Statement by the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs,

Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Centenary of ANZAC and Special Minister of State,

Senator the Hon. Michael Ronaldson

Research into the effects of military service on veterans and their families

Tuesday, 28 October 2014

At the last election, the Government announced a comprehensive policy agenda to meet the needs of veterans and their families. We announced our four-pillar approach to veterans’ affairs:

  • Recognising the unique nature of military service;
  • Retaining a stand-alone Department of Veterans’ Affairs;
  • Tackling the mental health challenges for veterans and their families; and
  • Supporting veterans through adequate advocacy and welfare services.

To meet these commitments, the Government has:

  • Delivered its election commitment to change the indexation of Defence Forces Retirement Benefit (DFRB) and Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefit (DFRDB) military superannuation pensions, for superannuants aged 55 and over from 1 July 2014;
  • Restored $1 million in advocacy and welfare support funding under the Building Excellence in Support and Training (BEST) programme, funding which was slashed by the former Labor government;
  • Expanded access to counselling services through the Veterans and Veterans Families Counselling Service;
  • Ensured that more veterans and ex-service people can get treatment for certain mental health conditions without the need to lodge a claim for compensation through DVA, or to prove that the condition is service related;
  • Cut red-tape for veterans lodging claims through the acceptance of Defence ID when making a claim for compensation;
  • Reduced the time taken to process compensation claims across all three compensation acts, and acknowledge that more work must be done to get these down even further.

Since becoming the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, and in the three years prior as the shadow minister, I made it clear that I was not prepared to see the mistakes of the past repeated when it came to the nation’s treatment of its veterans, ex-service personnel and their families. The treatment of Vietnam veterans remains a dark stain on this nation’s history – it is something that must never be repeated. This philosophy underpins everything the Government seeks to achieve.

In this statement, I will address the importance of three research studies as a significant investment by the Government into the future health and wellbeing of veterans, peacekeepers and their families. These research studies also reflect the generous participation of the veteran and ex-service community.

Proper and robust research will help us to plan for the future. The research studies released today give us an enhanced understanding of the long-term effects of military service from a range of wartime and peacekeeping missions on the health of veterans and their families, and their access to health services.

Service in the Australian Defence Force is unique. It combines a strong sense of camaraderie, identity and purpose. It can also be physically and mentally demanding, and expose members to stress and risk, including through the operations considered by these research reports. We need to acknowledge and honour the contribution of our service men and women, including when they are put in harm’s way through the course of their duties.

We also need to highlight the range of health impacts of defence service on veterans and on their families, including their mental health. We are now in a stronger position than ever to provide effective support and assistance. For instance, with mental health over the past few decades, we have developed much more knowledge about mental health conditions and how people can recover from mental illness with support and appropriate treatment.

The research studies

These three studies represent a significant investment in the future health and wellbeing of veterans, peacekeepers and their families, with the Government providing funding of around $12.25 million to support their completion.

Prior to the election, the Government committed itself to release of the Vietnam Veterans Family Study at the earliest opportunity. We also promised extensive consultation

Today, this report to Government is released.

The Vietnam Veterans’ Family Study, with over 27,000 participants, is one of the most significant government-funded research projects commissioned about veterans and their families. I would like to first and foremost thank those veterans and their families who participated in the study, and acknowledge the hard work of the various researchers involved, including the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, the Australian Institute of Family Studies and Colmar Brunton Social Research.

I particularly acknowledge the Consultative Forum for the Study, made up of veterans, partners and children, which also made a significant investment of their time and expertise, for which I am very grateful. My thanks go to Professor Bryan Rodgers, Chair of the study’s Scientific Advisory Committee, and its members who ensured the rigour and validity of this large study.

The Study compared the physical, mental and social wellbeing of two groups of Australian veterans: 10,000 randomly selected Army Vietnam veterans and their families, with 10,000 randomly selected Defence personnel who served in the Army during the Vietnam War era but did not deploy to Vietnam along with their families.

Sampling for the study was done by randomly selecting 11,175 Vietnam veterans from the Nominal Roll of Vietnam Veterans and about 13,000 comparison group members from Department of Defence data obtained from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

To develop a scientifically robust study, participants were randomly sampled to

ensure that they were representative of the relevant population and to minimise

any potential bias.

Random select participants -Vietnam Veterans Family Study

Number of participants
Vietnam veteran group / Vietnam-era personnel
Status / Member / Family / Member / Family
Registered / 3,948 / 8,090 / 3,980 / 3,907
Responded / 3,009 / 5,363 / 2,535 / 2,132
Percentage complete / 76.22 / 66.29 / 63.69 / 54.57

The research findings indicate that although the majority of sons and daughters of Vietnam veterans are leading healthy and productive lives, the family members of deployed Vietnam veterans were more likely to have emotional, physical and social problems than other comparable military families.

Looking forward, this important research will help inform how to target and tailor health services and other programmes. It is important to note that since the Vietnam War, we now have far more knowledge and more support services in place – not least due to the efforts of the Vietnam veterans and their families themselves.

This covers support for both veterans and their families, including through the Veterans and Veterans Families Counselling Service (VVCS). This counselling service, born as the Vietnam Veterans’ Counselling Service in 1982, provided in the last financial year over 89,000 counselling sessions to over 14,000 veterans and their families from all conflicts and peacekeeping operations since the Second World War.

This legacy of the Vietnam War – conceived in a time of poor national appreciation of the service of our Vietnam veterans and the impact of their service on their lives – is a a truly great one. Those veterans instrumental in its establishment deserve great praise for their foresight.

As we know, early intervention is critical if we are to ensure that veterans receive the best treatment possible for their conditions. This is as important for the veteran’s family as it is for the veteran.

The Peacekeeper Health Study focuses on seven peacekeeping missions from 1989 to 2002: Namibia, Western Sahara, Cambodia, Rwanda, Somalia and two East Timor deployments. More than 14,000 Australian personnel were deployed as part of these operations. The vast majority participated in the East Timor operations, with over 10,000 personnel deployed between 1999 and 2002. A random sample of over 2,000 peacekeepers were invited to participate, with more than 1,000 contributing.

University of Melbourne researchers conducted this study. I pay tribute to Associate Professor Graeme Hawthorne who took the initial lead. Unfortunately, Professor Hawthorne’s untimely death meant he was not able to see the results of this project, but I am sure he would have been pleased and proud of the project’s completion. I would like to thank Professor Mark Creamer for taking on and completing the lead investigator role part way through the project.

The research found that most peacekeepers (65%) to be in good, very good or excellent health. Nevertheless, about 20% are showing moderate levels of mental ill health and vulnerability, with 10% reporting more severe problems. However, over 80% of the peacekeepers with a mental health condition are accessing treatment services, which I consider very encouraging. We know that with effective treatment and support, many people with a mental health condition can recover.

The final study released today is the Rwandan Deployment Health Study. This study, conducted by the (then) Centre for Military and Veterans’ Health, investigated the health outcomes of the 680 veterans from Operation TAMAR in Rwanda. This research primarily looked at defence medical records and compensation claim data obtained from the Departments of Veterans’ Affairs and Defence. We know that more than half of these Rwanda veterans are not in receipt of compensation for a health condition. But of those with an accepted compensation claim, there is a high rate of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.

The studies released today have relied on the first hand, quantitative evidence provided by veterans and their families. Their contributions, frank answers to questions and willingness to participate has provided the evidence for the findings contained.

I acknowledge that these studies represent a significant investment by the study participants. They have made a valuable contribution. I want to publicly acknowledge and state the Government’s appreciation for their efforts.

The Government’s investment in research does not end with the release of these studies. In July this year, I launched the Transition and Wellbeing Research Programme, the most comprehensive research programme of its type undertaken in Australia. This $5 million research project, jointly funded by DVA and Defence, will examine the impact of military service on the mental, physical and social health of serving and ex-serving personnel who have deployed to contemporary conflicts. More importantly, it will build on and improve the evidence provided in the first Middle East Area of Operation (MEAO) study, enabling us to understand the transition of veterans at certain intervals post their service.

For the first time, this will include a picture of the mental and physical health of service personnel after discharge and how mental health symptoms change over time. It will also investigate how individuals previously diagnosed with a mental health condition access care, as well as examining the experiences and needs of families of serving and ex-serving members.

This is an important and tangible way to ensure we do not repeat the mistakes of the past.

Honour the Service

Australia has a long and proud military tradition of overseas military service during times of war and on peacekeeping and humanitarian missions. It is important to acknowledge and honour the men and women who served in the Vietnam War and on various United Nations’ sanctioned peacekeeping and peacemaking operations.

The Vietnam War was the longest conflict on which Australians were involved during the twentieth century. Almost 60,000 Australians served in Vietnam, of whom 521 died and more than 3,000 were wounded. Today, there are about 45,000 surviving veterans from that conflict.

We have learnt many important lessons from the Vietnam veterans’ experience, not least as a result of how many were treated upon return. However, Vietnam veterans’ resolve in having their voices heard in the decades since their service, and their continuing commitment to each other, has left an enduring and positive legacy for today.

In the early 1990s, following the end of the Cold War, the number and scale of Australian peacekeeping deployments rapidly increased. For a period in 1993, Australia had over 2,000 peacekeepers in the field, with large contingents in Cambodia and Somalia. In Cambodia, Australia took a leading diplomatic role in the search for a settlement to civil strife in a country still suffering from the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime of the 1970s.

One of the most significant overseas peacekeeping missions during this period was Operation TAMAR – Australia’s contribution to the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda. The Rwanda Deployment Health Study I am releasing today recognises that ADF personnel served in extraordinary circumstances during the course of that deployment.

Families

Of the three studies being launched today, the Vietnam Veterans Family Study focuses on the intergenerational effects of war service – specifically Vietnam War service.

This Government places great store on the capacity and importance of families, as shown by our pre-election policy commitment to ‘veterans and their families’.

We know that families play a central role in shaping the health and wellbeing of its members. That said, we also know there have been profound shifts in the formation and roles of families over the past few decades, as families respond to new social and economic conditions.

The study confirms the importance of families and the need to connect them to support and programmes. This study also shows that for this group of Vietnam veterans, there are some intergenerational effects for some children.

There are now a wide range of family supports available for all Australians, including resources for building better relationships through to dispute resolution. There are specific supports available for families with children who are at risk of separation, or who have separated.

These mainstream supports are also complemented by veteran support for families, particularly through the Veterans and Veterans Families Counselling Service (VVCS). This is a service founded by Vietnam veterans and it is an enduring legacy for all veterans.

Family members can be affected by a loved one’s military service and are fundamental to the veteran’s successful transition following deployments and separation from military service. As a family inclusive organisation, VVCS recognises the importance of engaging family members to address the potential impacts of mental health concerns and military service on VVCS clients and their families.

It is important to acknowledge that sons and daughters of Vietnam veterans of any age are eligible to access, and be supported by, VVCS services.

Mental health

A major theme in common across the three studies is mental health, and how veterans and families are dealing with the mental health effects of war and peacekeeping.

This vindicates the efforts and the priority on mental health for the Government though both Defence and Veterans’ Affairs.

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) has invested significant resources on mental health, with a focus on building the resilience and achieving capability through mental fitness. For instance, ADF personnel now receive psycho-educational training about the risks they will face before deployments and a range of post-deployment screenings to assess their coping and to determine whether they would benefit from additional support. Defence also now offers a broad range of programs and services to help Defence families manage the military way of life.

This Government is committed to tackling the mental health challenges for veterans and their families.

In 2012-13, the Government spent almost $179 million on meeting the mental health needs of the veteran and ex-service community. Funding for veteran mental health treatment is demand driven and it is not capped.

There is a comprehensive service system in place to treat mental health conditions, including general practitioner services, psychologist and social work services, psychiatric services, pharmaceuticals, trauma recovery programmes, in-patient and outpatient hospital treatment and VVCS.

The key to good mental health is to take action early. The Government has therefore invested considerably in providing veterans with more streamlined access to mental health treatment. The Government can pay for treatment for diagnosed PTSD, depression, anxiety and alcohol and substance use disorders – whatever the cause. The condition does not have to be related to service. These arrangements are available to anyone who has deployed on operations overseas, and many who have served for more than three years at home. For instance, any of those who served in the Vietnam War or in peacekeeping operations are eligible for these arrangements. Importantly, no compensation claim is required to access these arrangements.

The Government has also established a new Prime Ministerial Advisory Council with a focus on veteran mental health. The Council, which met for the first time in July this year, will advise the Prime Minister and me on high level strategic and complex matters relating to the mental health of veterans and their families.