A woman whose husband took his own life after a decade of serving in the Air Force has described the Department of Veterans’ Affairs as “cruel” and “inhumane”.
Key points:
- Madonna Paul’s husband Michael was eventually diagnosed with depression and received a white card for PTSD after he was discharged
- Following Michael’s death, Ms Paul struggled to access support from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, until she contacted the ABC’s 7.30 program
- She says the experience of dealing with the DVA deprived her of having a “half-decent life”
Madonna Paul’s husband Michael died in 2004 after struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and mental health issues.
Ms Paul told the Hobart sitting of the Royal Commission into Defense and Veteran Suicide that early in their marriage, Mr Paul was a “really easy-going guy” who “just loved life”.
She said his behavior changed after raising concerns with his superiors at the Swartz Barracks in Queensland about the safety of Nomad Aircraft, which had been nicknamed “Widowmaker”.
“Eventually he was called in and was told to shut up … do your job,” she said.
In 1991, one of the Nomad Aircraft crashed, killing all four crew members — an incident his wife said would change his life forever.
Ms Paul told the commission she was not aware of any debriefing or any critical incident discussions being offered in the wake of the crash.
“He would come home from work and sit in the dark,” she said.
“His moods became very erratic, there was some aggression.”
Eventually, the couple was offered a social worker at the Air Force Base in Townsville.
“And I never got to meet her, but Michael did. And he told me that she had said that we just have marriage problems,” Ms Paul said.
“I was just shocked because I knew that before. And I never did. I’d never met her. So she’d made a call without talking to me.
“I commenced marriage counselling, thinking that was the issue, that obviously somebody’s told him that’s the issue, but it wasn’t.”
Light aircraft trip in storm triggered ‘complete breakdown’
The commission heard that after being discharged from the Australian Army in 1994, Mr Paul was “relaxed for a bit” before having a “complete breakdown”.
“He was on his first light aircraft trip … when they hit a storm,” Ms Paul said.
“He called me when they landed and told me what had happened, and he was crying. And he said, ‘I can’t do this. I can’t get on these aircraft and keep doing this’.'”
The commission heard after a period of living rough, Mr Paul was eventually diagnosed with depression and received a white card for PTSD.
Struggling with their son’s attempt on his own life, Mr Paul was then prescribed medication by a psychiatrist.
“And when Michael was on [that] change of medication, that’s when the moods would become very erratic,” Ms Paul said.
“So I was always adamant because I did have a power of attorney, with his physicians that he’d be hospitalized for that changed medication.
“Unfortunately, the week before he died, he was on changed medication. And the physician didn’t contact me to hospitalize him.”
Dealing with department deprived widow of ‘half-decent life’
Following Mr Paul’s death, Ms Paul struggled to access support from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA), until she contacted the ABC’s 7:30 program.
“And within 24 hours [of the story airing]I had DVA calling me, people assigned to my case, and they awarded me a war widow’s pension,” she said.
She was given $130,000 in compensation from the DVA but said she has had around $220,000 deducted as part of her war widow payment.
“To find out, you know, I said to them, I think you’ve made an error because I’ve just done simple maths and I’ve already paid this. Why is this still being deducted?” she said.
“and [a woman from the DVA]she sort of scoffed, and said, ‘it’s perpetual, you will be doing this for the rest of your life’.”
Ms Paul said the experience of dealing with the DVA after her husband’s death nearly 20 years ago had deprived her of having a “half-decent life”.
“Because you’re living on next to nothing anyway, and trying to make everything ends meet, it’s stressful,” she said
“It just brings it all back up, and you have to go through it again, and tell the story again.
“I don’t understand the politics behind it, but it’s a very cruel and inhumane treatment.”
Ms Paul called for Australia to examine how other countries were helping veterans, including having services delivered by people with lived experience.
“I have suffered at the hands of DVA generational and systematic abuse, and it needs to stop,” she said.
“No-one knows what to say after a suicide. They do not know what to say. I mean, like, I can remember people saying time is the greatest healer.
“Honestly, time does not heal it. Having a great trauma specialist heals it.”
More support needed as personnel move out of service
National Mental Health Commissioner Alan Woodward told the hearings this morning that any government policy aimed at preventing suicide must be driven by those with lived experience.
“The quest for suicide prevention will be so much more effective if we listen and respond to the people we’re seeking to serve and support, than if we try to do it without those voices,” Mr Woodward said.
“This has been a problem in suicide prevention, where the input perhaps at times been dominated by those who do not have the lived experience perspective.”
Mr Woodward said a disproportionate number of Australian veterans were dying by suicide.
He told the commission that statistics showed deaths by suicide were more common for those who had left service involuntarily.
“Which further raises for me the importance of not just looking at the transition process where a person is moving from defense to non-defence status, but when they’re doing that not necessarily of their own accord, for whatever reason might be associated with it,” he said.
Mr Woodward said more support was needed during that transition period.
“Big changes are stressful … but where a change is brought about from someone else’s decision, not your own, then that is going to be even more magnified stress,” he said.
“It may raise all sorts of profound issues for that person about their sense of purpose, who they are and identity, where they go from here.”
The commission will finish its Hobart hearings this week and hand an interim report to the Governor-General on Thursday.
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