Thank you, Ms. Mathyssen.
Just to correct the record, our discussions with Veterans Affairs Canada have ranged across our mutual research interests. We haven't at this point specifically discussed mefloquine, but I certainly would like to convey the impression that we are very willing to consider adding it to our list of mutual research interests. The issues that we have primarily focused on in relation to our mutual research interests to date include transition, mental health generally, homelessness, and suicide, but as I said, we'd be very open to considering some joint work on mefloquine as well.
The interest in Australia has very much been sparked by some concerted lobbying efforts from affected individuals, including Professor Quinn, to whom your colleague referred earlier. Those concerns have been raised for some time now. There has been some research internationally. Mefloquine is used across the Australian community as an anti-malarial. Outside defence circles, it's still being used, and it has been used for quite some time.
One of the reasons we're interested in the literature search currently being undertaken by our Repatriation Medical Authority is that they're looking at the consequences of exposure across the whole population, which gives potentially a much better idea of numbers. From a research perspective, in Australia the number of people who have taken mefloquine as an anti-malarial is so small it's very hard to get robust evidence. We're hoping that by looking at numbers across the broader community we'll be able to get a better picture of the situation.