Defence’s day of reckoning (Podcast)

a warning before we start this episode mentions suicide and sexual [Music] violence from the Australian here's what's on the front I'm CLA Harvey it's Tuesday September [Music] 10 one of Australia's worst child sex offenders was given a redundancy by uniting Church Child Care Service with just 44 minutes of official consideration that's after a colleague had tried to report him for allegedly abusing a child Ashley Paul Griffith later pleaded guilty to hundreds of charges of rape and sexual abuse that exclusive is live right now at theaustralian.com.au [Music] the electrical trades Union is pushing for a 20% pay rise for sparkies ahead of the federal election plus construction workers around the country will put their tools down this week to attend rallies protesting the government's forced t over of the cfmeu a 3,000 page Royal Commission report has recommended starting from scratch to curb veteran suicides and clamp down on sexual violence in the Defense Force today we meet some of the people devastated by defenses failures and find out if this really means meaningful change Andrew Perry was a sniper in charge of keeping our troops safe on bases in Iraq and Afghanistan this is his wife Ben Perry giving evidence at the Royal commission into veteran suicide he was so funny he was the funniest man in the world um when he was working he could be quite um black and white but when he let his hair down and his guard down he was just hysterical there was never a day that you got out of bed without having laughed B's daughter Alexander was a toddler when Andrew became her stepdad someone she loved a lot as she Grew Older Kamaya noticed some of Andrew's personality traits in particular that he would either be seeking total control of a situation or would be laughing and joking she put the stress down in part to his sadness over the loss of contact with children from a previous relationship she was in her early teens when For the First Time The stress of Andrew's military deployments became clear we were on a boat with friends and I noticed that fireworks had gone off and Andrew responded with yelling at the fireworks and saying don't you know that people have been to war and he actually broke down in tears Kamaya was in no doubt it was his War service that had left Andrew in severe distress he was unfortunately very honest about how you would have to do your rounds and around base you know monitoring everything and he had a group of children no older than 10 coming up to him and saying I want you to go check out there's something down there that I think needs to be looked at and he's like well you walk in front and he said to me that at that point he had zero regard for their life you know if if there was a bomb that they were trying to lead him to he was was going to make sure that they got hit first and you know going from zero regard to their life to Absolute regard for his team he could differentiate between you know your life not worth saving these ones are absolute Paramount and he himself unfortunately became one of those that it's not Paramount when Kamaya was aged between 16 and 18 Andrew attempted to end his life seven times after the second attempt he was diagnosed with postraumatic stress disorder and severe anxiety he no longer cared for safety like he was it was like one day went out to corroborate bong and he was chasing crocodiles because he wanted them to eat him he was just doing all these risky things he could sleep for days when when the Depression was really bad um or he could just sit there and do nothing in 2015 Andrew died by Suicide Bonnie Perry said she had tried with no success to get help for Andrew she said he was badly mismanaged by the Australian Defense Force Bonnie said there was a shroud of secrecy about mental health problems she said defense sent senior officers to visit him in hospital instead of his mates and that he wasn't helped to access a pension which left him feeling terrified about not being able to support his family she said it took 6 months for him to get mental health treatment in the first place and that he was treated with a lack of compassion I just don't understand how the ADF can see all those suicide attempts you know how many red flags do you want you know a guy shouldn't shouldn't be successful on his eighth attempt it's crazy she described this conversation with a senior medical officer who discharged Andrew from hospital after one of his suicide attempts I just said how come Andrew's home and he said excuse my language but he said Bonnie he's not a threat to himself or to take his life he said I just told him he's a husband that really needs to learn how to treat women better I told him that I wanted him to go for 5 days not contact you and go away and have a good hard think about things and then at 8:30 the police car rocked up out the front and I knew as soon as I saw him I said he's he's gone isn't he and they said yes we've just found his body that story is part of the Catalyst for a shocking report tabled in federal Parliament it found 1677 serving and ex-serving defense Personnel died by Suicide between 1997 and 2021 that's more than 20 times the number killed in active duty over the same period the royal commission found deep problems with both defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs and recommended a new agency within Veterans Affairs to actively help outgoing defense Personnel to support them into a new life to access the services that are available and support them and their families to stay alive it's a shocking report CLA and it shines a light on what's a terrible National tragedy Joe Kelly is the Australian's National Affairs editor the report was commissioned by the Morrison government under pressure from veterans bereaved families and now it's the albanesi government which will have to handle the response we want to work across the parliament on those issues and do what we can to ensure that just as our veterans and defense Personnel step up for our country we have an obligation to step up for them I look forward to doing what we can on this side to work in good nature and With Honor with the minister to make sure whatever can be done can be done as quickly and as properly as possible and to the best of our ability the labor party and the Coalition believes there is a significant problem that this is a national failing that governments of Labor and conservative characteristics have let down veterans in the past they've been let down by defense they've been let down by the Department of Veterans Affairs and it must be fixed that's very encouraging but the second point is getting on with the job now will'll need to give the government some time to devise its response and its solution and we'll get an idea of what that is in the not too distant future coming up defenses sexual violence problem subscribers to the Australian get access to this kind of in-depth reporting and Analysis 24/7 check us out at theaustralian.com.au a you and we'll be back after this [Music] break so I guess my story starts back in in a little country town where I was looking for opportunities to have a career get something outside of a small country town and one day one of those Defense Force recruitment Vans pulled up in the Main Street and I took one look at it and went that's for me this is my ticket out of town that's the voice of Danny livage he's describing how in 1988 he said goodbye to his tiny hometown of dalesford in Victoria and set off for what he hoped would be a long career in the Air Force my dad was very proud of me he was very proud of me joining he was very proud to be there that day as was my whole family and friends to to see me graduate Danny became known as the 20year man among his fellow Airmen because of his aspiration to retire at age 42 with a full military pension but less than 2 years after celebrating his graduation Dany would be discharged from defense Dany is gay which was unacceptable under the Defense Act legislation that was drafted in 1903 and was still in effect in the late 80s and early 90s an excerpt of the ACT is being read by a voice actor homosexual Behavior is not accepted or condoned in the Defense Force members can be and are regularly discharged for a variety of reasons not listed in the dfda ADF policy is that members who engage in consenting homosexual Behavior be treated in a similar fashion sympathetically and with discretion Danny livage had been observed visiting gay bars in and around Melbourne and so he was hauled in for an interview and asked to explain himself eventually they the questioning got down to Lac livage are you a homosexual and it was a very first time I ever said it out loud yes I believe I'm a homosexual they forced me to put a tag on myself which I wasn't prepared at that stage to put that tag on myself it was a traumatic experience and I'm sitting there terrified absolutely terrified I've been humiliated I'm feeling absolutely ashamed of myself I hate myself for this aspect of myself that I've just been forced to put a tag on by someone else sitting on a table with four people and it got worse from there in didn't get better Danny was told homosexuality was incompatible with military service senior Personnel said he'd be outed dishonorably discharged and his training records would be withheld if he didn't leave then and there of his own Val and they effectively told the 20-year man that your career is over and here are your three terrible options one's not so bad one's really bad and one's just the go nowhere option and threatening dishonorable discharge and withholding of the records was apparently their sympathetic way of dealing with the homosexual in the Air Force Danny lived on base so he lost his job and his home he didn't have time to say goodbye to his friends or explain what was happening and he wasn't allowed to keep any Insignia issued over the course of his service with no support and nowhere to go he slept the next two nights in his car what followed was a cycle of depression anxiety substance use and suicidal ideation at that point in time I'd gone from being a loyal committed enthusiastic member of the Air Force to jobless unemployed homeless living in my car surrounded my possessions in the space of less than two weeks that was a lot for a 23-year-old to be dealing with at that point in time the jul career has gone up in smoke in two weeks and you're now living in your car on the side of the street that's what they did to me the ban on gay and lesbian Personnel in the ADF was lifted by the kading government in 1992 just 2 years after Danny livage was bounced out of the force it took three decades for his story to be heard at the Royal commission and hopefully for change to follow one of the report's most Stark findings is that this problem is not just about suicide it's the physical safety of personnel serving today in military jobs here's Joe Kelly there is a problem with sexual violence in the ADF the majority of which is obviously perpetrated by men but the report says this is a highly concerning development it says that close to 800 sexual assaults were reported in the ADF over the past 5 years and defense estimates that 60% of sexual assaults are not reported at all and there were multiple submissions to this Royal commission from victims which included both historic and contemporary accounts of being gang raped including by fellow serving members of the ADF so this is shocking it's completely unacceptable the report goes into detail about the effect that this kind of sexual violence has on on serving and ex-serving members and the report has actually also recommended a further inquiry into sexual violence within [Music] ADF Joe Kelly is the Australian's National Affairs editor thanks for joining us on the front and please join our subscribers at theaustralian.com.au [Music]