The boss of the defence department denies suicide among veterans was until recently a "blind spot", while also revealing his understanding of the issue had changed.
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Department secretary Greg Moriarty addressed the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide at a hearing in Sydney on Tuesday.
Counsel assisting Erin Longbottom KC asked Mr Moriarty whether it would be fair to say the department had a "blind spot" on veteran suicide before the 2020 Afghanistan Inquiry, also known as the Brereton Report, and other probes.
"No, I wouldn't accept that," Mr Moriarty replied.
"Those reports and our experience of recent years has intensified focus on these issues."
He revealed there are not enough mental health workers able to assist defence members due a nationwide shortage of trained professionals.
"We do not have enough mental health professionals for the Australian community more broadly, certainly within the defence organisation they are hard to recruit," Mr Moriarty said.
The department spent $7.2 million on mental health and wellbeing in the past financial year but Mr Moriarty didn't believe a funding injection would address the issue.
He acknowledged his own views around veteran suicide were previously "very simplistic and narrow" but have broadened considerably.
Mr Moriarty said suicide remained a "major challenge" and had been given greater emphasis as a wellness issue for the past five or six years.
However, extra resources in mental health and wellbeing have not led to enough improvement, he said.
"I remain very disappointed we have not been able to change some of the underlying statistics," Mr Moriarty said.
"When I look at the challenges that the organisation has in terms of the way in which workplace health and safety incidents are still higher than I would want them to be.
"The reporting of unacceptable behaviours, and I'm referring here to the services, as well as the groups that I have responsibility for."
Earlier, the mother of Afghanistan veteran Jesse Bird told the commission she believes bureaucratic delays contributed to her son's death.
Mr Bird took his own life in 2017 more than a year after applying for permanent impairment payments, with funds landing in his account weeks after his death.
"Denying the claims actually cost us our son," Karen Bird told the commission.
"Because he died as a direct result of malfeasance and maladministration, his suicide was preventable."
She said gestures such as laying wreaths on Anzac Day and Remembrance Day have not made it any easier for veterans to get help.
"Veterans actually need to be treated like human beings," Dr Bird said.
At least 1600 Australian veterans and serving defence force members died by suicide between 1997 and 2020, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
The inquiry previously heard there was a backlog of more than 30,000 veteran compensation claims made to the Department of Veteran Affairs.
Australian Defence Force chief Angus Campbell will address the inquiry commission later in the week, with the final report due to be handed down in early September.
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Australian Associated Press
