Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide to hear from grieving families

Julie-Ann Finney’s veteran son David Finney took his own life at 38 – now she wants justice for him at a royal commission into Defence suicides.

Julie-Ann Finney carried the burden of loss of her navy veteran son David Finney for more than two years and was a driving force in having his suicide death - and that of hundreds of others - investigated by a royal commission.

But on Monday, the South Australian mother will finally have her voice heard, when she makes her public submission surrounding her son’s death in front of the commissioners.

“I’m so grateful we are finally here but due to so many lies it is difficult to trust,” Ms Finney said.

“We - veterans and families - must now be the big voice against those that fought against a royal commission and stand up for the insignificant and in some cases the ignored voices.”

Ms Finney collected almost 500,000 signatures calling for a royal commission since her 38-year-old navy poster-boy son David died in 2019. She was backed by The Daily Telegraph’s Save Our Heroes campaign.

Julie-Ann Finney organised a petition of almost 500,000 signatures calling for a royal commission.

Her son had chillingly spoken publicly about his struggle with mental health issues only months before ending his life.

The veteran of service in Bougainville, East Timor and Middle East, who enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy as an 18-year-old, spent 20 years deployed around the world, rescuing refugees and helping war-torn communities.

But when he was medically discharged in 2017, diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the father struggled with depression and reconciling civilian life with the horrors he had witnessed.

In digital interviews and podcasts late last year, a few months before his death on February 1, the petty officer said he “hoped sharing his story about PTSD will help break down the taboos around mental health for military personnel”.

Julie-Ann visits the grave of her son Dave. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Brenton Edwards

‘YOUR VOICES WILL BE HEARD’

The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide will begin to take evidence today from Brisbane for two weeks of public hearings before resuming in Sydney in February and March next year.

The commission began on Friday with five words many have waited decades to hear, brining quiet tears and cheers from current and serving personnel and their families.

“Your voices will be heard,” the royal commission chair Nick Kaldas said in a powerful opening address to the royal commission in Brisbane.

Mr Kaldas – a former NSW Deputy Police Commissioner and United Nations investigator – said the commission, expected to go for two years, would hear some harrowing stories, adding the significance and magnitude of the task ahead was not lost on him, his fellow commissioners or the team of barristers assisting them.

But he said they had the power and authority to unearth issues, summons witnesses to appear and ultimately change a system and process that had struggled to keep up with modern warfare and civilian society.

“I and my fellow commissioners see this as a once in a generation opportunity for lasting fundamental change,” Mr Kaldos said.

“If we succeed in our aims and we hope and pray that there will be no need for further inquiries of this kind into defence and veteran suicide.”

Karen Bird, Julie-Ann Finney and Nikki Jamieson all lost their sons to suicide. Picture: Zak Simmonds

He said serving and former defence personnel were over-represented in suicide statistics and there was a clear need for change.

Mr Kaldas said he would apply an “investigators mindset” to the task at hand, based on his almost 40 years on the national and international law enforcement stage including leading the UN investigations into the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri and the use of chemical weapons in Syria and time served in Iraq with coalition forces as an adviser.

“Throughout these duties I have tried to right wrongs and help those who cannot help themselves,” he said.

Mr Kaldas said there was formidable strength and expertise in his co-commissioners, former Queensland Supreme Court Judge James Douglas QC and psychiatrist and former National Mental Health Commission CEO Dr Peggy Brown.

Mr Douglas said since post the Boer War in 1902 Australia has had inquiries into how its troops’ welfare. But this inquiry he said had wide ranging terms of reference that reflected that Australia had been involved in wars for 40 per cent of the time the Commonwealth has existed.

Julie-Ann Finney collected almost 500,000 signatures calling for a royal commission since her 38-year-old navy poster-boy son David died in 2019

“I’m so grateful we are finally here but due to so many lies it is difficult to trust,” Ms Finney, who is in the Brisbane to give evidence next week, said.

“We – veterans and families – must now be the big voice against those that fought against a royal commission and stand up for the insignificant and in some cases the ignored voices.”