The Royal Commission on Defence and Veteran Suicide hearings in Townsville have entered a second week with the focus on culture, wellbeing and mental health services at Australia's largest Army base, Lavarack Barracks, which is home to more than 3,000 people.
The meeting took place on the fifth anniversary of the death of veteran Jesse Bird, who served in Afghanistan in 2017 and was co-ordinated by PTSD Awareness Day. Commissioners wore yellow ribbons on the occasion.
The introduction of defence values has helped curb poor behaviour among personnel, but there are still some problems that remain, according to the panel of commissioners.
As a junior soldier in the 1980s, culture in the army was fairly rough and North Queensland Transfer and Transition Detachment Commander Major Tony Kennedy said.
There are individuals who have not displayed defence values who may have perpetrated bad behaviour towards others. The commission heard from 3rd Brigade Regimental Sergeant Major Warrant Officer Brian Buskell, who said he was aware of occasional instances this year where assaults, bullying and sexual assault had occurred at the Lavarack Barracks.
He insisted that these incidents did not reflect the broader defence culture.
There are up to 52 incidents recorded in the defence incident management system, according to Warrant Officer Buskell.
I have seen smaller elements within the brigade, inside units where their culture is not good, where there is predominance of unacceptable behaviour among four or five soldiers or two or three officers. The commissioners were told that legal resources were not the same for members who had made complaints and members who had been accused of wrongdoing.
Warrant Officer Buskell said that they are required to use an on-call reserve legal system for the soldier who has been charged.
A legal officer can help me prepare for a case against a soldier, but a soldier can't go to the same legal office to prepare their defence.
The commissioners were told today that modern soldiers were more willing to seek help when they are struggling with mental health issues than previous generations had been.
They were told that the average wait time for a psychologist, six weeks for a GP and eight weeks for a psychiatrist was four weeks within the defence medical system.
When I talk to soldiers, it's a common discussion about how long it takes for them to see a doctor, Warrant Officer Buskell said. It has a negative impact, and they feel it is not fair. Chaplain Gary Pope, who served at Lavarack Barracks, told the commissioners that some personnel believe that disclosure of mental health concerns will damage their career prospects.
He said that there was greater concern, or concern amongst soldiers that presenting with a mental health concern will have an impact on their career.
There is a stigma involved in that, because I think it is larger than what is actually the case. The commissioners were told of rising concerns about loneliness and identity among personnel, particularly new recruits, most of whom tend to live alone.
The risk becomes when an identity of being a soldier becomes the only identity where we lose our sense of who we are outside the uniform, the chaplain said.