Lambie goes back to drawing board to keep pace in veterans’ fight

Lambie goes back to drawing board to keep pace in veterans’ fight

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A DEFENCE information gathering tour has added ammunition to Senator Jacqui Lambie’s battle for a Royal Commission and left a burning question asked by the bulk of the community – what next?

Tasmanian Senator Lambie held her whirlwind tour of Townsville, host to the nation’s largest military base just days after the Interim Veteran Commissioner’s fly by visit, attended by only those invited.

The secret visit left many defence families outraged, a sentiment shared by Federal MP Phillip Thompson, adding pressure for Senator Lambie and her convoy to not repeat.

Senator Lambie invited the Townsville Bulletin to capture the concerns of defence families and veterans in a series of exclusive interviews.

Senator Jacqui Lambie and Kennedy MP Bob Katter meet with veterans at Australian Warfighter Coffee. Jacqui speaks with Jason Watson and Noel Green. Picture: Alix Sweeney

Senator Lambie said the visit has been informative and given her a change of perspective surrounding the importance of a garrison city like Townsville, as the stronghold for the nation’s largest current and ex-serving defence population.

But she admitted, navigating defence issues isn’t straight forward.

“It’s complex because it’s got four acts and then as well as that you’ve got COMSUPER (a military supperannuation scheme) on top,” Senator Lambie said.

“So basically it’s five pieces of knowledge that you’ve got to work your way through (and) got to get your head around that.

“If you’ve got PTSD and you’ve got drugs and alcohol dependence your payments will get lost if (your claim) is drug and alcohol because you’ve already had a payment for a mental illness.

“It’s called offsetting which Liberal Party brought in and that’s been a disaster (for veterans accessing full extent of entitlements).

For Senator Lambie, the complexity of defence issues and political power is her biggest challenge in bringing about effective change.

“I’ve got to keep going around to make sure those problems still exist and whether any of them have changed. Nothing’s changed,” she said.

“The unfortunate thing is I don’t have enough balance of power to change it but if I had five or six people there it would be different.

“I said to the government I’m not putting anything through until you get those changes done, but I don’t have that at this point in time, and whether I’ll ever have that, you know, we can still keep working with that but that’s not a guarantee so let’s see what other options are on the table.

“What can we do to make the Prime Minister of this country realise just how bad things are in our military? They talk about national security but if you haven’t got a military that’s running tickety (sic) boo on eight cylinders then our national security is already under threat anyway.”

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Accompanying Senator Lambie and Federal MP Bob Katter was a former special forces officer Heston Russell who spoke out against the handling of the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force’s (IGADF) long-running investigation.

The report recommended 19 current and former soldiers be investigated by police for the murder of 39 civilians and prisoners in Afghanistan and the “cruel treatment” of two others.

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA-NCA NewsWire Photos DECEMBER 8 2020. Senator Jacqui Lambie with former special forces commander Heston Russell about the Brereton Report in Parliament House, Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Using his recent media attention to push for veterans issues, Senator Lambie said if Heston Russell put his hand up to enter politics she wouldn’t hesitate to endorse him.

A move that Mr Russell said he couldn’t yet rule out.

“I don’t know. Again, I’m still formulating how to help best support veterans where it’s needed,” the retired Army Major said.

“My aspirations are 100% results focused.

“And to be honest, we’re also thinking strategically here, as in this year’s election year, you know we’re working towards this as a six – 12 month campaign. I’m not embarking on a 10 year campaign.”

Senator Jacqui Lambie with former special forces officer and founder of Voice of a Veteran Heston Russell during a recent visit to Townsville. Picture: Evan Morgan

Mr Russell, who founded Voice of a Veteran after a personal mental health battle and attempted suicide in 2020 said returning to the place he started his military career at has been therapeutic for his own recovery.

“It has helped me better understand in particular that true moral injury and cultural issue between the values and ethos we hold ourselves to in service and out of service,” Mr Russell said.

“It has actually given me a great understanding of how we can better work to support that, even just in articulating that a bit more.

“I realised coming from Sydney where I am, the values of that place is so completely different and I was leading an inauthentic (sic) and a superficial life and so the cultural change is helping, the pace required for transition is actually helping people to appreciate the differences of cultures in service and out of service and that we need to actually transition people, emotionally, along that path.”

Originally published as Lambie goes back to drawing board to keep pace in veterans’ fight