New defence and veteran suicide figures show an ongoing sharp divide between the suicide rate for active service personnel and those who are no longer serving.
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The figures, published Wednesday by the Australian Institute for Health and Welfare, show the pattern of suicide risks in previous-year reports remains the same.
Serving male ADF members die by suicide at about half the rate of Australian men in general. Ex-serving male members have a higher rate than Australian men in general, however, those who left the force voluntarily have a lower rate than those who left involuntarily.
The rate for ex-serving women is significantly lower than it is for ex-serving men.
The latest figures reveal in 2020 there were 12 suicide deaths by active service personnel and 67 suicide deaths by former personnel who served at least one day in uniform since 1985.
The total number of suicides of current and former personnel has grown to 1600 across the period of 1997 to 2020. The report produced last year covered the period of 2001 to 2019, finding 1273 suicides.
Compared with the Australian male or female population, as appropriate, suicide rates between 1997 and 2020 were:
- 49 per cent lower for permanent males
- 46 per cent lower for reserve males
- 27 per cent higher for ex-serving males
- 107 per cent (or 2.07 times) higher for ex-serving females
"While the absolute number of deaths by suicide has increased since the previous report (due to the expansion of the monitoring period to include suicide deaths from 1997) the suicide rates remain similar across both reports, indicating that the overall patterns in suicide risk remain the same," the report states.
The rate of suicide for men in each category of permanent, reserve, or ex-serving, has remained relatively consistent over the period where data exists. With women, because of the low total numbers, the institute was unable to identify a trend.
The report was the fifth annual update from the institute's monitoring of suicide deaths among serving and ex-serving defence personnel who have served between 1985 and 2020.
Veterans' Affairs Minister Matt Keogh gave an official apology in parliament in September this year for the failures of successive governments in not doing enough to tackle the "national tragedy" of veteran suicides.
The Defence and Veterans Suicide Royal Commission's interim report cited long delays in compensation claim processing in the Department of Veterans' Affairs as an area needing improvement, while advocates say it has been a top contributor to the higher rate of ex-serving member suicide deaths.
The department's officials told a Senate estimates hearing last week its staffing cap had been removed and new trainees were working to clear the claims backlog. Departmental secretary Liz Cosson told the hearing there was still a big backlog, but it was "starting to go down".
If you need help or support, please contact:
- Open Arms - Veterans and Families Counselling 1800 011 046
- Lifeline 13 11 14
- Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636
Harley Dennett
Former federal politics bureau chief for the Canberra Times, via a career that's taken me from rural Victoria to Washington DC. Telling the stories of my local LGBTI community brought me to political journalism, where I've covered eight budgets, four national elections in two countries, Defence, public service and international governance.
Former federal politics bureau chief for the Canberra Times, via a career that's taken me from rural Victoria to Washington DC. Telling the stories of my local LGBTI community brought me to political journalism, where I've covered eight budgets, four national elections in two countries, Defence, public service and international governance.
