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

It has been two years since the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide handed down its final report, but veterans and advocates say greater transparency and action is needed on the 122 recommendations."Momentum has drifted a little bit," veteran and Flinders University professor Ben Wadham told ABC News.A new campaign has been launched by the university's Open Door Initiative, with the intention of putting the spotlight back on the recommendations.Professor Wadham is a member of the Defence and Veterans' Service Commission (DVSC), which was established following the royal commission's recommendation 122, to establish a new statutory entity to oversee system reform across defence."Government is telling us one thing, but if you try to find the actual information on that, it's very difficult," Professor Wadham said."We need a public record by a public department, preferably one with some independents like the DVSC to provide that tracker so that veterans and families know that something is happening, who's responsible for it, what stage it's up to, when it'll be complete and whether it's having the right effects for their experiences."Professor Ben Wadham, director of Open Door Initiative, said momentum has drifted two years after the the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. (Supplied: Flinders University)As part of the campaign, Open Door released a 10-minute documentary on the impact of veteran suicide.Loss of brother, son life-changingAmong those featured is Navy veteran John Armfield, who served for 20 years as a Royal Australian Navy clearance diver, where he had five operational deployments.He said he "loved" his career, but shared the painful loss of his brother Andrew, who died by suicide after serving in the air force.Mr Armfield said he raised the alarm after his brother made an attempt on his life in 2011.Navy veteran John Armfield implores the government to work through the recommendations. (Supplied: Flinders University)"Throughout the recovery process I identified failures in his treatment which I raised through the correct and appropriate commands and no-one paid attention to a junior sailor trying to save his brother," he told ABC News.Mr Armfield said he only learned about an inquiry into the death of his brother 10 years after he died.His mental health suffered and by 2023 he was medically discharged."The system is broken," he said."In my case, the chain of command weaponised the military justice system."No-one has ever been held accountable. No-one has ever been reprimanded. They've actually been either promoted or put into these positions where they will now investigate cases like mine."Open Door Initiative researcher Karen Bird was also part of the documentary.Open Door Initiative researcher Karen Bird lost her veteran son to suicide in June 2017. (Supplied: Flinders University)Her son Jesse Bird served in Afghanistan and died as a result of suicide in June 2017."I want to know where all the recommendations are up to other than 'underway' or 'in progress' because what does that mean?" she said.Government says progress is being madeMinister for Veterans' Affairs and Defence Personnel Matt Keogh told ABC News that "a quarter of the recommendations" had been implemented by the end of last year."We're on track to implement two thirds of them by the end of this year," he said.Mr Keogh referenced the establishment of the new Veteran and Family Wellbeing Agency on July 1 and the December 2025 announcement of an independent inquiry into military sexual violence within the Australian Defence Force."Just this week, on the second anniversary of the royal commission's final report, we've announced that we've upgraded our response to 15 of the recommendations … agreeing to do even more work than was in our initial response," he said."I think we've provided regular updates on where we're going and the things that we've been implementing as well as, of course, working with the Defence and Veterans' Service Commission on its inquiry so that its report provides that overall scrutiny and transparency."Federal Veterans Affairs and Defence Personnel Minister Matt Keogh said two thirds of recommendations will be implemented by the end of this year. (ABC News)In July, RSL Australia called on government to scrap the veterans' allied healthcare 'cap'.From July next year, there will be a $5,000 threshold for allied healthcare spending for veterans, with treatment above that amount to require demonstrated clinical need."A cap should not be the solution," Mr Armfield said."Why is this problem happening in the first place? Please Minister, you're responsible for the service personnel. Stop them becoming medically retired veterans."