Doorstop Interview, Parliament House, Canberra

SUBJECTS: Final report of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide

JOURNALIST: Minister, are you going to shift the dial on veteran suicides?

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER, RICHARD MARLES: I think this report does shift the dial, and it's certainly the intention of the government to implement the thrust of this report. We will take our time to respond to each of the 122 recommendations in their detail, but we do commit to doing that in a timely manner. We commit to doing that soon, but we called for this Royal Commission when we were in Opposition. We've supported it in government. We've implemented the recommendations that were part of the interim recommendations of the Royal Commission's report, and we will be supporting the thrust of this report. 

JOURNALIST: Do you commit to implementing all 122 recommendations?

MARLES: Well, as I said, we will take our time, albeit a short amount of time, to go through each of those 122 recommendations on an individual basis, but we do commit to supporting the thrust of this report. We know the direction in which the report's been going- or the Royal Commission's been going. We're very supportive of its work. We know the significance of this moment, and it must shift the dial. 

JOURNALIST: At the heart of this report is an acknowledgement that DVA essentially isn't skilled or resourced enough to look after veterans. Is that not damning on the department responsible for their wellbeing and welfare?

MARLES: Well, I think as the process of the Royal Commission has played out over the last few years, there has been very difficult evidence and what is absolutely clear is that we do need to shift the dial. We have acknowledged, and I think former governments have acknowledged that Defence and Veterans Affairs has not been everything they need to be for those who have worn our nation's uniform, and we must shift the dial going forward. And I genuinely believe that the thoroughness, the professionalism, the care with which this report has been undertaken, gives us the opportunity to now move forward, I hope, in a bipartisan way, in a manner which can shift the dial.

JOURNALIST: Will you establish a separate body as recommended?

MARLES: Again, I'm not going to go into the individual recommendations, simply to reiterate what I just said before- we do commit to supporting the thrust of this report, we know that this has been an issue which the Royal Commission has spoken about previously, certainly when I provided evidence to the Royal Commission earlier in the year, this was one of the key issues that they wanted to question me about- which was an unusual situation for a sitting minister to provide evidence. Our support for the Royal Commission's work and our support for this report has been made really clear. We do reserve the right, obviously, to go through each and every one of the recommendations on an individual basis. But you can look at what we have done up until now to be assured that we are supporting the work of the Royal Commission as we supported all the recommendations of the interim report. 

[Inaudible]

JOURNALIST: …the Inspector General's report into sexual violence publicly released?

MARLES: The report has been tabled. We will be as transparent as we can be.

JOURNALIST: And how sorry are you to the thousands of families of veterans who have died by suicide?

MARLES: This government is deeply sorry for every family who has lost a loved one through suicide. We know how special are the people who make the decision to wear our nation's uniform. Nothing can replace the loss of those family members, but in their memory and their honour, we are absolutely committed to seeing that this report shifts the dial and makes Defence a much better place for those who serve in the future. Thank you.

ENDS