Scale of veterans’ suicide laid bare

More than 1270 former and serving ADF members have died by suicide in the past two decades – three times the number previously reported.

New Australian Institute of Health and Welfare figures reveal 970 ex-servicemen and 92 ex-servicewomen took their own lives from 2001 to 2019.

More than 1270 former and serving Australian Defence Force members have died by suicide in the past two decades – three times the number previously reported.

New Australian Institute of Health and Welfare figures, which will be considered by the upcoming Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, reveal 970 ex-servicemen and 92 ex-servicewomen took their own lives from 2001 to 2019.

A further 211 serving ADF personnel – 199 men and 12 women – died by suicide in the same period.

The latest numbers are a dramatic increase on the 267 veteran suicides and 198 suicides by serving ADF personnel identified by the AIHW in its report last year.

The change is due to an extra 149,000 veterans in the survey who served from 1985 to 2000, more than doubling the sample size of its predecessor which considered only those who served in the ADF after January 2001.

In 2019, 84 veterans and serving ADF members took their own lives – slightly down on the 91 suicides in 2016, as the Brereton war crimes inquiry got under way.

Veteran Family Advocate Gwen Cherne, whose ex-serviceman husband Peter took his own life in 2017, said the latest report “gives our community a much better reflection of what the numbers should be”.

“They are people. They are sons and daughters, mothers and fathers,” she said.

“It is so important that we are respectful to those who died, and ensure that they are remembered, accounted for and, more importantly, acknowledged.”

The rate at which veterans suicide is consistent with previous surveys. Ex-servicemen have a 24 per cent higher suicide rate than the general population, while ex-servicewomen are twice as likely to take their own lives than those who have not served.

Serving ADF personnel are about half as likely to die by suicide as everyday Australians, due to “protective factors” associated with ongoing ADF membership.

 

Navy veterans are most at risk from suicide, with 33 per 100,000 taking their own lives, compared to 31 per 100,000 for army veterans and 21.7 per 100,000 for those who have served in the air force.

Those who leave the ADF as commissioned officers are about half as likely to take their own lives as non-commissioned officers, while male veterans under 50 are more likely to suicide than those aged over 50.

The suicide rate for those who leave the ADF for medical reasons is about three times that of those who are discharged voluntarily.

Karen Bird, the mother of ­Afghanistan veteran Jesse Bird who died by suicide in 2017, said the new data was important because it shed a light on the true scale of the issue.

“We talk to one another and I know there are a lot of Jesse’s out there, and their families,” Ms Bird said. “It’s great someone is going to be holding a mirror up and making someone accountable.

“It’s been four years since I lost Jesse and it still makes my cry.”

The latest numbers follow Scott Morrison’s announcement in April of a wide-ranging royal commission into veteran suicides, to examine “the human cost” of ADF service.

Jesse Bird died surrounded by paperwork built up as part of his frustrating attempt to claim financial support and compensation from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs for his service-related psychological injuries.

“(War) touches people differently,” Ms Bird said. “I say to people now on reflection that if Jesse hadn’t come home damaged, I would have perhaps been really worried because it wouldn’t have said much for his humanity not to be touched by what he saw and what he was asked to do.”

Former paratrooper Martin Rollins, who attempted suicide several times while he battled DVA over a compensation claim, said the royal commission needed to also examine the number of ­attempted suicides by veterans.

National Mental Health Commission chief Christine Morgan said: “These increased numbers emphasise the urgency of the need to continue our work to improve our services and support, to reach out, and lean into our veterans.”