Sky News host Catherine McGregor says the amount of veterans experiencing poor mental health is “alarmingly high”.
“The army especially and the ADF in general is not just another job, it is a way life, it’s a vocation,” Ms McGregor told Sky News host Alan Jones.
“The soldier exercises a particular relationship and a democratic polity; it is all consuming, we forfeit many of our liberties to serve in harm’s way if required.
“It’s a contract of unlimited liability and when men and women leave that band of brothers and sisters, there’s an emptiness, there’s a hollowness.
“When you’re dumped … when you’re shown the gate and shaken down by the military police and no one even gives you an exit medical then you are devastated.
“Because you’ve lost more than your job, you’ve lost your way of life, you’ve lost your sense of meaning and, in many cases, you’ve lost your home provided by defence.”
