With Australia's combat role in Afghanistan now over, the government wants to find out the true rate of mental trauma among veterans.
Assistant Defence Minister Stuart Robert said a 2010 study estimated 8.7 per cent of defence personnel suffered post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
There was no significant difference between those deployed on operations and those who weren't.
Mr Robert said it seemed counter-intuitive and at odds with the experience of some servicemen and women.
He said this could be explained by variations in demographics, life experience and the relative resilience of the two groups in the study.
"But clearly more work and research is required which is why the next study the government has announced will explore this critical subject in greater detail," the minister said.
Three new studies are under way including one specifically examining the impact of combat.
Mr Robert said this was the most comprehensive study program ever undertaken to examine impact of military service on the mental, physical and social health of serving and ex-serving personnel who have deployed to conflicts, and their families.
He said Defence was acutely aware of the association between mental health conditions and suicide.
From January 2000 to this month, 106 serving defence personnel committed suicide.
Of those 45 had served overseas, with 17 deploying once or more to the Middle East.
"More work needs to be done on this. One death by suicide is too many," Mr Robert said.
Labor parliamentary secretary for defence Gai Brodtmann said the mental health of serving and ex-serving defence personnel must be a top priority for the government and Defence.
She said there were no accurate statistics of how many former defence members had committed suicide but recent reports claim almost 200 Afghanistan war veterans had taken their own lives and another 2600 suffered from PTSD.
"More needs to be done to address this lack of information," she said.
* Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.
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