Afghanistan veteran Bradley Carr died by suicide on Anzac Day in 2019. or signup to continue reading His mother Glenda Weston was part of a group of grieving mothers who successfully petitioned the former Morrison government to set up a royal commission into veteran suicide, which has handed down its report after three years of hearings. "In honour of my son Brad, I feel I have done the best I could, to bring justice and recognition to his life serving his country," she said.
"The trauma we as a family have suffered from the day he arrived home from Afghanistan to this day was unjustly put upon us." Ms Weston said the pain of losing her 34-year-old son to post-traumatic stress disorder has had an "outstanding and devastating effect". "I have found peace in the knowledge that hopefully now and in the future more care will be taken in observing and determining results that will prevent this damage ever occurring again," she said.
"It has been a long and heartbreaking journey, but at the end of the day, I still can't hold my son and tell him I love him." Five years on from Mr Carr's death, the royal commission's final report laid out 122 recommendations for addressing suicide among serving defence personnel and veterans. Recommendations in the seven-volume report included setting up an agency dedicated to the wellbeing of veterans to help with the transition from military to civilian life.
It included calls for a national register of suicides and risk factors, along with an inqu.