(Disclosure this blog may be disturbing and emotionally upsetting for some readers) Yesterday I got some news. It has taken me some time to process this. But dependent on what happens this may mean I will never ever go back to my home country because there is no freedom of speech. For Australia this is disturbing. It is about time I discuss my past and the good and the bad things that have happened. Roughly a week ago the night before I left Australia I went to the pharmacy. I am on several different prescription medications. There was yet again some issues with the prices and the liability and the medication not being covered under the card that was issued to me by Department of Veterans Affairs. Now for someone who is suffering from mental illness you do not want to yet again have to deal with the stress and additional paperwork, phone-calls, further follow-up of rectifying this issue. Practically every time I go to the pharmacy there is some issue. Well this night because of the high cost due to the errors I had a breakdown over this. I walked out having a panic attack. Not knowing what to do. Initially I was going to go to the pharmacy on my own to get the medication I desperately need in order to keep me alive. I was under a fair bit of stress this evening and asked my mum to accompany me. Today I am so glad I asked her this because if it was not for this I have no idea what would have happened. That evening she picked up the pieces for me and took care of the entire matter. I was outside hyperventilating, processing my thoughts and sending of an email to the Department of Veterans affairs. Now this e-mail was not worded nicely. Usually I am very articulate and professional in all forms of correspondence. About 11 months ago I have submitted a claim for liability against the Department of Veterans Affairs. This entire matter is still in limbo. My emotions were high and I was not going to let back about how I feel about the fact that this matter is still not resolved. I used profanity that I blanked out. Something I would never do since I personally do not condone foul language. I should also point out that this organisation is currently being investigated by the Senate of Australia for suicide of ex-serving members. Having gone through the entire process of dealing with them I can completely understand why members are losing the mental health battle and how this organisation is a massive contributor to these high statistics of veterans committing suicide. So fast track to today I feel that this is important to share and everyone should share this. Australians need to be warned. If you are unsatisfied with ANY government agency, organisation, company and voice this in essentially an email of complaint they will call your father up like they did to mine yesterday to tell him they are going to make a complaint to prosecute me for carriage to service menace. If found guilty for this in a court of law you could face being imprisoned for three years. How disturbing is this? You are freely voicing your speech, annoyance, dissatisfaction of their current service and now they want to further bully you by criminally prosecuting you. Under the Criminal Code Act 1995 section 474.17 Australians freedom of speech is being violated. I am still in shock from this. The fact that they even called my dad to tell him we are going to press criminal charges against your daughter is also astonishing to me. I am 28 years old!! Now knowing this whilst being overseas, mentally fragile already after suffering years of different forms of abuse in the Royal Australian Navy I can tell you that I do not know if I will ever return to Australia. Knowing a little about the law this means if they make a complaint with the police that a warrant for my arrest will be issued so that they could conduct a formal interview with me. Right now there is no way I would be able to deal with that mental stress. It is for that reason I feel that there is a very high chance I may now never return home because there is no freedom of speech in Australia. Australians need to be aware and need to start fighting for this vitally important human right. You should not be able to be sent to jail for three years because no one in particular read what you sent, posted online or messaged and decided they are offended by this and make a report to the police. Right now you can go to any public page on Facebook click on a controversial topic, read the comments, decide what Person A and C posted is offensive to you, make a report to the police and they will be investigated for this. To me legislation like this is a waste of Australian resources that should be dedicated towards catching real criminals violating our safety. I am a 28 year old female with no criminal record, trying to travel the world to raise mental health awareness and do something positive in this world full of negativity.

*I will not release the e-mail however I can verify that I did not make single threat, said anything to scare anyone, harassed anyone. I may be contacted for further comment if anyone is interested in this story.