OUR LEADERS MUST LEAD ... IMPLEMENT THE SUICIDE ROYAL COMMISSION’S RECOMMENDATIONS

One of the most urgent priorities of our next Federal Government must be to reinvigorate our Defence Force.

While Europe’s defences gear up for a world without American support and China roams the Pacific with intent, the Australian Defence Force has dropped from 62,000 in 2022 to 59,000 today.

This has occurred while the number of Defence bureaucrats has risen by 17%.

The recent Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide provided the blueprint and the recommendations needed to address the issues that have led to us losing a veteran to suicide every five days for the last 30 years.

The Chair of that Royal Commission, Nick Kaldas, reported on what he called “a catastrophic failure of leadership” across the board in the Defence ecosystem.

Around 6000 written submissions attested to this conclusion.

At every level, and right to the top, failures in leadership contributed to and, in some cases, actually prompted veterans to take their lives. Many felt abandoned by their leaders and the institutions to which they had devoted their lives.

Until we address the root causes of this disastrous situation by implementing the Commission’s recommendations, we will continue to lose our veterans.

And we will struggle to entice future generations to follow in the footsteps of those who have preserved our liberty.