Veterans demand greater transparency on royal commission recommendations

Veterans and advocates are calling for greater transparency and action on the 122 recommendations made by the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, two years after its final report was handed down.

A new campaign has been launched by the Open Door Initiative at Flinders University, aiming to put the spotlight back on the recommendations. Professor Ben Wadham, a veteran and member of the Defence and Veterans' Service Commission (DVSC), said "Momentum has drifted a little bit."

Push for transparency and accountability

Professor Wadham said the government needs to provide a public record of progress on the recommendations, preferably through a public department with independent oversight.

"Government is telling us one thing, but if you try to find the actual information on that, it's very difficult," Professor Wadham said.

"We need a public record by a public department, preferably one with some independents like the DVSC to provide that tracker so that veterans and families know that something is happening, who's responsible for it, what stage it's up to, when it'll be complete and whether it's having the right effects for their experiences."

Personal stories of struggle and loss

The Open Door Initiative has released a 10-minute documentary featuring Navy veteran John Armfield, who shared the painful loss of his brother Andrew, who died by suicide after serving in the air force.

"Throughout the recovery process I identified failures in his treatment which I raised through the correct and appropriate commands and no-one paid attention to a junior sailor trying to save his brother," Mr Armfield said.

Mr Armfield said he only learned about an inquiry into the death of his brother 10 years after he died, and that his mental health suffered as a result.

"The system is broken," he said.

"In my case, the chain of command weaponised the military justice system. No-one has ever been held accountable. No-one has ever been reprimanded. They've actually been either promoted or put into these positions where they will now investigate cases like mine."

Government response

Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Defence Personnel Matt Keogh said a quarter of the recommendations had been implemented by the end of last year, and that two thirds would be implemented by the end of this year.

"We're on track to implement two thirds of them by the end of this year," he said.

Mr Keogh referenced the establishment of the new Veteran and Family Wellbeing Agency and the announcement of an independent inquiry into military sexual violence within the Australian Defence Force.

"Just this week, on the second anniversary of the royal commission's final report, we've announced that we've upgraded our response to 15 of the recommendations … agreeing to do even more work than was in our initial response," he said.

"I think we've provided regular updates on where we're going and the things that we've been implementing as well as, of course, working with the Defence and Veterans' Service Commission on its inquiry so that its report provides that overall scrutiny and transparency."