Veterans call for greater royal commission transparency across 'broken system'

Two years after the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, veterans and researchers are demanding greater transparency and faster progress on the 122 recommendations made by the commission. A campaign has been launched by Flinders University's Open Door Initiative to bring attention to these recommendations. Professor Ben Wadham, a member of the Defence and Veterans Service Commission (DVSC) established following the royal commission's recommendation, says the government is only implementing two thirds of the recommendations by the end of this year.

Veterans, such as Navy veteran John Armfield and researcher Karen Bird, have shared their personal experiences of failures in treatment and lack of accountability. The government states that a quarter of the recommendations have been implemented by the end of last year and that they are on track to reach two thirds by the end of the year.

The Minister for Veterans Affairs and Defence Personnel, Matt Keogh, has announced the establishment of the Veteran and Family Wellbeing Agency and an independent inquiry into military sexual violence within the Australian Defence Force. However, veterans and advocates argue that more needs to be done to ensure accountability and transparency in the system.