VICTORIA’S top cop and the police union boss have smashed the $500,000 target they set themselves to help thousands of police veterans with mental health injuries.

A $50,000 donation from the Andrews Government to Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton and Police Association Secretary Wayne Gatt’s 1000km fundraising walk brought the total raised so far to $512, 035 — and they still have two days of trekking to go.

They want their gruelling hike to prompt state and federal governments to give police veterans the sort of permanent and extensive benefits military veterans have had for decades.

While they were happy to flatfoot it across the state in aid of police veterans this one time, they hope that in the not too distant future that governments will take responsibility for properly funding mental health and other services for police veterans.

“There is clearly a gap in mental health support for police veterans and it shouldn’t be up to Graham and me to fill that gap,” Sgt Gatt told the Herald Sun.
“We hope we never have to walk like this again because, really, the job of looking after police veterans who have served the community for decades rests firmly at the feet of state and federal governments.”

Mr Ashton and Sgt Gatt have joined forces to lobby the federal government to give veteran police the equivalent of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs Health Card, which entitles military veterans to a wide range of free public and private health care services.

Their head to head trek started on October 1 — with Mr Ashton leaving from Mallacoota and Sgt Gatt walking from Mildura — and they are due to meet up at the finish line in Wangaratta at lunchtime on Tuesday.

“It’s fantastic that we have already passed the $500,000 fundraising target we set ourselves,” Mr Ashton told the Herald Sun.

“We have had great support in term of our sponsors, and from the Herald Sun as well for raising awareness of the walk and the mental health issues facing police veterans.

“Without that awareness raising by the Herald Sun we would have had no chance of raising the more than $500,000 we have.”

While the latest statistics reveal 42 serving Victoria Police officers have committed suicide since 1990, there is no way or knowing how many police veterans have taken their own lives — but Mr Ashton and Sgt Gatt said the figure was certainly much higher than 42.

“We would like to explore with the federal government the concept of a police veteran’s card and some mechanism through which we can nationally recognise and support police veterans,” Mr Ashton said.

“Wayne and I are keen to start that conversation at the federal level because first responders around the country are doing it tough.

“It’s not just VicPol — we had a police member in Perth suicide in the past few days in very tragic circumstances.”

Sgt Gatt said the federal and state governments should examine funding mental health support for police veterans from their criminal asset seizure accounts.

Victoria’s asset confiscation operations unit alone grabbed $25 million is assets from criminals in the past financial year.

Sgt Gatt said the more than $500,000 he and Mr Ashton’s walk has raised will go directly to the Retired Peer Support Officer program, which is run voluntarily by about 60 police veterans.

The chairman of the program, former Victoria Police detective superintendent Gerry Ryan, said the program had been “running on zero money” for years so he was extremely grateful for the cash coming from Mr Ashton and Sgt Gatt’s walk.

Mr Ryan is preparing a business plan to ensure the more than $500,000 he is about to receive from the head to head walk fund is used in the most efficient way to improve the lives of police veterans.

Sgt Gatt praised the work of the volunteers who run the Retired Peer Support Officer program.

“The challenge that now exists for us is to make sure that while the $500,000 will sustain the program for a few years that we work now on making sure a sustainable model exists to keep it going well into the future,” Sgt Gatt said.

“We need to work closely with state and federal governments to identify ways of ensuring that police officers in the service receive the best possible care and treatment to prevent mental injury.

“We also need to ensure that those that are mentally injured as a result of their service — whether they are still serving members or police veterans — are provided with the care they need.”

Sgt Gatt said the generosity of people he and his support crew met during the walk “just floored me”.

Police Association president Jason Laird and the union’s stakeholder relations adviser Pete Abbey have been with Sgt Gatt just about every step of the way.

“We have walked past hundreds of kilometres of crops that are dying or dead and where we know people living in those areas are doing it tough,” Sgt Gatt said.

“Yet people in those regional areas of Victoria have still stopped us and pulled out $50 and $20 notes to put in our collection tins.

“We had one old pensioner pull up in his pick-up truck with $50 to donate. Fifty bucks to somebody in his circumstances is not an insignificant amount of money.

“The generosity of people along the way demonstrates to me the respect Victorians have for the men and women in our police force.”

Herald Sun journalist Keith Moor walked with Mr Ashton from Mt Hotham to Harrietville in freezing conditions last Thursday and pounded the hot bitumen on Friday with Sgt Gatt on a 29 degree day.

Moor did so after media lawyer Justin Quill and serving and former Herald Sun journalists promised to donate $1150 to the mental health support fund if he completed the trek.

There were extremes of temperature and different conditions on the walks, with Mr Ashton and his support crew having to trek through snow, wade through one freezing river while using a log to get across another and walk up and down steep, narrow and rocky paths along the remote Bon Accord track.

Sgt Gatt and his crew had to cope with hot and dry conditions while walking the 32km along the flat and boring bitumen from Tongala, through Kyabram to Mooroopna North.

There was some excitement and drama when Mr Abbey stepped on a snake as he was walking alongside Sgt Gatt.

For tough cops who didn’t flinch when facing angry men on the beat, they sure panicked when the still alive but wounded snake slithered around their feet.

Movie character Forrest Gump ended his marathon trek by famously saying: “I’m pretty tired, I think I’ll go home now.”

Sgt Gatt channelled his inner Forrest Gump when asked what he planned to do after completing the 1000km head to head walk tomorrow.

“I’m just going to sit down and stop walking for a wee bit. I’m just going to stop walking,” he told the Herald Sun.

Responding to the same question, Mr Ashton said he was particularly keen on not waking up every morning knowing he has to walk another 30km.

“I am also looking forward to sitting on the couch with the form guide and just relaxing. I’ll be home just in time for the Spring Carnival.”

To donate to Mr Ashton and Sgt Gatt’s mental health support fund go to headtoheadwalk.org.au