When Labor’s defence minister announced that Afghanistan veterans would be stripped of their medals, opposition leader Peter Dutton immediately questioned the ‘justice’ of the decision. After all, despite not a single soldier has been formally charged, let alone convicted, of a war crime.
All there is, is a ‘report’ compiled by a desk jockey, relying heavily on the testimony of Afghans, and a whole lot of pearl-clutching from the likes of the ABC. The same ABC who, it must be remembered, rush to publicise false (as it transpired) claims that Navy sailors burnt the hands of people smugglers.
As Dutton also points out, while the ADF careerists are rushing to punish the lower ranks, the top brass are getting let off. Defence Minister Richard Marles, says Dutton, is throwing ‘lower ranked diggers under the bus’.
“Why is it okay to throw lower rank diggers under the bus, but those who are higher up the chain avoid any scrutiny,” he told the Today Show, suggesting that similar action should have been taken against former army chiefs and chiefs of defence.
“He sat on this issue and he makes his announcement during the week that the royal commission into veteran suicide is released, and I think there is an insensitivity there,” Mr Dutton added.
As it happens, the royal commission into veteran suicide has inadvertently released a previously secret report, scathing of the military justice system. Caught out by the breach, Labor have reluctantly officially released the report.
Independent senator Jacqui Lambie […] told the Senate on Wednesday that the government’s handling of the issue had been “disgraceful”.
“The truth’s already there,” Lambie said of the military justice system, before the government tabled the review.
“Have you not been watching the royal commission? Sure you have. People from the department have been there every day … I am sick of the cover-up. You say you want to make changes, you say you want the culture to change, you say you want to reduce veterans’ suicide. But you are part of the problem. You are not holding them accountable.”
The report, a review of the first 20 years of operations of the Office of Inspector General of the Australian Defence Force (IGADF), urges a near-complete overhaul. But will it really result in better justice, or tie another arm behind the backs of on-the-ground soldiers dealing with the harsh reality of blurred lines on the battlefield, just to mollify the likes of the Greens’ David Shoebridge?
Shoebridge, who most recently defended the violent ‘pro-Palestine’ mobs rampaging in Melbourne, has long attacked the ADF for alleged ‘war crimes’ in Afghanistan. Shoebridge has particularly attacked former coalition senator, Jim Molan, while fellow Greens senator, Sarah Hanson-Young, accused the Iraq commander of being a ‘white supremacist’.
Shoebridge is red-hot for a new ‘war crimes’ accusation regime.
Conducted by former federal court judge and former Keating government attorney general Duncan Kerr, the review states the IGADF should be given the resources and authority to conduct more frequent and detailed investigations and that its remit should be expanded to investigate any death of a former member of the ADF – permanent or reserve force – when it occurs within two years of them having served.
How such a busybody regime would address veteran suicide seems a moot question.
