ADF suicides can't be 'swept under carpet'

Suicide rates are 24 per cent higher for ex-serving men and double for ex-serving women than the general population, and the commission this week probed the urgent matter in the ADF community.

Department of Veterans Affairs officials on Friday fronted the inquiry and were quizzed about an "unacceptably high" compensation claim backlog that sees an average claim take about 200 days to process.

There was an "alarming" situation inside the department involving a "steeply increasing" backlog in veteran claims, with total claims at a higher number now than they were in August 2021, it was told.

Key reasons given for the backlog were higher demand for claims flowing from the "tempo of operations" in the Middle East and veteran-centred reforms that meant "more traffic" coming to DVA.

Another "root cause" for delays was a departmental IT system that made it very difficult and time-consuming to program legislation, the inquiry was told.

When asked whether delays in processing veterans' claims were capable of increasing the risk of those veterans taking their own lives, DVA deputy secretary Vicki Rundle said: "Yes, I think that's possible."

However, she told the inquiry that suicide was multi-causal and "more complex" than one factor.

The inquiry was told progress at DVA on claims had been made on 11 action areas identified by a professor in a report to the department, including more investment in claims teams, and extra staff training on working with veterans on claims in a "trauma involved way".

When veterans made claims they either went into a priority queue or an unallocated queue, with unallocated claimants sent text messages and contacted, sometimes up to 225 days after making their claims, to "discuss their circumstances" and check in on their mental health.

Today's evidence followed a day of testimony from veteran families, including inaugural Veteran Family Advocate Commissioner Gwen Cherne.

Ms Cherne, whose veteran husband took his own life in 2017, told the hearing defence needs to look at "a rehabilitative process" for domestic violence perpetrators, rather than a zero tolerance policy that is not effective.

The commission has also received evidence from veterans pushed out of the defence force for being gay, an ex-soldier who was sexually assaulted, and families of deceased veterans let down by the ADF.

Counsel assisting the commission, Kevin Connor SC, said veterans' harrowing stories showed there should be "no sense of shame or embarrassment to experiencing understandable human emotions".

"We thank the lived experience witnesses who gave evidence this week and whose stories were expressed so honestly and so eloquently, we commend them for their courage in speaking," Mr Connor said in closing remarks.

"Please do not hesitate to come forward and approach the commission, the commission wishes to hear your voice.

"The issues ... cannot be ignored, they cannot be swept under the carpet."

The royal commission was prompted last year when Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he would not stand in the way of a move to look at the long-running issue of ADF and veteran suicides.

The third block of public hearings commences on March 7 in Sydney.

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Australian Associated Press