Final Report – Volume 1: Executive summary, recommendations and the fundamentals
Volume 1 of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide final report includes the executive summary and our 122 recommendations. It also sets out how we conducted our inquiry, describes our trauma-informed approach, and introduces our three commissioners – Nick Kaldas APM, the Hon James Douglas KC, and Dr Peggy Brown AO – and our two assistant commissioners – Bob Atkinson AO PSM and Dr Susan Young.
Over the course of the Royal Commission we:
- ran 12 public hearings, totalling more than 100 days, and heard evidence from more than 340 witnesses
- held 897 private sessions where commissioners or assistant commissioners sat one-on-one with people with lived experience of suicide, suicidality or military service, to hear their personal stories, experiences and perspectives
- received 5,889 submissions from serving and ex-serving ADF members, and their family members, advocates, ex-service organisations and service providers, and other organisations.
We also held roundtables and workshops, undertook research and data analysis, commissioned nine external research projects and conducted 25 visits to military bases.
This volume contains two chapters of our final report: Chapter 1, Understanding suicide, and Chapter 2, Lessons learnt from other Five Eyes nations.
In Chapter 1 we present our findings on suicide and suicidality among Australian Defence Force (ADF) members within the context of suicide and suicidality prevalence in the broader Australian community. We also discuss our analysis of risk and protective factors for suicide and suicidality, including those specific to ADF service. There were 2,007 confirmed suicide deaths between 1 January 1985 and 31 December 2021 among ADF members who served at least one day after 1 January 1985. We identify cohorts of serving and ex-serving members at higher risk of suicide than comparable Australian populations.
In Chapter 2 we set out what we learnt from our Five Eyes partners ‒ the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and New Zealand ‒ when we visited these nations over the course of the Royal Commission, particularly their responses to the issues of suicide and suicidality in their own military communities.
Recommendations from Volume 1
Volume 1: About the Royal Commission
Recommendation 1: Improve the capacity of future royal commissions to undertake their inquiries
To enable the efficient operation of future royal commissions:
- the Australian Government should amend the Royal Commissions Act 1902 (Cth) so there are meaningful consequences for non-compliance with a compulsory notice
- the Australian Government should undertake measures to ensure that royal commissions benefit from more independent representation in government, either by:
- setting up protocols that limit the engagement of the Royal Commissions Branch of the Attorney-General's Department with the Australian Government Solicitor (AGS), or
- moving the Royal Commissions Branch to a separate agency, for example to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, or:
- setting up a liaison person or team in the Attorney-General's Department, whose role is to deal with royal commissions only
- the Australian Government should apply consistent and transparent arrangements to allow royal commissions timely access to material covered by public interest immunity, and consider legislative amendment to facilitate royal commissions' access to this material
- The Attorney-General's Department should provide settled advice and options on the operation of public interest immunity, Parliamentary privilege and procedural fairness in the operation of royal commissions.