Characteristics of serving and ex-serving ADF members who have not yet or not recently interacted with the Department of Veterans’ Affairs

Web report

Last updated: 28 Oct 2025

Topic: Veterans

AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare) (2025) Characteristics of serving and ex-serving ADF members who have not yet or not recently interacted with the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 26 June 2026.

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This report provides insights on current and ex-serving Australian Defence Force members (veterans) who have not accessed services from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) or have not accessed DVA services recently. The report provides an overview of these veteran subpopulations to inform policy action or the need to conduct further research to inform Defence and DVA on how to better support veterans.

Cat. no: PHE 365

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Caution: Some readers may find parts of this content confronting or distressing

Please carefully consider your needs when reading the following information. This report contains information and statistics on suicidality and self-harm of ex-serving ADF members.

If this material raises concerns for you, support is available. Please contact Lifeline on 13 11 14, or Defence All-hours Support Line on 1800 628 036, or Open Arms - Veterans and Families Counselling, available free of charge, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or see other ways you can seek help. Open Arms – Veterans & Families Counselling provides free, confidential military-aware mental health and wellbeing support. Available 24/7 to anyone who has served one day of continuous full-time service in the ADF and their immediate families.

The information included here places an emphasis on data, and as such, can appear to depersonalise the pain and loss behind the statistics. The AIHW respectfully acknowledges the individuals, families and communities affected by ADF member and veteran suicide or intentional self-harm each year in Australia.

The AIHW supports the use of the Mindframe guidelines on responsible, accurate and safe suicide and self-harm reporting. Please consider these guidelines when reporting on statistics on the monitoring of suicide and self-harm.

Characteristics of serving and ex-serving ADF members who have not yet or not recently interacted with the Department of Veterans’ Affairs

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