Committee chair Senator Alex Gallacher wrote in a foreword to his committee’s report, The Constant Battle: Suicide by Veterans, that its title ‘reflects the problematic nature of the issue’:

‘For modern veterans, it is likely that suicide and self-harm will cause more deaths and injuries for their contemporaries than overseas operational service … The effort to prevent suicide by veterans is a series of hidden personal conflicts, cloaked by stigma, unreliable information and the inherent reluctance of members of the defence community to request assistance’.

One of the submissions received by the committee was from John and Karen Bird, outlining their fear for the welfare of their son Jesse, an Afghanistan veteran, and their concerns about significant delays in processing his claim for financial assistance.

In June 2017, while the committee’s inquiry was in progress, Jesse Bird took his own life. After Jesse’s death, his parents made a supplementary submission in which they noted that Jesse, whose claim had been rejected in May, had only $5.20 in his bank account.

Jesse's story, while tragically one of many, gained widespread coverage. The Bird family’s subsequent lobbying for parliamentary action contributed to the achievement of successful legislative change in the form of interim financial support for veterans making claims.