Navy Army and Air Force and go to work each day to protect us each and every one of us has a duty to ensure defense protects them we Commissioners and our entire staff reiterate our commitment to completing the most thorough inquiry possible reaching recommendations that prescribe the best possible solutions and making findings that are both fully justified by the evidence and persuasive enough to induce action instead of the inertia demonstrated by previous governments and Commonwealth bodies we remain determined to succeed in our past the risk is far too great for us not to thank you and safe travels for those who are traveling if there's no other issues we'll adjourn now all rise the Royal commission into defense and Veteran suicide is adjourned to Monday 17 July 2023