This from the Prime Minister today. Media release. Terms of Reference.
The inquiry will be led by Mr Nick Kaldas APM, former Deputy Commissioner of the New South Wales Police Force, supported by James Douglas QC, former Judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland, and Dr Peggy Brown AO, a consultant psychiatrist and national leader in mental health policy. There is to be an interim report on 11 August 2022 and a final report on 15 June 2023.
A theme on the Honest History site for some time has been the relative priorities of spending on veterans’ welfare, including suicide, and on the War Memorial redevelopment. (Use our Search engine with terms ‘suicide’ and ‘trauma’.) Of course, much more than dollars is involved here, but the Terms of Reference do not touch on this issue.
Update 7 December 2021: The Royal Commission is under way. Jon Blackwell in Pearls & Irritations asks why its terms of reference steer away from some obvious questions, including: Why do we get into stupid wars? He says the Commission will let politicians avoid the blame for futile wars.
8 July 2021 updated
