Sparks have erupted in Canberra after senator Jacqui Lambie lashed the federal government for perceived inaction on a key recommendation into Australia’s rolling defence suicide crisis. The irate Tasmanian senator, appearing at an estimates hearing into veterans’ affairs, called for the immediate establishment of Recommendation 122 from the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide that calls for a new and independent oversight body to regulate the Defence Department and Department of Veterans Affairs on reducing suicide risk. With her temper flaring, Senator Lambie asked why the new body had not been set up ahead of an expected vote on the government’s Harmonisation Bill, which is designed to streamline how veterans receive benefits and health care.
“Your first priority should have been setting up that body,” she said, her voice rising. “You need policing over the top of you. “It just blows me away.
” Recommendation 122 serves as the royal commission’s marquee recommendation in its final report into the suicide crisis that has roiled Australia’s defence and veteran community for decades. “The Australian government should establish a new statutory entity with the purpose of providing independent oversight and evidence-based advice in order to drive system reform to improve suicide prevention and wellbeing outcomes for serving and ex-serving Australian Defence Force members,” the recommendation states. Labor senator Jenny McAllister, responding t.
