Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide boosts confidentiality
A 99-year confidentiality clause is set to protect the Territory’s past and present ADF personnel when engaging with the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.
Northern Territory
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New laws to protect past and present ADF personnel have come into play in a bid to boost submissions to the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.
Defence and Veterans Legal Service senior lawyer Rachael Vincent said the new legislation ensures submissions filed with confidentiality requests would remain private for 99 years after the royal commission ends.
“It means that if you are wanting to tell your story to the royal commission in a completely private way, you can, knowing that nobody else can get a copy of your story,” Ms Vincent said.
“It’s important as people are telling really personal accounts of really serious things that have happened to them in the past.
“People are talking about things like abuse, bullying, or about incidents that involve certain places or people, and people want the assurance that those people or places that they’re mentioning won’t actually know that they’re telling a story.”
Ms Vincent said DAVLS had delivered 250 services in the NT so far, including advice, private sessions or helping with submissions.
She said the royal commission had received more than 3300 submissions so far.
“Each story is unique and each story speaks to current issues, and so the more, the better,” Ms Vincent said.
“The NT has a huge military community of current serving ADF members, veterans, and their families.
“The NT has unique challenges with remoteness and so those challenges really need be heard from NT ADF members and veterans.”
The changes to privacy laws come after the Commission conducted hearings in Darwin in October.
The commission examined issues relating to overseas deployment, life on bases, and the ADF’s mental health services.
“The NT certainly has – as compared to the rest of Australia – unique challenges and unique insights into what’s happening and what can changed for the better,” Ms Vincent said.
She said the 2021 census found half a million Australians had served or were currently serving in the ADF.
The data also revealed 9534 Territorians who had a service history – 3874 were currently in regular service, 547 were in the reserves, and 5110 had previously served but were no longer in the ADF.
“Those are the people who are placed to share their stories and to share their unique insights about how life as a veteran or an ADF member in the NT is different to everywhere else in Australia,” Ms Vincent said.
Submissions to the royal commission close on October 13.
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