The black hole in my heart: MP’s tears if fight to stop vet suicide
A Queensland federal MP and former serviceman has wept as he delivered a speech for the mother of a Digger who suicided. SEE VIDEO
QLD Politics
Don't miss out on the headlines from QLD Politics. Followed categories will be added to My News.
An emotional Queensland federal MP and former serviceman has wiped tears from his eyes as he apologised to the mother of a soldier who took his own life, and spoke about the “dark hole” he himself had come out of, as he backed a royal commission into veteran suicide.
Member for Herbert Phil Thompson, who served in Afghanistan, spoke about his and other veterans’ anguish as he delivered an emotional speech, which he directed to Julie-Ann Finney, the mother of deceased veteran David Finney.
“I’m sorry for what you’ve had to go through, the loss of your son,” he said.
“I’m sorry for every mother that has had to bury their son.
“Every family member who had to bury a loved one.
“The mates who are beside themselves.”
With tears in his eyes, Mr Thompson said: “I have all this paper to say how I feel, but I can’t even read it.”
He said he wished the mother of his friend Jesse Bird, who suicided, was present in the gallery today as the push for a royal commission into veteran suicide continued.
“His death is on my shoulders and is my responsibility. Even though it’s not, but the weight of the burden never goes away.
“The black hole in my heart for my 10 mates who have died is nowhere near to the pain that you must have been enduring this whole time.
“I hate having to relive, re-talk everything. There is no weight off the shoulders standing at this dispatch box. Every day we have to relive the loss of our mates.”
Mr Thompson said spoke about his personal experience and those of his mates.
“Every day I hear of people that I know, people at my level, at the private level, who have died at their own home,” he said.
“When I was on operations in Afghanistan we accepted death, I didn’t expect it when I came home. I didn’t think that I would be going to funerals all the time.
“I didn’t think that people that I call brother couldn’t reach out because their pain in the hole they were in was so dark.
“I’ve been there. I spent years in that dark hole. My wife pulled me out of that hole and so did friends who gave me a good clip around the ear or a punch in the mouth.
“The hole was that dark that it felt like there was nothing else.”
He said he supported establishing a Royal Commission into veterans suicide, but also the ongoing national commission into the issue already established by the government.
The Member for Herbert said no level of government had done enough to prevent the deaths that were occurring too frequently.
“I wasn’t a senior officer. I wasn’t even a corporal, I was a private soldier.
“I’m not supposed to be in this place. But I take my mates voices.
“I do in my heart think that an ongoing … national commission can work.
“I don’t want to bury more people.”