Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has stressed the importance of acquiring nuclear-powered submarines as soon as possible after the Chinese Ambassador to Australia delivered his first National Press Club speech this week.
Xiao Qian – who became Beijing’s top diplomat in Canberra this year – had defended China’s actions when it responded with live military drills in Taiwan following the historic visit from United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last week.
He warned Australia to handle the messaging around Taiwan “with caution” and added there was “no room for compromise” as China sees the island as its own territory.
Mr Xiao also threatened Beijing would take Taipei with force and would be “ready to use all necessary measures” to restore the liberal democracy “to the motherland”.
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Mr Dutton said he was not “shocked” by the remarks from the ambassador as the messaging was similar to what was delivered by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
But he agreed it was alarming to hear the comments being made on Australian shores before he flagged it would be no “surprise” if China invaded the island.
“I don’t think anyone would be surprised if there was an incursion into Taiwan,” he told ABC’s 7:30 on Thursday.
The Opposition Leader then stressed the importance of having a “deterrence in place”, in the form of nuclear submarines, to ward off a potential future attack.
“China is clear that their center of humiliation doesn’t come to an end until there is a re-unification, in their words, so it is important for us to have deterrence in place because any adversary should know that a strike on Australia would ‘t be accepted,” he said.
“And there would be retaliation and also weed need to be close and fight with our allies, not just America, but India and Japan.”
While Australia’s national security would be secure under the AUKUS alliance with the US and United Kingdom for the next five to six decades, he warned the nation needed nuclear-powered submarines to plug the capability gap.
He also came to the support of Defense Minister Richard Marles who insisted this week it is the government’s “top priority” to fill the gap left by the Collins fleet of boats.
“Yes, I very strongly support Richard Marles,” he said.
“He is adopting similar language that I used not too long ago to say if we can get those submarines off the production line, then we should certainly strongly believe that that is possible and that’s the course of action that the government should be pursuing. “
Mr Dutton also welcomed the response from Mr Marles, Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who have all called for a de-escalation of tensions in the Taiwan region but believes the messaging can be stronger.
“I believe very strongly that we are better to speak frankly about China’s intent – they’re clear about it themselves, as we have discussed, and it is important for Australians to hear that message,” he said.
Mr Marles is set to make a decision by March 2023 on whether Australia will go with acquiring eight US Virginia-class or British Astute-class built submarines.
The government is expected to decide then whether Australia will need interim, conventionally powered submarines before the AUKUS vessels are ready to hit the water, which may not be for another 20 years around the 2040s.
Mr Marles said this week he would like to see the new boats constructed in Australia as part of a beefing up of its domestic defense manufacturing ability.
Urgent action needs to be taken to eliminate the “unacceptable” backlog of veterans’ compensation claims, with almost 42,000 awaiting processing at the end of May, a royal commission has warned, saying the situation may lead to suicides.
Key points:
Thirteen recommendations have been made in the interim report, with five of them focusing on the DVA’s claims process and staffing levels
The commissioners identified 50 previous reports and more than 750 recommendations on these issues in the past 22 years
More current and former ADF members have died by suicide than in combat in the Afghan and Iraq wars, the government says
The Royal Commission into Defense and Veteran Suicide handed down its interim report this morning, calling for an end to the backlog and for a simplification of the claims system to make it easier for veterans.
The commission made 13 recommendations, with five focused on the Department of Veterans’ Affairs’ claims processes and staffing levels.
Another eight are intended to make it easier for witnesses to appear before the commission and allow it to more easily access documents.
The commissioners also said they were “dismayed” at the “limited” ways the federal government had reacted to previous reports relevant to the topics of suicide and suicidality among serving and ex-serving defense force members.
“We have identified over 50 previous reports, and more than 750 recommendations [since the year 2000],” the report said.
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‘There’s nothing else left’: Jacqui Lambie makes emotional plea for veterans to speak to royal commission
‘Lives depend on’ clearing claims backlog
Commission chair Nick Kaldas said the Department of Veterans’ Affairs’ (DVA) claims backlog was “unacceptable” and could lead to suicide and suicidality in some cases.
“Behind each claim is a veteran who needs support, and it is seriously important that this assistance is provided as quickly as possible — lives and livelihoods depend on it,” he said.
The commission has recommended the department be given until March 2024 to eliminate the claims backlog, and called on the government to streamline processes and ensure DVA had the necessary resources to do so.
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Veteran Gavin Tunstall on lack of training to deal with traumatic scenes
The report found Australia’s veteran compensation and rehabilitation system was “so complicated that it adversely affects the mental health of some veterans” and it recommended the federal government introduce legislative reforms by the end of the year.
“Previous reports and inquiries … have called for legislative simplification and harmonization,” the report said.
“We recognize that making change will not be easy, but the difficulties of reform provide no justification to delay any further.”
Witness calls department ‘cruel and inhumane’
Widow Madonna Paul told the commission she struggled to access support after the death of her husband by suicide.(ABC News: Luke Bowden)
The commission has heard wide-ranging accounts of horrific abuse and trauma since public hearings began in November last year.
At the Tasmanian hearings, which wrapped up on Wednesday, the commission heard from Senator Jacqui Lambie, who said a back injury that resulted in her being medically discharged began a six-year battle with the Department of Veterans’ Affairs for compensation, as well as debilitating pain and depression.
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Jacqui Lambie says a department spied on her from a bush behind her house for weeks.
She said the department put her under surveillance after becoming suspicious she was faking her injuries, and representatives from the rehabilitation service spied on her from a bush near her back fence.
The widow of an ex-serviceman also spoke out about her struggles with the “cruel and inhumane” Department of Veterans’ Affairs.
She said she struggled to access support following her husband’s suicide.
And a former soldier spoke of his trauma after seeing the bodies of two boys killed in combat in Afghanistan.
Australia has lost more serving members to suicide than recent combat: Minister
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Veterans’ Affairs Minister Matt Keogh said the federal government was committed to a better future for Australia’s current and ex-service personnel and would look into implementing the report’s recommendations.
“Unfortunately, the rate of veterans’ suicide in Australia is a national tragedy,” he said.
“It’s devastating that Australia has lost more serving and former serving personnel to suicide than it has lost through operations over the last 20 years in Afghanistan and Iraq.”
Governor-General David Hurley receives the interim report from commissioner Nick Kaldas this morning.(AAP: Mick Tsikas)
Mr Keogh said it was important the recommendations were “addressed as a priority” and the government had already started hiring 500 additional staff to help the Department of Veterans’ Affairs clear its claims backlog.
He also said it had been made clear to the defense force and government departments that “the royal commission must be assisted in any way possible to ensure that it can make the most effective recommendations on how to address the scourge of suicide that has plagued our defense personnel, veterans and families.
Mr Keogh said he was “deeply sorry” if there had been failings in the way the defense force and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs had operated.
‘We’ve had silence for long enough’
Julie-Ann Finney called for the royal commission after the death of her son.(ABC News: Luke Bowden)
Julie-Ann Finney, the mother of a veteran who took his own life, said it was “uplifting” to know that people were finally talking about the high rates of suicidality among current and former defense force personnel.
Ms Finney became a high-profile campaigner for the commission to be established after her son, Petty Officer David Finney, took his own life in 2019.
She has attended hearings all over the country, carrying a photo of David with her each day.
Ms Finney said the hearings were confronting, but incredibly important.
“It’s frustration, anger and trauma associated with all this listening, but the alternative is silence, and we’ve had silence for long enough,” she said.
“Unfortunately, I was quite naive before my own son took his life but I don’t find myself naive anymore. I need to keep learning, keep listening to people.
Ms Finney called on the federal government to immediately act on the interim report’s recommendations, but she said she was more confident than ever that change would occur.
“I don’t want to speak to another mother who has recently lost her child, or a father or a partner,” she said.
“We need to look at why this is happening and find solutions, and I feel at the moment that that is coming out.
“We will just keep fighting. I’ve said it from the beginning that I didn’t bury my son to walk away — and there are hundreds like me.”
Ms Finney said she wanted to see the creation of an independent body where service personnel could report concerns about their mental health and unacceptable behaviour, and she also wanted the Department of Veterans’ Affairs to immediately clear its claims backlog.
Surge in compensation cases sees backlog grow six times in size
The commissioners said many people who had participated in the royal commission so far had spoken about their “frustration and disappointment” with the processing of compensation claims and “an unhelpful and negative attitude” from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs staff.
“Negative engagement with DVA staff regarding claims and entitlements was pervasive,” the report said.
“Long waiting times to action and pursue claims produced considerable frustration for ex-serving members.
“Many said that they dealt with simultaneous injuries, mental ill health and complex socioeconomic pressures.”
The report also found veterans were not given accurate information about claims processing and wait times, which it said could cause “considerable distress.”
The report found the backlog of undetermined claims — both allocated claims that had yet to be processed and those that had not yet been allocated — had multiplied by almost six times in the past five years.
It found the backlog was partly caused by “a significant surge” in the number of DVA claims received since 2016.
The department had expected the number of veterans receiving assistance to drop to just over 150,000 by June this year, but it had instead grown to 240,000.
Further hearings to come, full report in 2024
The report said the commission intended to make recommendations that resulted in “effective, long-lasting and compassionate change.”
“The prevalence of suicide and suicidality among serving and ex-serving Australian Defense Force members is something that should concern us all,” the report said.
“Each death by suicide, each life lost, has profound effects on family, friends, colleagues and the wider community.”
The commission has held six hearings around the country since it was established in July 2021.
It will hold further hearings in Darwin and Wagga Wagga this year, with a full report to be handed down in June 2024.
Mr Kaldas said the interim report did not touch on a number of issues, but he promised they would be examined in the final report.
The interim report is available for download on the Federal Parliament website.
The acting Prime Minister insists there is little the federal government can do to ward off constant Chinese criticism of Australia, as Beijing lashes out against international condemnation of its military drills in the Taiwan Strait.
Key points:
Richard Marles says a more diplomatic approach with China may do nothing to improve relations
China has threatened to continue conducting combat exercises around Taiwan
Taiwan’s Foreign Minister has thanked countries that have stepped up to China
Australia has joined with other nations to condemn Beijing’s decision to extend military drills around Taiwan, triggered by a visit to the island from United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Chinese officials said condemnation by Australia was undermining regional peace and stability, and amounted to meddling in its affairs.
Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles dismissed that accusation and said it was up to China whether relations with Australia thawed or deteriorated again.
“If engaging in a more respectful, diplomatic way takes us some way down a path, it does — and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t,” Mr Marles said.
“We can only control our end of this equation. But we will always be speaking up for the national interest.”
Taiwan has been preparing air raid shelters and conducting drills as Chinese military air and naval combat exercises have increased around the island.
Taiwan thanks ‘courageous’ nations stepping up to China
In a briefing to media yesterday, Taiwan’s Foreign Minister, Joseph Wu, expressed his gratitude to the nations that had supported his country.
“Taiwan is grateful to all of its friends around the world who have stood up courageously to condemn China’s actions and to support Taiwan,” Mr Wu said.
“It also sends a clear message to the world that democracy will not bow to the intimidation of authoritarianism.”
The People’s Republic of China has threatened to continue regular drills as it seeks its decades-long goal of bringing Taiwan under Beijing’s rule.
Mr Marles called on China to end his combat exercises and maintain the status quo.
“I think there would be a sigh of relief around the world if we were to see a de-escalation of tensions in the Taiwan Strait,” he said.
“It is critical that we return to a much more peaceful and normal set of behaviours.
“What we are seeing there is very concerning.”
Mr Wu warned China was testing agreements that had been in place for decades.
“The median line of the Taiwan Strait has been there for decades, safeguarding peace and stability as well as the status quo across the Taiwan Strait,” he warned.
“And China is trying to wreck that.”‘
Chinese ambassador Xiao Qian is set to deliver an address at the National Press Club later today.
US President Joe Biden, alongside Vice President Kamala Harris, Swedish ambassador to the US Karin Olofsdotter and Finnish ambassador to the US Mikko Hautala, signs documents endorsing Finland’s and Sweden’s accession to NATO, in the East Room of the White House, in Washington, August 9, 2022.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden signed ratification documents Tuesday bringing Finland and Sweden one step closer to joining the NATO alliance.
“[Russian President Vladimir] Putin thought he could break us apart,” Biden said from the East Room of the White House. “Our alliance is closer than ever, it is more united than ever, and after Finland and Sweden join we will be stronger than ever.”
Last week, the Senate voted 95 to 1 to ratify the entrance of Finland and Sweden into the world’s most powerful military alliance.
In May, both nations began the formal process of applying to NATO amid the backdrop of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Moscow, long wary of NATO expansion, has opposed the two nations’ plans to join the alliance.
Both Finland and Sweden already meet many of the requirements to be NATO members. Some of the requirements include having a functioning democratic political system, a willingness to provide economic transparency and the ability to make military contributions to NATO missions.
“They will meet every NATO requirement, we are confident of that,” Biden said before signing the documents.
Earlier this year, Biden welcomed leaders from both countries to the White House and pledged to work with the Senate — which has to sign off on US approval of NATO bids — and the other 29 members of the alliance to swiftly bring Sweden and Finland into the group.
At the time Biden, flanked by Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, said the two countries would “make NATO stronger.” He called their moves to join the pact a “victory for democracy.”
US President Joe Biden, flanked by Swedens Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and Finlands President Sauli Niinistö, speaks in the Rose Garden following a meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, on May 19, 2022.
Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images
After Biden’s signature, the governments of the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain and Turkey will still need to sign the instruments of ratification.
“I urge the remaining allies to complete the ratification process as quickly as possible,” Biden said, a development that must occur by the end of September. “The United States is committed to the transatlantic alliance. We are going to write the future we want to see.”
In June, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the leaders of the alliance had reached a deal to admit Finland and Sweden after resolving the concerns of holdout Turkey.
Previously, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he would not approve the applications, citing their support for Kurdish organizations that Turkey considers security threats.
During a NATO summit in Madrid, the foreign ministers of Finland, Sweden and Turkey signed a memorandum to confirm that Turkey will back the new NATO bids.
US President Joe Biden talks to reporters while boarding Air Force One on travel to Eastern Kentucky to visit families affected by devastation from recent flooding, as he departs from Delaware Air National Guard Base in New Castle, Delaware, US, August 8, 2022.
Kevin Lamarques | Reuters
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Monday he is “not worried” about China’s military exercises around Taiwan, adding that while he is “concerned that they’re moving as much as they are,” he does not think they’re going to continue to increase the pressure.
The remarks came one day after Beijing concluded 72 hours of intense maneuvers and missile tests over and around Taiwan. The exercises involved dozens of Chinese fighter jets and warships to mimic a military blockade of the self-governing island that Beijing considers a province.
Biden’s relative calm reflected the deliberate American strategy of not responding to Chinese bellicosity with equally hot saber-rattling.
It also reflects a broader opinion within the Biden administration that Beijing does not intend to make good on its implicit threat to invade Taiwan, at least not in the near term.
Given this assessment, the United States has adopted an approach, for now, of heightened vigilance, but steadfastly refused to be drawn into a military game of chicken in the Pacific.
Last Thursday, the White House announced that Biden would keep a US naval aircraft carrier strike group in the South China Sea longer than originally planned, in response to Beijing’s increased aggression toward Taiwan.
At the same time, a Biden spokesman said the United States would postpone a previously scheduled intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, test.
The decisions signaled Washington’s desire to maintain American military alertness in the region, while also denying Beijing the opportunity to point to the long-planned US missile test as evidence that America was responding to China’s own missile launches near Taiwan with military preparations of its own.
Beijing claimed its military exercises were conducted in retaliation for US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan last week.
The visit by the California Democrat, which the Biden White House publicly defended but privately opposed, marked the first time in 25 years that an American House speaker, a position second in line to the presidency, had visited Taiwan.
Asked Monday whether it was wise for Pelosi to have traveled to Taiwan given the tense US-China relationship, Biden gave the standard response his administration has used for weeks.
“That was her decision,” he said, before boarding Air Force One en route to Kentucky, where Biden and first lady Jill Biden will visit communities impacted by catastrophic flooding last week.
A 2015 military deployment to Egypt changed former soldier William McCann’s life.
Key points:
Mr McCann was initially diagnosed with depression upon his return but was eventually diagnosed with PTSD
Initially feeling like he had been “left in the lurch” by the Army, he quickly turned his focus to getting as much support as possible
Mr McCann said he was inspired to give evidence at the royal commission to bring awareness to the struggles that people who experienced less support than he did
Frozen by the constant sound of alarms and gunfire while on deployment there, he feared he would die.
On his return to Australia, that fear and distress spilled out when he met his newborn son for the first time.
“I sort of regret it a little bit today that my first words to him, I don’t know why I said this was, ‘I didn’t think I would get to see you’,” he told the Royal Commission into Defense and Veterans’ Suicide.
“[They] were my first words to my son. It was probably an indicator then [of post-traumatic stress disorder] too, but I didn’t want to admit it to myself.”
Mr McCann said he became so overwhelmed by the noise of “rounds landing, rounds firing and alarms constantly resounding” in Egypt that it triggered his fight or flight response, resulting in him freezing and laying on the ground for an undetermined amount of time.
That incident, and a combination of shame and embarrassment around his reaction, led to a severe deterioration in his mental health.
“I started to realize I was really lacking a lot of confidence… I felt like I really didn’t belong,” he said.
“I felt like I was failing at every step along the way, and I got to feel that my motivation was gone; I just didn’t have that spark I had once before.”
He also started having daily thoughts about taking his own life.
Mr McCann was initially diagnosed with depression upon his return but was diagnosed with PTSD two years later in 2018.
He was eventually medically discharged in early 2019, exactly 13 years after he joined the Australian Defense Force.
Initially feeling like he had been “left in the lurch” by the Army when he was discharged shortly after receiving the diagnosis, Mr McCann quickly turned his focus to getting as much support as possible before he left.
“I didn’t want to be a financial burden on my family,” he said.
He completed multiple PTSD short courses and began the arduous process of finding a new psychologist — something he said was much more difficult outside of the ADF.
The commission will finish its Hobart hearings on Wednesday.(ABC News: Luke Bowden)
One of the ‘lucky’ ones
Mr McCann said he was inspired to give evidence at the royal commission to bring awareness to the struggles that people who experienced less support than he did had faced during and after their careers.
“I’ve been fairly treated by [the Department of Veterans’ Affairs]I’ve gone through the processes, I’ve had a great support network, a great medical network with me and a very supportive family,” he said.
“However, despite that, throughout my time dealing with a mental condition and post-deployment, I’ve suffered with almost persistent suicidal ideation, culminating in points where I actively planned my own suicide.
“I feel as though I’ve been lucky, and yet I found myself in a place where I felt the right thing to do was to kill myself.
“So, I felt that if I can be in that spot, those who don’t have that fortune that I had must be in a hell of a lot worse place.”
He called on the ADF to recognize that some of his personnel would be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and to develop strategies to support service personnel and veterans.
Mr McCann also called for a change to the culture where people on medical leave are labeled “lingers”, saying it delayed him getting treatment.
“It prevented me from coming forward and speaking out because I was just fearful that I didn’t want to appear weak,” he said.
The commission will finish its Hobart hearings on Wednesday, and hand an interim report to the Governor-General on Thursday.
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 Australia needed to examine how other countries were helping veterans.(ABC News: Luke Bowden)
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.
Julie-Ann Finney (L) came to support Ms Paul.(ABC News: Luke Bowden)
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.
Trapped in a never-ending cycle of back pain and locked in a compensation battle with a government department that had placed her under surveillance, Jacqui Lambie lost hope completely.
She wrote her sons a farewell letter each and tried to take her own life.
Key points:
Senator Lambie joined the Army as an 18-year-old and was eventually medically discharged after a back injury
The discharge began a six-year battle with the Department of Veterans’ Affairs for compensation
Senator Lambie has been a vocal critic of the department during her political career and a key campaigner for the establishment of the royal commission
“There was no point. There was nothing left of me after that. I had no fight left in me,” the independent senator told a Hobart hearing of the Royal Commission into Defense and Veteran Suicide.
But instead of ending her life, she said the suicide attempt played a role in restarting it, with the Department of Veterans’ Affairs finally giving her the intense psychological care she needed.
It began a slow journey of rehabilitation, and a desire to do what she could to make the lives of veterans better, that eventually led to her being elected to Federal Parliament in 2014.
“I made a deal with God: if you’d just give me a second chance at life, I’d fight like hell for the veterans because I could understand what was going on and they weren’t getting a fair deal,” she said.
“From where I was to where I am today I’m very grateful that God has given me a second chance at life and that I have somehow been able to swing that around.”
Army ‘a life-saver’
Senator Lambie joined the Army as an 18-year-old in 1989.
Frequently in trouble, her family was supportive of her enlistment.
Jacqui Lambie was 18 when she joined the Army.(Facebook: Jacqui Lambie)
“I was seen to be around a bad group of people at that point of time who were bad influences, so for me, it was probably a life-saver that I had the opportunity to serve my country,” she said.
She told the commission she initially thrived in the environment, but it was not long before she was thrown into a curveball.
Without the knowledge of her or her superiors, she was pregnant, with the Army pushing to end her military career before it even really began.
“What they wanted me to do was discharge immediately and get going, but I did not want to discharge because I didn’t want to end up back in public housing with a child,” she said.
With the help of a lawyer, the Army relented, and Senator Lambie completed her basic training.
Her career almost ended again eight years later when she was charged following an incident.
“Quite frankly, after I got charged for basically assault, I should have been thrown out of the military and they did not do that for me,” she said.
“They gave me a second chance and I will always be very, very grateful for having that second chance.”
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Jacqui Lambie in tears while thanking her sons, who ‘paid a heavy price’ while she deteriorated.
‘I just couldn’t take it anymore’
She was sent on a compassionate posting to Devonport, in Tasmania’s north-west.
It was while she was based there, but on an infantry training course in Puckapunyal, that she suffered the first of what was to become a debilitating back injury.
“When I went to get out of bed, I could not get out of bed, I could not move,” she said.
Jacqui Lambie (left) pictured during her military service.(Facebook: Jacqui Lambie)
It started a two-year cycle of physiotherapy, painkillers and hiding her pain.
Two days before she was set to fly out to East Timor on deployment, her back gave in.
“For me that was it, I just couldn’t take it anymore,” she said.
“I just ended up flat on the floor and then that was pretty much the end for me once that happened.”
She was medically downgraded and sent to specialists for a solution, but her back would not recover.
Eventually, she was medically discharged in 2000.
Senator Jacqui Lambie hoped the commission would lead to lasting change for veterans.(Supplied: Royal Commission into Defense and Veteran Suicide)
The discharge began a six-year battle with the Department of Veterans’ Affairs for compensation, as well as debilitating pain and depression.
“The pain itself was completely out of control and it set into a pattern that once that set in, I had just about given up,” she said.
She told the commission that the Department of Veterans’ Affairs initially deemed her not unfit enough to receive an allowance on top of her disability pension.
Government surveillance from bush behind her house
She engaged a lawyer after being defeated by the process and initially had a series of small victories before a visit to a shopping center changed her life.
Senator Lambie was spotted carrying two shopping bags walking out of a two-dollar shop.
She told the commission the Department of Veterans’ Affairs and Commonwealth Rehabilitation Services decided to put her under surveillance after suspicions she was faking her injuries.
Representatives from the rehabilitation service filmed from a bush near her back fence “with a camera lens coming over that fence”, watching her friends and children, she said.
They captured footage of Senator Lambie over several weeks, taking footage of her getting changed, and also interviewed people who knew her.
“There was an occasion where we were getting changed [inside her home] and I had my girlfriends there, we must have been trying on tops — they did film that,” she said.
“I found that terribly intrusive and quite frankly there was no reason to do that video surveillance.”
That resentment over the surveillance led to Senator Lambie failing to show up to a series of meetings with Commonwealth Rehabilitation Services and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, and the cancellation of her benefits.
The fight for compensation eventually ended in 2006 after the department accepted Senator Lambie was entitled to compensation.
She accessed medical treatment and her back injury slowly improved, allowing her to work in the office of Tasmanian Labor Senator Nick Sherry.
Senator Lambie urged veterans to come forward and share their story.(ABC News: Luke Bowden )
Life ‘spiraled out of control’
But she told the commission a setback proved devastating.
“Life completely and utterly spiraled out of control because I went back to pre-days where there was just so much pain and by then I’d lost all hope,” she said.
Senator Lambie said her mental health deteriorated to the point where she tried to take her own life.
“I found it difficult to be able to give a reason… to have reason to continue to live, even for the sake of my sons because I believed I was doing them more damage than good,” she said.
Senator Lambie finally received the psychological help she needed and started to rebuild her life, but said her “10 years of hell” took a huge toll on her family, especially her youngest son.
“He has really struggled during his life and… the reason that is because of what he had to go through with me,” she said.
Senator Lambie has been a vocal critic of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs during her political career, and a key campaigner for the establishment of the royal commission.
She paid tribute to the “peacemakers and peacekeepers” who helped make the commission happen, and hoped it would lead to lasting change for veterans.
“If you do not come forward now and tell your stories, even if you do not want to do it for yourselves, do it for your mates because there is nothing else if we do not fix it this time,” she said.
“I’m asking you to find the courage, whether you are serving, or whether you are not, you need to come forward because this is it.”
Searching for a purpose in life, Gavin Tunstall joined the Australian Army in 2005 and quickly found one.
Key points:
Mr Tunstall said he struggled to cope with what he had seen in Afghanistan, and his mental health declined significantly
He was eventually discharged from the army on mental health grounds
He is now working to teach veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder how to scuba dive
He threw himself into army life and loved every moment.
“It gave me a group of men to be around. I started to feel like I had a family,” he told the Royal Commission into Defense and Veterans’ Suicide, which is holding hearings in Hobart.
But things started to fall apart when he was deployed to Afghanistan a few years later and saw the bodies of two young boys killed in combat.
“It’s not usual for children to be fighting, it’s not usual for children to be firing a machine gun,” he told the commission.
“It is not usual for me to be inspecting their dead bodies. I expected men.”
Mr Tunstall said he struggled to cope with what he had seen, and his mental health declined significantly.
“If you haven’t been in that situation you have no clue until you’ve gone through it,” he said.
“You can’t be trained for that. You don’t know how you’re going to react.”
He went on his first lot of mental health leave but said he soon started hiding his symptoms to get back to work and progress through the ranks.
A series of physical injuries — shoulder and ankle reconstructions and a torn anterior cruciate ligament — derailed his career, and led to him drinking alcohol on top of a cocktail of pain medication.
He was placed on limited duties, which he said his colleagues struggled to understand, and his mental health spiraled to a point where he was admitted to hospital in 2019.
The lack of support for service personnel and veterans’ families has been a common theme of the royal commission.(ADF)
Change of medication ‘the start of everything’
Mr Tunstall was placed on medication and his mental health started to improve, but he said a new doctor and a change of medication meant things started to unravel again.
“That was the start of everything… I have no doubt what he did lead to what happened next,” he said.
“[I had] bad dreams, night terrors, started locking myself away in my room, started isolating myself from all my friends, anger, no tolerance of any noise.”
He was arrested on domestic violence charges in early 2020 and told the commission that the officer who arrested him was a member of the Army Reserves.
“He said he was tired of arresting veterans, and he had tears in his eyes,” he said.
Mr Tunstall said he struggled to cope with what he saw in Afghanistan.(ABC News: Luke Bowden)
Mr Tunstall was immediately readmitted to hospital for three months and discharged from the army on mental health grounds later that year.
His criminal charges were later dropped on mental health grounds.
Having lost his family and feeling betrayed by the job he loved while he waited for his discharge to be processed, Mr Tunstall said he thought about taking his own life.
“I struggle every day with the pain of my physical injuries and the mental anguish of my service. My life will never be the same again,” he told the commission.
Mr Tunstall now works to help veterans like himself.(ABC News: Luke Bowden)
With time and support in hospital, plus seeking psychological support, Mr Tunstall’s mental health gradually improved.
He said he was now working with a provider teaching veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder how to scuba dive, in a bid to ensure others do not go through what he did.
“I was a veteran in the dark, I’m now starting to get out of it,” he said.
“I want to offer that to other people like myself who are stuck. I don’t want any more [veterans] to take their own life.”
Mr Tunstall said his family was getting no support.(ABC News: Luke Bowden)
Families ‘given no support’
But while Mr Tunstall is receiving support, he told the royal commission his family had been effectively abandoned.
“My family pretty much lost their provider. My kids lost their dad. My wife lost her husband,” he said.
“They are sitting down there… with no support, in government housing, my three children are living like poor people and there is no assistance.
“I’m getting help, but they are getting nothing and it’s a common story.”
A lack of support for the families of service personnel and veterans has been a common theme of the royal commission during its six public hearing blocks.
The Hobart hearings will conclude next week, with the commission to hand down its interim report on August 11.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is the biggest contract chipmaker in the world. But it has been thrust in the middle of US-China geopolitical tensions. logo displayed on the screen.
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may have left Taiwan but the visit has cast a spotlight once again on the island’s critical role in the global chip supply chain and in particular on the world’s biggest chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., or TSMC.
The controversial visit, which angered Beijing, saw Pelosi meet with TSMC Chairman Mark Liu, in a sign of how critically important semiconductors are to US national security and the integral role that the company plays in making the most advanced chips.
Semiconductors, which go into everything from our smartphones to cars and refrigerators, have become a key part of the US and China’s rivalry over technology in the past few years. More recently, a shortage of semiconductors has spurred the US to try to catch up with Asia and maintain a lead over China in the industry.
“Taiwan’s unresolved diplomatic status will remain a source of intense geopolitical uncertainty. Even Pelosi’s trip underlines how important Taiwan is for both countries,” Reema Bhattacharya, head of Asia research at Verisk Maplecroft, told CNBC’s “Street Signs Europe” on Wednesday.
“The obvious reason being its crucial strategic importance as a chip manufacturer and in the global semiconductor supply chain.”
Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan and meeting with TSMC show the US can’t do it alone and will require collaboration with Asian companies that dominate the most cutting-edge chips.
TSMC’s crucial role
TSMC is a foundry. That means it manufactures chips that other companies design. TSMC has a long list of clients from Apple to Nvidia, some of the world’s biggest technology companies.
As the US fell behind in chip manufacturing over the last 15 years or so, companies like TSMC and Samsung Electronics in South Korea, pushed ahead with cutting-edge chipmaking techniques. While they still rely on tools and technology from the US, Europe and elsewhere, TSMC in particular, managed to cement its place as the world’s top chipmaker.
TSMC accounts for 54% of the global foundry market, according to Counterpoint Research. Taiwan as a country accounts for about two-thirds of the global foundry market alone when considering TSMC alongside other players like UMC and Vanguard. That highlights the importance of Taiwan in the world’s semiconductor market.
When you add Samsung into the mix, which has 15% of the global foundry market share, then Asia really dominates the chipmaking sphere.
That’s why Pelosi made it a point to meet with TSMC’s chairman.
Taiwan invasion fears
China views democratically, self-ruled Taiwan as a renegade province that needs to be reunified with the mainland. Beijing spent weeks telling Pelosi not to come to Taiwan.
During her visit, China ratcheted up tensions by carrying out military drills.
There is a concern that any kind of invasion of Taiwan by China could massively affect the power structure of the global chip market, giving Beijing control of technology it had not previously had. On top of that, there is a fear that an invasion could choke off the supply of cutting-edge chips to the rest of the world.
“Most likely, the Chinese would ‘nationalize it,’ (TSMC) and begin integrating the company, and its technology, into its own semiconductor industry,” Abishur Prakash, co-founder of advisory firm the Center for Innovating the Future, told CNBC via email.
What is the US doing?
How does China stack up?
SMIC is crucial to China’s ambitions, but sanctions have cut it off from the key tools it requires to make the most cutting-edge chips as TSMC does. SMIC remains years behind its rivals. And China’s semiconductor industry still relies heavily on foreign technology.
TSMC does have two chipmaking plants in China but they are producing less sophisticated semiconductors unlike the manufacturing facility in Arizona.
Chipmaking alliances
The US has been looking to form partnerships on semiconductors with allies in Asia including Japan and South Korea as a way to secure supply of the crucial components and maintain a lead over China.
TSMC meanwhile is caught in the middle of the US-China rivalry and could be forced to pick sides, according to Prakash. Its commitment to an advanced semiconductor plant in the US could already be a sign of which country it is siding with.
“In fact, a company like TSMC has already ‘picked sides.’ It’s investing in the US to support American chip making, and has said it wants to work with ‘democracies,’ like the EU, on chip making,” Prakash said.
“Increasingly, companies are striking an ideological tone in whom they work with. The question is, as tensions between Taiwan and China increase, will TSMC be able to maintain its position (aligning with the West), or will it be forced to recalibrate its geopolitical strategy.”
