Labor will oppose the Morrison Government\u2019s National Commissioner for Defence and Veteran Suicide Prevention legislation in the Senate, following a decision taken by the Caucus today.
\nWhen the Government introduced the legislation for a National Commissioner, Labor were sceptical it was not \u201cbigger and better than a Royal Commission\u201d as the Government claimed.
\nWe supported referring it to a Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee inquiry so it could be thoroughly examined, and so veterans and families could have their say.
\nThe inquiry reported back yesterday. It confirmed Labor\u2019s, and many people\u2019s concerns, that the National Commissioner won\u2019t have the independence, scope or resources to ask the really hard questions only a Royal Commission can.
\nThe overwhelming feedback from submitters and witnesses to the inquiry was that the scope of the role was too narrow and that interim National Commissioner Dr Bernadette Boss was not sufficiently independent given her long association with the Australian Defence Force.
\nA number of stakeholders have said we need a proper inquiry through a Royal Commission to get to the bottom of systemic problems and to propose practical solutions, which could include a body like the National Commissioner.
\nUnlike the Government, Labor has consulted widely with veterans and families, veteran advocates, and mental health experts.
\nWhen the Prime Minister announced the National Commissioner earlier this year, he ignored the pleas of parents like Julie-Ann Finney and Karen Bird, whose veteran sons tragically took their own lives.
\nThese families were clear \u2013 they wanted nothing less than a Royal Commission into veteran suicide to get to the bottom of these needless deaths.
\nThis was always going to be the real test for Scott Morrison and his legislation, and he has failed badly.
\nThe Government needs to establish a Royal Commission into veteran suicide, so we can tackle this issue once and for all.
\nOur veterans and their families deserve nothing less.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Labor will oppose the Morrison Government\u2019s National Commissioner for Defence and Veteran Suicide Prevention legislation in the Senate, following a decision taken by the Caucus today. When the Government introduced the legislation for a National Commissioner, Labor were sceptical it was not \u201cbigger and better than a Royal Commission\u201d as the Government claimed. We supported … Continue reading “LABOR TO OPPOSE COMMISSIONER FOR DEFENCE & VETERAN SUICIDE PREVENTION”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9438\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}