The new Military Veterans Bill was gazetted in November and will be before parliament during the next few months. While, in my opinion, the provisions and mechanisms included in this bill are woefully late, they are nevertheless extremely welcome. In summary and from a mental health and human rights point of view the bill, lays down some important principles, including:
- Sacrifices made by military veterans are to be honoured;
- Compensation for disability is reparation and not a welfare benefit; and,
- Specific attention must be given to relieving physical and mental disability arising from military service.
Benefits to veterans include:
- Compensation to veterans who sustained disabling injuries or psychological trauma ... resulting from their participation in military activities; and,
- Dedicated counselling and treatment to military veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder or related conditions.
The high profile that mental health issues enjoys in this bill are testiment to the work that many people have done on this issue in the past two decades. It also presents some challenges to us in the field. Do we have the technical knowledge, personnel and facilitaties to provide these services at present? We do not and we need to quickly start including more comprehensive trauma training in our curricula, and building greater capacity in State, private and non-government services. As in all things, establishing the right to a service is meaningless when it is not possible to exercise that right!
Anyone who would like to read the Bill in full can download in from the the ever useful Polity.org
here.