ADJOURNMENT

Senator LAMBIE (Tasmania) (21:13): I'm going to tell the story tonight of a female veteran and her treatment at the hands of the Department of Veterans' Affairs over the last 30 years. I need to warn anyone listening and watching that this is an extremely upsetting story. But, if the Department of Veterans' Affairs and the minister don't do something soon, there'll be more stories like this coming your way.

We'll go back to the good old days where I start naming the delegates and who's responsible in the department. To protect the privacy of this veteran, I will call her Kate. Kate joined the Australian Navy in 1996 when she was just 18.

In 1997 she was posted to HMAS Stirling in Western Australia. She hadn't been there long when she got word from home that her grandmother had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Kate was obviously feeling very lonely and very upset.

She was hoping to have a drink and make some friends with her new serving family. Kate headed to the junior bar on base. She was welcomed and started playing pool, and she was encouraged to play drinking games.

At the time it seemed fun, but after a while Kate could feel that she had had too much to drink, so she left the bar and started to make her way back to her cabin. The rest of that night turned into an absolute horror story. Kate was followed and knocked unconscious.

She was dragged down two flights of stairs. A while later—she's not sure how long—Kate woke up with intense pain all over her body, a pain she had never felt before in her life. She was groggy but aware that there was a man, a sailor, on top of her.

She was in a room that she didn't recognise. Kate got up, pulled on her clothes and ran to her room. Kate's face was cut, and her body was covered with bruises.

She went to the base psychologist the next day. She told the psychologist she believed she had been raped by up to seven men—her fellow sailors. Kate's medical records confirm her injuries, and she has a scar on her face that she looks at every day.

She wasn't offered a rape kit and she wasn't asked if she wanted to press charges. That was it; she was sent back to work. In Kate's words, 'I was told to shut up and get on with it.' Every time Kate went into the mess, there would be whispers, pointing and laughter from the men.

As Kate says, 'They all know what happened, but no-one spoke up.' Kate didn't have a licence at that stage, so she couldn't leave that base. She was effectively trapped with the men who had raped her. Kate started having panic attacks, as you would.

She still suffers those attacks and PTSD from that night, 30 years ago. In 1998, Kate was medically discharged—as per usual, class C. What a waste of time.

Didn't even touch the sides. That's a disgrace, like I said. At the time the Navy told her—listen to this—she was suffering from exercise induced asthma.

They prescribed her medication that she actually didn't need. When Kate was discharged, she was given 10,000 bucks, pretty much as hush money. They knew.

They knew something awful had happened, so they gave her 10 grand. By the way, when she finally did put in a claim to DVA, she had to pay that 10 grand back—just another slap in the face. As Kate says, at the time, she didn't argue with them.

She was too mentally and physically depleted. She said to me: 'I wanted to just move on and was just so crushed at the time. I just didn't care any more.

That's how they get you. They make it so hard with all this paperwork and appointments. We give up because of the pressure to prove your innocence.

It's just too hard to be heard.' Kate always wanted a career in the Navy. Once she was out, though, even after that horror, she still volunteered to work as a chaplain in Tweed Heads RSL. It was there she found an advocate who helped her find support for her trauma and ongoing PTSD.

After she left the Navy, Kate met her husband and had three beautiful children. But the damage of the rape was already done. It was significant.

Kate suffered a prolapse of her bowel and uterus after her first child. A gynaecologist told her the rape caused significant damage to her bowel, which also suggests objects were used on Kate during the gang rape. But the specialist was unwilling to make a formal report because she couldn't deal with DVA.

That's the specialist. Can I say nothing has changed. After Kate's second child, she had another prolapse.

After the third baby, she had another uterus and bowel prolapse, which resulted in a full hysterectomy. Ten years after that, Kate went to her local RSL and finally found a delegate to help her with her claim, and she was then paid out, but Kate's shocking treatment at the hands of DVA wasn't over. After her hysterectomy, Kate's vagina prolapsed, and then her bladder needed repairing again.

At this point, Kate had moved to Tasmania. She needed another reconstructive operation, but she had to wait three years to find a gynaecologist to do the surgery. Wait for it.

Why did she have to wait for so long? Why are these women still waiting for so long? Because none of the gynaecologists in Tasmania or elsewhere will deal with the DVA.

They wouldn't, and they still won't, accept DVA's payment, and that's because DVA pays less. That's because DVA regards veterans as second-class citizens begging for crumbs off the table. While Kate was waiting for three years for the operation, she lost, as she puts it, the sensation of knowing when she needs to pee.

Kate is now functionally incontinent, and she is still dealing with complex PTSD. Psychiatrists have told her she needs to see a neuropsychiatrist. But guess what?

The DVA won't pay for that. You know what Kate got for being brutally gang raped? $34,000. 'Take it and shut up.' And the men who raped her got away scot-free.

There's your moral damage. They could still be walking around in uniform for all we know. And, I can tell you now, the Department of Veterans' Affairs and their delegates are still putting her through hell.

I know your names, you delegates; I know who you are. And I'll call you out unless it's fixed. Kate's story is awful, and it isn't unique.

Thirty years after the hideous events of that night, Kate is still fighting for treatment—from the department—that she desperately needs. Kate's life was destroyed. Organs in her body were destroyed.

Her mental health was destroyed. And she's still having to fight. When Kate heard about the $5,000 cap on allied health for veterans, she contacted my office.

She hasn't told her story to anyone outside her circle of family and doctors. Thank you for your bravery. But she asked me to tell her story, because, as she put it, 'If veterans lose the right to access allied health, more veterans will take their lives.' Well, ain't that a bloody fact.

Kate is in the care of a remarkable DVA approved psychiatrist, a man who cares deeply for her and many other veterans that he looks after, a man who has not been paid for reports requested by the DVA—and used by DVA and still not paid for. Kate is terrified that DVA's behaviour will stop this man treating her and many other veterans, because, as she puts it—as he has done for many other veterans—'He saved my life.' There've been multiple studies and reports done on the treatment of female veterans and the incidence of rape and sexual assault.

There is a class action going on for female veterans assaulted while serving between 2003 and 2025. JGA Saddler is the law firm, ladies—give 'em a call. And you know why there is a class action?

Because Defence and the Department of Veterans' Affairs have done nothing to support these women. In 2024, the DVA established a new team to investigate where women veterans were missing out on vital supports, explore what more could be done at every point to address this and improve their experience and outcomes during service, transition and beyond. The report is called 'Women Veterans' Strategy'.

Well, guess what? It landed on the minister's desk nearly 12 months ago—last October. Guess what Minister Keogh's done with it?

Absolutely nothing. He hasn't put any recommendations in. He won't release the report.

That's what we're up against, veterans. The fight's back on. It's as simple as that.

I want to reach out to every parent out there who has a daughter who wants to enlist. I am begging you from the bottom of my heart: hold 'em back. Hold them women back.

Do not let your daughter enlist until it is fixed. It's as simple as that. I can tell you, as a mother: not only will you put up with a lifetime of trauma and torment for your daughter; it is the ghost that you will wear for your daughter—for allowing her to join, or not trying to stop her from joining, our forces—because they won't help her, and, sure as hell, the department won't help her either.