Any changes to defence force culture and management flowing from the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide must be embraced from the top down, the inquiry has been told.
Retired major general and Vietnam veteran Peter Dunn said it was vital that there was a "simple songsheet" adopted by politicians, military leaders and those directly in command.
"If we're going to implement significant change, as a result of this royal commission, then it has to start right at the top," Mr Dunn said.
"Included in that are our political leaders. It's imperative that there is bipartisan support for the change.
"There has to be a very simple songsheet. People have to get on the ground, in the ships, on the airbases and actually see that this is occurring."
Mr Dunn, who left the army in 2002, gave evidence to the commission on Wednesday, relating his extensive experience with reviews of defence force operations and with restructuring emergency service operations in the ACT after the devastating 2003 bushfires.
He said he continued to have enormous respect for the defence force and what it was called upon to do.
But he said it was faced with a number of dilemmas and, in recent years, had been overworked as it grappled with mental health, social and other issues.
Mr Dunn agreed the level of suicide among serving personnel and veterans was a crisis and said it distressed him to think the royal commission even existed.
Asked about introducing fundamental change to the culture within the defence force and ensuring proper accountability for unacceptable behaviour, he said there had to be a better way of addressing such issues.
"There has to be a mechanism to allow a person who has been the subject of unacceptable behaviour to raise that very, very quickly," he said.
"We are at the point now where there has to be an individual at unit level that is able to be approached by individuals to report this sort of behaviour.
"If the leader doesn't take action on it, then it automatically gets elevated to a level where it's seriously considered."
A final report with recommendations from the royal commission is due to be delivered to the governor-general by June 2024.
The inquiry was set up in 2021 to look at systemic issues and risk factors related to military and veteran suicides.
Wednesday's hearing came as the Defence and Veterans Legal Service released figures which it said highlighted the treatment of women in the military.
It said while women accounted for 20 per cent of defence force personnel, among its 900 registered clients, 42 per cent were women.
"The figures are deeply disturbing and the stories behind them are often sickening," the legal service's director Jasmine Stanton said.
"Nearly all our female clients have told us about the sexual harassment, sexual abuse and sexual assault they endured in the defence force. Many of those experiences involved rape."
Lifeline 13 11 14
Open Arms 1800 011 046
