Former soldier Jacqui Lambie has broken down in tears during an emotional appearance before a veterans inquiry.
The independent Tasmanian Senator welled up as she thanked her parents and youngest son Dylan for looking after her when her mental health spiralled before she attempted suicide in 2009.
‘I want to thank my family for the 10 years of hell they had to go through,’ she said.
‘That was very difficult for them, watching their daughter, especially my mum and dad, go from being someone who was very fit with a military career to reduced to basically just an empty human being.
The independent Tasmanian Senator (left today) welled up as she thanked her parents and youngest son Dylan for looking after her when her mental health spiralled
‘I want to thank my two sons who went through a lot and watched their mother deteriorate so badly over a 10-year period and the ending of that.’
Senator Lambie has previously told how she became addicted to painkillers and attempted suicide in 2009 after being medically discharged from the Army in 2000.
Her youngest son Dylan struggled with a meth addiction afterwards.
Directly addressing him in front of the cameras, Senator Lambie said: ‘To my youngest son I know you have paid a very, very heavy price for what you had to do to care for me over that period of time, and I know you are still paying the price of that.
‘Thank you sincerely. And I will speak on your behalf and tell them what you went through and the impact that it’s had on your life. So, thank you very much.’
Senator Lambie was speaking today before the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, after years of campaigning for an inquiry into the nation’s armed forces.
The outspoken politician, who served in the Army for 11 years, gave evidence about a lengthy legal battle with the Department of Veterans’ Affairs over compensation.
Senator Lambie previously discussed her battle with depression while appearing on I’m A Celebrity in 2019 and before that on Australian Story in 2014.
Senator Lambie thanked her youngest son Dylan (pictured together in 2016) for looking after her when her mental health spiralled
After she was medically discharged from the Army with a back injury, she lodged compensation claims with the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.
‘I think I was on the books for about four months and they decided I was maligned and they had video surveillance done on me,’ she told Australian Story.
That surveillance was used to discredit Ms Lambie and her entitlements were terminated and she was forced to go on a disability pension.
That was when her life started spiralling out of control.
In 2009 she made an attempt on her own life, leaving a goodbye note for her two sons.
‘I’d written a letter to both the boys and left them in my draw and said right here’s a perfect opportunity, I had a few drinks and off I went,’ she said.
‘I’d walked out in front of a car, I’d had enough, I’d had a gutful, that was it, I was finished, I was gone.’
Senator Lambie sustained the loss of her two front teeth, a substantial scar to her forehead and a large hematoma to her thigh after she was hit by the car.
After she was hospitalised, she got the psychological help she needed before things in her life started to turn around.
Senator Lambie is pictured in a recent Instagram photo. She gave evidence in Hobart on Friday
The Veterans commission is holding seven days of hearings in Hobart, its final evidence gathering before delivering an interim report on Thursday focusing on issues needing urgent action.
The inquiry has been told of struggles providing services to veterans in Tasmania, because of the island state’s isolated nature.
There are more than 17,500 veterans living in Tasmania, believed to be the highest number per capita of any state or territory.
The cohort is disproportionately affected by homelessness compared with the general population, the inquiry has been told.
Tasmanian Veterans’ Affairs Minister Guy Barnett said a 2019 RSL survey of more than 400 of the state’s veterans found about one in two had experienced a mental health condition in the previous 12 months.
The inquiry, which has received more than 1,900 submissions since being called by former prime minister Scott Morrison in April 2021, will provide final recommendations by June 2024.
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