New Defence Minister Peter Dutton has backed a royal commission into veteran suicide in the clearest indication the government is ready to implement to the measure.
The government has faced growing calls to implement a royal commission and on Monday inched closer to the measure, with new Defence Minister confirming it had his support.
But Mr Dutton but would not give a timetable on when the royal commission would be implemented.
“That will be an issue for the Prime Minister, but it’ll speak to the government’s genuine desire to support our troops, and I think that’s important,” he told Sky News on Monday.
It comes less than a week after independent senator Jacqui Lambie, who has led the push for a royal commission, warned its findings would “rock the nation”.
“I think it’s going to knock people off their bloody seats,” she said on Tuesday.
“I think people understand that Veterans Affairs is very bad. But to see what’s actually going on in the military and what’s coming from high command, I think it’s going to rock a nation.”
More to come.
Originally published as Dutton backs suicide royal commission