DARWIN - 30 September 2021
KATIE WOOLF, HOST: The Federal Member for Solomon Luke Gosling has described it as shocking figures included in the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report into veteran mental health. It's something that Luke Gosling and I have spoken about on numerous occasions on this show, and I know that it's something that he feels incredibly passionate about. And he joins me in the studio right now. Luke Gosling, good morning to you.
LUKE GOSLING, MEMBER FOR SOLOMON: Good morning, Katie.
WOOLF: Pretty seamless transition there, obviously, Mark Spain out and you straight in.
GOSLING: I high-fived Spainy on the way out.
WOOLF: It's busy in here today, for sure.
GOSLING: So it’s 50 per cent, the station out at Palmerston?
WOOLF: Yeah, so it's 50 per cent, halfway there. So not too far off from becoming operational. Interesting that the current fire station was first constructed in 1983.
GOSLING: 83.
WOOLF: So it's a while.
GOSLING: Yeah, someone will make great use of that, though.
WOOLF: Absolutely. Now, Luke, there's been so much on the agenda this week, but something that you and I have discussed on numerous occasions, obviously, is what we know are shocking rates of veteran mental health issues and also suicide. And just this week, we saw the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report into veteran mental health. And I tell you what, it certainly makes for some very sobering writing, doesn't it?
GOSLING: Yeah, really concerning, Katie. And I guess I want to just start by just reminding all the listeners out there that the overwhelming majority of veterans are well and contributing, and when they finish in Defence, they go on and do amazing things. But there is this larger than had been admitted to cohort of people, and many of us who work in in the in the veterans area knew that these rates were being underreported. I was talking to some mums yesterday who’ve lost their sons over recent years, and in some cases those deaths hadn't been actually acknowledged as suicide deaths and put down to some other factor. So I think what it shows is that we really need to waste no more time, crack on with the royal commission, and we need those recommendations from that, that are informed by all of the experience of veterans and their families – because, remember, as you know, Katie, the families are the biggest supporters of the veterans, helping them day to day. So they're the ones who know what's required. And we need that feedback through the royal commission so we can get some recommendations and enact them ASAP.
WOOLF: And Luke, we're talking about here, just to go through what are some really tragic numbers. So 373,500 women who have served over the past 36 years. I'm not sure whether that's men and women. But over the past 36 years, we've been had 1,273 have taken their lives. And I will go back and double check those figures. But we're talking about servicemen and women here that have taken their lives, as you and I know and we've spoken about this before, but we got to do better by looking after people when they leave the force.
GOSLING: Absolutely, Katie. We're going to do a lot better, and we've made a start locally here that we've got an interim veterans wellbeing centre that Mates 4 Mates are running and they’re running a lot of activities, so get in touch with them: Mates 4 Mates. But it is an interim centre. There was $5 million committed. So what I'm saying very clearly to the veterans community and the services community more broadly – and we had Police Remembrance Day yesterday, and so my message to them and to Spainy and the firefighters, to the ambos, is that what I'm committed to is a services centre that can provide that connectivity, those resources. And it's got to be purpose-built. So, using the funds, the Commonwealth funds, to build a purpose-built centre for the Greater Darwin region.
WOOLF: How far off are we, do you reckon from getting to that? Because it seems as though it couldn't come soon enough.
GOSLING: It absolutely can't come soon enough, and what it’ll mean, Katie, when we are able to establish it, is there will be even greater coordination between the different ex-service organizations. And there already is great people, great volunteers doing excellent work to support veterans. But we want to make sure that it's a more inclusive model, it's purpose-built. And I guess the short answer is that – and this is not a political statement, but I don't think that the current Federal Government, which is in eight years on its seventh Veterans Affairs Minister, that fought against the royal commission, are going to be the best place to roll out a proper services wellbeing centre. So I just encourage people to continue to push for all the $5 million to be used for a purpose-built facility, because that's what will get us some really good results when it comes to the wellbeing. Because it's not just the shocking suicide rate. It's those that have attempted, it’s those that are living at the moment feeling that they're unsupported. So I just say to those members: reach out to a mate, but also reach out to one of our services, the RSL, we've got the new Council of Australian Veterans is working out of the Mad Snake Café, they're always willing to have a coffee and to start connecting people with the services they need, or with job opportunities, or with just friendship and a cup of coffee.
WOOLF: And good on Sam and the rest of them that are obviously doing that out of the Mad Snake as well, I think that's a really great thing that they do. And we've spoken before about the Reeling For Veterans and some of the other programs they do, such good stuff, and it’s all about supporting each other.
GOSLING: They had a great family day recently, it was booked out well in advance, and people know that if they're struggling, they can get out on the water with some people who understand their lived experience. So yeah, thanks to all of the support workers out there. This AIHW report is a shocking reminder that we've got a lot of work to do, and the veteran community and their families are just wanting us to get a lot more serious and enact those recommendations when we’ve got them.
WOOLF: Absolutely. Now, Luke, I do want to talk about the fact that yesterday a big announcement with the Territory company obviously being named the tenderer for one of the big projects that we're about to have underway. Obviously, a good thing to see that locals are going to benefit from this.
GOSLING: Yeah, really great news, Katie, to see that $100 million of defence infrastructure funding to get that Delamere weapons range up and running. And with all the work going on down at Bradshaw and at our other ranges, we're really seeing the benefits for local businesses. When Jim Chalmers was here, I know you caught up with him for a chat. He's the Shadow Treasurer and we had a great roundtable with the Chamber of Commerce, with many of the industry bodies around the table. There is still some work to do and to make sure that the contracts are broken down into sizes that mean that our local companies are really competitive for that work. But we've been pushing for it for many years, and it has come a long way. So that funding that's been announced from the Federal Government is very welcome for local businesses, and that will mean local jobs. And that's a good thing.
WOOLF: Hey Luke, one of the other things that we were talking about earlier in the week is the possibility of this London-Darwin direct flight with Qantas. I think it would be a good thing if we're able to pull it off, but making sure that Territorians are obviously safe when it comes to COVID and making sure that we're at those vaccination rates. But mate, do you reckon that we need to be looking at some other routes as well?
GOSLING: Yeah, absolutely. In fact, this morning I was talking to Jetstar and Qantas about getting the Bali flight back up and running. They've announced March-ish next year that they’ll be looking at Sydney and Melbourne flights, obviously they’re big markets. But I've made sure that they know that when the Jetstar Darwin to Denpasar flight comes back on board, there'll be no shortage of Territorians that are keen. You know, obviously depending on how they're going in Bali with COVID, but there'll certainly be heaps of Territorians that are keen to make the flight over.
But one good thing that came out of that conversation this morning is that they're also talking with the NT Government about bringing more intra-Northern Territory flights in. So that we'll have that Darwin-Alice Springs route, have Jetstar coming into that route as well. So that's really encouraging, both the Darwin to London – that's incredibly exciting, but also we want to get our flights back, so when we're able to travel overseas that people in the Territory have got those opportunities.
WOOLF: And any indication from Jetstar and Qantas in that discussion this morning about that Bali route and whether we are going to see it resume?
GOSLING: Yeah, they're getting back to me. I've certainly put it on the radar and I'm also talking to Virgin. I mean, in an ideal situation, we've got some competition back in Darwin for those Bali flights, but there will be Darwin-Singapore, and there will be obviously this exciting new Darwin-London route, that's where they're concentrating on mostly. But they're going to get back to me about the Darwin- Denpasar.
WOOLF: Yeah, well keep us up to date. I'll be very interested to hear how it all goes. I know that plenty of people listening this morning will still be thinking to themselves as we talk about those international routes and international travel, “hang on a second, we can't even get interstate at this point in time, we can't travel to Victoria or New South Wales at the moment with the rates of COVID, how are we going to go travelling overseas?” And I totally understand that. But gee, I hope that by next year, we're in a bit of a different situation.
GOSLING: Yeah, and this is about planning ahead. We want to make sure that around the operations rooms in Jetstar, in Qantas, in Virgin and Air North, that they are thinking about the Territory and I’m making sure that they are doing that. We've got to plan ahead. We've got to let people know that we're going to be keen to go. Look, Bali: Indonesia's had a shocking time and that's why I've been working with the Federal Government to make sure that we're doing our part. They know how important Bali is to the Indonesian economy, they've really concentrated on vaccination rates in Bali. The question is how they are going to open up to us if they don't open up to the rest of their own country. So that will something that the Indonesian Government will be looking at. But you know, I'm sure that when we start travelling again, we're going to have some options here from the Territory, and that's really important.
WOOLF: Well, we'll keep a close eye on that. Luke Gosling, always good to catch up with you. Thanks so much for your time this morning.
GOSLING: Thank you, Katie.
WOOLF: That is Labor's Member for Solomon there, Luke Gosling.
ENDS
