EDITORIAL: Progress on defence suicide crisis is achingly slow

The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide exposed a festering canker on this nation’s soul.

Across three years, it heard disturbing evidence of at least 1677 servicemen and women between 1997 and 2021. The true death toll is estimated to be twice that.

It heard harrowing testimony from veterans and their loved ones left behind about a toxic culture in which asking for help was an admission of weakness. Those who did seek support found themselves struggling against a system which was next to impossible to navigate.

It is to Australia’s great shame that these men and women who had devoted lives and careers to defending our nation and our way of life found themselves alone in the battle for their own lives.

Royal Commissioner Nick Kaldas called it “a catastrophic failure of leadership at all levels to prioritise the health and wellbeing” of servicemen and women.

In the aftermath, the Australian Defence Force’s chastened top brass pledged to do better.

Then-ADF chief General Angus Campbell gave an unreserved apology for the service’s “deficiencies” in dealing with those suffering from poor mental health.

“Our people deserve and should rightly expect the support and care they need both during and after their service,” he said. “I acknowledge that this has not always been the case and tragically it’s led to the deaths by suicide of some of our people.

“Defence is committed, and I am committed to doing better.”

Gen. Campbell gave that commitment 18 months ago, on the final day of the commission’s public hearings.

Tuesday marks a year since the commission handed down its final report.

What’s changed?

The Government and the ADF would say plenty.

Labor agreed or agreed in principle to 104 of the commission’s 122 recommendations, with the remainder noted for further work. A task force within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet is responsible for overseeing the response.

The new Defence and Veterans’ Service Commission is scheduled to begin work later this month to provide oversight on suicide prevention and wellbeing improvement efforts.

Yet a year on, only nine of the report’s recommendations have been fully implemented. In the meantime, serving and former ADF personnel continue to die by suicide at a rate much higher than the general population.

We’ve known for more than a decade that sexual violence and misconduct is rife within the ADF, yet a promised inquiry is yet to be formed and has no start date.

Meaningful reform and cultural change is hard. It takes time. These things shouldn’t be rushed.

But what would you say if your son or daughter told you today they were considering a career in our armed forces?

Would you react with pride?

Likely that pride would be tainted with fear and concern, and an urge to beg them to wait — at least a little bit longer.

Responsibility for the editorial comment is taken by Editor-in-Chief Christopher Dore.