Compulsory medical examinations solution to recording ex-serviceman suicide, defence association says

While executive director Neil James said the association did not necessarily agree with the measure outright, enforcing compulsory exams every couple of years was the only way to ensure the numbers were as precise as possible.

The suggestion comes as Australia faces the potential loss of dozens of former Australian Defence Force personnel to suicide this year, with senior members conceding they do not have accurate numbers.

Consequently, the Defence Force is working with a wide range of stakeholders, including a grassroots suicide register, to plug the information hole.

"Keeping accurate figures on things like suicide is exceptionally difficult because Defence doesn't have the legal power to do it, nor the responsibility," Mr James said.

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Mr James agreed with the vice-chief of the Defence Force, Vice Admiral Ray Griggs, that there was no clear link between deployment to a war zone and increased rates of post traumatic stress disorder and suicide among personnel.

"Particularly with suicides, there's often a complex mix of causes," he said.

"If a former member of the Defence Force suicides ... the family tend to think the Defence Force service had something to do with it – there's no way of measuring if that's accurate.

"A lot of these psychological illnesses make people unco-operative so, they're not willing to seek treatment with the Department of Veterans Affairs. If their war service hasn't resulted in a wound or an injury or an illness then the Department of Veteran Affairs probably doesn't know about them either."

Mr James said the solution required a community-wide approach.

"The community needs a wider discussion about how we can possibly handle this but without an element of statutory compulsion, how are you ever going to get on top of it?," he said.

"There seems to be this odd belief in the community that serving in the Defence Force means the Defence Force has some control over you for the rest of your life when it's just not true."

Soldier On chief executive John Bale agreed that tracking suicide rates was beyond the sole responsibility of Defence. However, he doubted a compulsory examination would succeed.

He said the money could be better spent on preventing suicide in the first place, while a community-based co-ordinated approach could improve the accuracy of data.

"Obviously [examinations] would solve the issue but I think there's a whole bunch of technicalities that would mean it would never get up in the first place," he said.

"I think we need a more community-based approach to this, and I think government absolutely has a responsibility for this, to look at connecting a range of community organisations that work in this space so information they gather can be shared when people unfortunately do take their own lives.

"That's not going to be perfect but they are going to have a much better chance of reaching out to the families, or to have known the person because they'll be supporting them ... and

Mr Bales said families were integral to the "incredibly complex and important issue" of tracking suicide rates among former personnel.

Participation in Australian Veterans' Suicide Register, for example, is a voluntary choice made by individual families.

While Mr Bales agreed drawing a connection between service and suicide was complex, he said families needed be encouraged to disclose details of their late relative's service.

"Getting the families involved, I know it's a horrible process," he said.

"We've spoken to several of them – some we had supported to the end of their lives – so we know it's a very difficult process but ultimately, in most instances, they want to know that their family member's death is going to mean something.

"If this is linked back to how to make sure someone like their son or their daughter, their brother or sister, doesn't have to go through with that, yaddress