In his response to the interim report to the royal commission into veteran suicide, Matt Keogh said successive governments had failed serving and former defence force members.

"The rate of veteran suicide in Australia is a national tragedy, it is a rate that is significantly higher than across the general population," he told parliament on Monday.

"It is clear that things are not right. On behalf of the Australian government, I say sorry."

The interim royal commission was handed down in August, finding the entire system for serving and ex-serving defence personnel "needs to be reimagined and re-engineered" due to how complicated it is.

The lack of progress and response constituted a "dereliction of the Australian government's duty to veterans," the report says.

The government said it would agree to recommendations from the interim report, which includes a simplification and harmonisation of veteran compensation, as well as closing the backlog of veteran compensation claims.

Mr Keogh said the government would look to implement the recommendations as soon as possible.

Of the 13 recommendations from the interim report, one has already been implemented, nine have been agreed to, while one has been agreed to in principle and two others have been noted.

"There's no doubt some veterans and families have not had a good experience, and have not been able to access the support they deserve, to that we are sorry," Mr Keogh said.

"Our government is committed to the task of saving lives and ensuring a better future for our defence and veterans communities."

Mr Keogh also apologised to the families of ADF personnel.

"Governments have also failed the families of those people, families who have carried a heavy burden of their own, through the pain and suffering they have experienced," he said.

The government will remove department staffing caps and recruit an additional 500 staff to help clear the claims backlog, deliver better support and roll out a further 10 hubs for veterans and families.

Opposition veterans' affairs spokesman Barnaby Joyce said veteran suicide needed to be urgently addressed.

"It is a tragedy, it rips us to our being ... so many good people who have lost their life on being at home and being away from harm," he said.

"We must do something, and this is it."

Meanwhile, independent Jacqui Lambie is pushing to strip parliamentary privilege from blocking evidence before the royal commission, a measure recommended in its interim report.

"If royal commissions say they have a problem then they have a problem. We need to fix it so they can get on with their job," she told the Senate.

"Not stand here as obstructionists so they can't get their job done."

An emotional Senator Lambie said the commission was forced to tiptoe around all the work parliament had done on the issue, rendering a number of reports and inquiries a waste.

"Instead of protecting people with no power, it's shielding people in power from scrutiny," she said.

"We've got to find a way to make sure ... commissioners can turn over every stone to find out what's going so terribly wrong."

Royal commission submissions remain open until October 13, 2023.

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Australian Associated Press