The second day of the royal commission hearings in Brisbane focused on issues within the Department of Veterans’ Affairs afterthe Defence Force itself was in the crosshairs on Monday.
One witness on Tuesday was former National Commissioner for Defence and Veteran Suicide Dr Bernadette Boss,who was dumped from the role after less than a year as a result of Prime Minister Scott Morrison announcing the royal commission in July this year.
Dr Boss,who has been to war-zone countries such as Iraq,Afghanistan and East Timor,was in the middle of compiling a report on defence and veteran suicide when the announcement was made,so her original timeframe of 18 months to complete the report ended up being halved.
However,she still had plenty of recommendations for the commissioners.
“There are situations where I have a roundtable in a particular place with government and there were people sitting around the table representing different bits of the government who didn’t know about the work that some of the other bits[of government] were doing,” she said.
“So even within some areas of government there is a lack of visibility within that system of all the bits that are doing support for veterans.
“You’re talking about the three separate levels of government not being connected,then talking about 3000 to 4000[support organisations out there for veterans and enlisted personnel],and it is no wonder that veterans find it difficult to find the right place to access help.”