What You Can Do
You have read the report. You understand what happened and what has been left undone. This page is for people who want to act — and tells you precisely how.
The families documented in this report do not need sympathy. They need action — from journalists, policymakers, clinicians, lawyers, advocates, and members of the public who are willing to use whatever they have to move the institutions that have looked away for twenty-five years.
The Most Important Actions Right Now
For everyone
Name It and Share It
The single most powerful thing most people can do is ensure this report reaches people with the authority and platform to act on it. Share it with your local Member of Parliament. Share it with a journalist. Share it with a lawyer, a doctor, a domestic violence service, or a researcher. The families documented here have been invisible for twenty-five years — and visibility, in the right places, changes things.
For Members of Parliament and Senators
Ask the Question on the Record
A question in the Senate or House of Representatives asking the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs specifically why spouses and children of ADF quinoline trial veterans are excluded from recognition and support — and what the timeline is for addressing that exclusion — places the issue on the parliamentary record and requires a ministerial response. Questions on notice cost nothing.
For Journalists and Media Organisations
Investigate and Publish
The evidentiary record — peer-reviewed literature, Senate submissions, regulatory agency documentation, coronial records, Royal Commission findings — is available and verifiable. Investigative journalism that names individuals, documents specific cases, and holds specific institutions to account has historically been the mechanism by which stories like this one move from advocacy to policy change. This report provides the framework.
For Lawyers and Legal Advocates
Build the Legal Framework
No Australian legal precedent currently exists for quinoline-related domestic harm as a recognised context in family law or compensation proceedings. The duty of care argument for families of clinical trial subjects is documented in this report and is legally arguable. Test cases, submissions to family courts incorporating the neurological evidence, and challenges to the DVA’s SOP framework for acquired brain injury are the legal mechanisms through which institutional recognition is forced.
For Clinicians and Researchers
Fill the Evidentiary Gap
No longitudinal health study has ever been conducted on the 1,540 ADF tafenoquine trial subjects. No research exists on domestic violence and family harm outcomes in the quinoline veteran cohort. No clinical protocol has been developed for assessing quinoline-related risk in family court proceedings. Each of these gaps is an opportunity for a researcher or institution to produce the evidence that the policy argument requires.
For Domestic Violence Services
Develop a Quinoline-Specific Protocol
No domestic violence service in Australia currently has a protocol for identifying, assessing, or supporting women affected by quinoline-related harm. The features that distinguish this population — the neurological origin of the behaviour, the episodic nature of the risk, the veteran context — are documented in this report and are sufficient to form the basis of a training module and risk assessment framework.
Specifically, By Audience
If You Are a Member of the Public
- Share this report on social media and in private networks — particularly with people who have influence in law, medicine, journalism, or politics
- Write to your local federal Member of Parliament
- If you know an affected family, share this report with them directly
- If you are a veteran yourself or know one, share the veteran-specific pages — particularly It Was Not You
If You Are a Journalist
- Contact the QVFA and Major Stuart McCarthy for on-record comment and access to the Senate submission evidence base
- Request comment from the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs on the exclusion of spouses and children from the Royal Commission’s brain injury program
- Seek comment from Professor Jane Quinn of Charles Sturt University — peer-reviewed neurotoxicologist and primary scientific source
- File Freedom of Information requests for AMI trial records, DVA correspondence on the SOP gap, and coronial records involving quinoline-era veterans
If You Are a Lawyer
- Review the duty of care argument for families of ADF clinical trial subjects
- Consider pro bono representation for women seeking family court review on the basis of neurological evidence not before the original court
- Contact Legal Aid commissions about developing a specific quinoline-context module for family law practitioners
- Contact the Defence and Veterans Legal Service about coordinating on test cases — 1800 33 1800
If You Are a Clinician
- Familiarise yourself with the clinical presentation of quinoline-induced acquired brain injury and how it differs from PTSD on standard assessment
- If you treat ADF veterans from the East Timor or Bougainville deployment period, consider whether quinoline exposure has been investigated
- Refer veterans for CYP2D6 testing where quinoline toxicity is a plausible contributor
- If you conduct parenting capacity assessments, request and review military pharmaceutical records as part of your standard process
If You Are a Researcher
- The absence of longitudinal research on ADF quinoline trial subjects and their families is the single largest evidentiary gap in this field — and it is entirely open
- Collaboration with the QVFA, Professor Jane Quinn, and domestic violence research centres would provide access to the affected population
- ARC and NHMRC funding applications targeting this population are currently uncontested
- Forensic assessment tool development for quinoline-related parenting risk would have immediate practical application in family court proceedings
If You Are a Policymaker
- Review the Royal Commission’s Volume 4, Chapter 22 findings and identify the policy pathway by which spouses and children could be included in the brain injury program
- Commission an independent legal opinion on the Commonwealth’s duty of care to families of clinical trial subjects
- Initiate a cross-departmental working group — DVA, Attorney-General’s, Health, and Social Services
- Develop a Statement of Principles for quinoline-induced acquired brain injury through the Repatriation Medical Authority, with appropriate neurotoxicology expertise
“Named failures, placed in evidence before the institutions responsible for them, have a history of eventually being answered. The evidence is here. The naming has been done. What remains is the decision — by people with power — to act.”Unacknowledged Casualties Research Report, 2026
Share This Report
The most immediate thing you can do is ensure this report reaches people who have not yet read it. Every share is an act of advocacy for the families it documents.
Write to Your Member of Parliament
A constituent letter on a specific, documented issue is one of the most effective forms of political advocacy available to a member of the public. Below is a template you can use or adapt.
Dear [Member’s Name],
I am writing as a constituent to raise an urgent matter concerning the families of ADF veterans who were administered the quinoline antimalarial drugs mefloquine and tafenoquine during deployments to East Timor and Bougainville between 1998 and 2002.
The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide (Final Report, September 2024) recommended a brain injury program for affected veterans. The Australian Government accepted this recommendation. However, the spouses, partners, and children of these veterans — who bore the domestic consequences of neurological injuries caused by government-administered drugs — have been entirely excluded from this program and from any form of recognition or support.
These families are the secondary casualties of a government drug trial they never consented to and were never told about. Many have experienced severe domestic violence, financial devastation, loss of custody of their children, and lifelong health consequences. No policy pathway exists for them. No research has been commissioned to document their situation. No apology has been made.
I am asking you to raise this matter with the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and to seek a specific answer to the following questions: Why are spouses and children of ADF quinoline trial veterans excluded from the brain injury program? What is the timeline for extending recognition and support to this population? What research has been commissioned into domestic violence and family harm outcomes in this cohort?
I would be grateful for your response and for any action you are able to take on behalf of these families.
Yours sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your suburb and postcode]
To find your federal Member of Parliament, visit aph.gov.au and use the member search.
Key Contacts and Advocacy Resources
Quinoline Veterans & Families Association (QVFA)
The primary advocacy organisation behind the Senate submission that forms the evidentiary backbone of this report. Contact for access to Submission 94 and for connection to affected veterans and families.
Professor Jane Quinn — Charles Sturt University
Peer-reviewed neurotoxicologist and author of Senate Submission 73. Primary scientific expert on the neurological mechanisms documented in this report.
Defence and Veterans Legal Service (DAVLS)
Free legal support for veterans and families. Phone: 1800 33 1800. Relevant for veterans seeking to understand their rights as clinical trial subjects and for families seeking legal advice.
Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide
The Final Report (September 2024), including Volume 4 Chapter 22 on mefloquine and tafenoquine, is publicly available at defenceveteransuicide.royalcommission.gov.au
If You or Someone You Know Needs Support Right Now
Lifeline Australia
13 11 1424 hours — crisis support and suicide prevention
1800RESPECT
1800 737 73224 hours — national domestic and family violence counselling
Open Arms
1800 011 04624 hours — veterans and families counselling
Beyond Blue
1300 22 463624 hours — depression and anxiety support
Safe Zone Support
1800 142 072Anonymous counselling for veterans and families
Suicide Call Back Service
1300 659 46724/7 phone and online counselling
You have read what happened. You know who is responsible. You know what has not been done. The only question that remains is what you are going to do with that knowledge. These families have been waiting for twenty-five years for someone with power to act. The documentation is done. The evidence is here. The argument has been made.
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