In a breakthrough for veterans and their families, Scott Morrison is set to announce a royal commission will be held into ADF suicides. Watch the PM live here.
Government launches royal commission into veteran suicides
The prime minister said governments made difficult decisions to deploy soldiers into war zones, but also needed to consider what happened to soldiers when they returned home. There is a far greater cost that is borne beyond those deployments, and that is the mental toll taken on the veterans after they return, he said. That cost is most significant when we see it in the death by suicide of our veterans.
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The prime minister has previously rejected calls for a royal commission to be established, preferring his permanent model.
But he was dragged into action after members of his own backbench threatened to cross the floor in support of a royal commission.
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The mother who spearheaded a national campaign on behalf of her late son says the fight for change is not over despite the government s announcement of a royal commission into veteran suicides.
Julie-Ann Finney’s son David took his own life in 2019 after a two decade career with the Royal Australian Navy.
Since then, Ms Finney has fought for a royal commission on his behalf and for hundreds of other Australian veterans who have died by suicide.
A picture of David Finney, who died in 2019.
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After a long-running campaign from former soldiers and advocates, Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday announced a royal commission would go ahead.
2021-04-19 08:35:52 GMT2021-04-19 16:35:52(Beijing Time) Xinhua English
CANBERRA, April 19 (Xinhua) Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced a royal commission into the suicides of current and former defense personnel.
Morrison on Monday acknowledged the human cost of defense deployments, saying he hoped that the long-awaited inquiry would act as a healing process. I think this will be a process that will assist in the comfort that those families have been seeking, he told reporters.
More Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel have lost their lives by suicide than those have died in active duty in Afghanistan since 2001.
According to a report published by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), between 2001 and 2017, there were 419 suicides among current serving, reserve and contemporary ex-serving ADF personnel.