War veterans and relatives slapped with $100 attendance fee for symposium

Parents of dead war veterans and injured former soldiers have been invited to share their experiences – but there’s a sting in the tail.

Parents of dead veterans as well as injured ex-soldiers who were invited to a conference on defence force suicides were told they would have to pay $100 a day to attend.

The move has outraged the defence and veterans’ communities, after several members recently received invitations to a symposium in Canberra on March 10 and 11 which included the daily charge.

The invitation was sent from the office of the recently appointed interim national commissioner for defence and veteran suicide Bernadette Boss.

Federal Member for Herbert and Afghanistan veteran Philip Thompson said he was disgusted and had been urgently trying to ensure the fees would not be charged.

He said members of the veterans community who had contacted him were extremely angry and upset about the move, which he lashed as offensive.

“The commissioner should be paying them for their knowledge about the issue, not the other way around,” he said.

He has sent a letter to Dr Boss saying it is unacceptable that people who have the “lived experience that must be heard” were being forced to pay $100 a day for the privilege.

“Those insights are vital if we are to ever shine a light into the darkest corners of an issue that has festered in the shadows for far too long,” he said.

He also reflected on his own experience of losing 10 mates to suicide, saying he could not stress enough how it important it was to understand and put a stop to the “systematic issue of death by suicide” in the defence and veterans’ communities.

“A seat at the table for those who have vital input should come with no cost attached,” he said.

The invitation says the symposium would inform a review of past defence force and veterans’ suicides under the theme of “prevention through understanding” and involve researchers, experts and practitioners.

It offers attendance through live-streaming, however in-person attendance is listed at $100 a day, including complimentary networking drinks on the first afternoon.

The commissioner’s website says: “The insights, stories and understanding offered by families and others closely offered by families and others closely affected by the loss of a defence member or veteran to suicide will be of crucial importance to the national commissioner’s work.”

The Commissioner and Attorney-General’s Department did not respond before deadline.