Submission regarding National Commissioner for Defence and Veteran Suicide Prevention Bill

This week Mental Health Australia and Suicide Prevention Australia provided a joint submission to the Attorney General’s consultation regarding the legislation to establish a National Commissioner for Defence and Veteran Suicide Prevention. We believe if passed, this legislation will set in place a unique structure that will drive accountability, transparency and systemic change to prevent suicide among our serving Australia Defence Force members and veterans. In our submission we identified areas where the role of the Commissioner may be strengthened, including: working with other national and jurisdictional bodies to improve data collection, prioritising strategies to mitigate the challenges veterans face in transition to civilian life, and ensuring anyone bereaved by suicide (including other defence or veteran personnel) have access to postvention support.

Read the submission here