The Morrison government has announced yet again another royal commission, this time into veteran and serving defence personnel suicides. The question is, is there anything to see here, and if there is what's to be done about it. Morrison said he hoped the commission would be a "healing process", at the moment the government is struggling to come up with the terms of reference for the inquiry. What is known is that there is evidence that there has been around 400 known veteran suicide cases dating back to 2001, but that figure has soared over the past 12 months. The 20 years of Australian involvement in the Afghanistan War resulted in 41 deaths.

Do yourself and Australia a favour, you miserable wretch, and see if your wife can get you into New Zealand to live.

How did this tragic phenomenon of suicide by soldiers evolve ? Is PTS perhaps pushed too much ? Could it be that the more faux sympathetic society becomes the more such stress escalates ?
We hear of too many succumbing to that but what actually causes it in the first place. Do these symptoms emerge on the battle field or after soldiers return home & get treated like second rate citizens by those they put their life on line for in the first place ?
Drug abuse before conflict seems to be a factor in the escalation of stress afterwards.
It could possibly help towards finding solutions if those suffering spoke out in places like here.

Dear paul1405,

Yes I think Jackie Lambie has done a fantasic job bring the PM kicking and screaming to the table on this and she deserves every credit.

There is little doubt that suicide inflicts a terrible toll on our society in general but on our returned service men and women in particular.

Added to that the recent finds of the criminal acts by a small portion of our troops in Afghanistan will be weighing heavily even on those who have served with distinction.

I believe a special debt is owed to those who our country sends overseas to fight on our behalf and it is very hard to see that it has been honoured fully by our government.

Dear Paul,

Thank You for bringing this topic up for discussion.

A Royal Commission is the way to go and hopefully their
findings and recommendations for reform will end up
being implemented. A big Thank You to Jacqui Lambie
and to our PM for doing something positive.
Perhaps something good will come out of all this.

Mental problems resulting from war, has most likely been with Australian soldiers since our first military conflict in the Boar War 1901. Concerns for returning troops was simply ignored or brushed aside, and having metal problems was seen as a weakness. Not until the Vietnam War was there momentum to at least look into the issues, but nothing concrete was done. Today there is some chance through a royal commission that the problems are going to finally be addressed. Jacqui Lambie was a leading political voice calling for a RC, she was also incensed somewhat yesterday with Morrison handing the job of drafting the terms of reference to a public servant. She thinks the PS is to be part of the enquiry, and having them determine the terms of reference is a conflict of interest, I think she's right.

ttbn, did Nursey slip you and extra "nasty pill" this morning.