2 weeks Ago By Ellen Ransley
A landmark review into Australia’s military justice watchdog kept secret for months has been accidentally published online, prompting fury from crossbench senators who accused the government of a “cover-up”. The 20-year review of the office of the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force, which is tasked with investigating military deaths and complaints of misconduct, was briefly uploaded online to the royal commission into veteran and defence suicides on Tuesday before being quickly taken down — but not before eagle-eyed staffers in Greens senator David Shoebridge’s office noticed it. The 141-page report, which independent senator and veteran Jacqui Lambie has been calling to be released for six months, made 47 recommendations.
Former attorney-general Duncan Kerr recommended the body be made truly independent from the Defence Department via new legislation, to allow it to investigate more deaths in the defence force. He also recommended hiring two new deputy inspectors-general — one tasked with auditing, the other with investigating deaths. It comes after last week’s release of the royal commission’s final report, which found 3000 service personnel had probably died unnecessarily over the last 30 years.
Senator Lambie released the report on Wednesday morning, saying there had been a “cover-up” in the removal of it from the royal commission. “We downloaded it, we printed it, and then we rang the royal commission to ask when the report was uploaded to the website — and an hour later it was gone,” she said. “This shows again the cover-up culture in Defence and the government.
I want to thank Senator Shoebridge and his staff for their help on this.” Senator Lambie, who had made an emotional plea in the senate on Tuesday for the government to release the report, had repeatedly been told “it couldn’t possibly be made publicly available until Minister Marles had finished consulting with all stakeholders”. Max Corstorphan Ellen Ransley Senator Shoebridge also accused the government of attempting to cover up the report, noting he had attempted to table the report on Tuesday after his office had found it online but had been rejected.
“But perhaps an even more remarkable thing happened, having discovered this was published as an exhibit by the royal commission...
the government then went through a process of removing it from the royal commission’s website, which is an extraordinary interference in the independence of the royal commission,” he said. “Just a week after the royal commission handed down its final report, the question (Defence Minister) Richard Marles must now answer is: did he order the editing of the royal commission’s website? “If you want an explanation for why Defence was so keen to hide this, you only have to read the findings and conclusions of the review.” Senator Lambie said now that she had seen the public version of the report, there had been no excuse for the Government to sit on it for so long.
“We are never going to change the culture of defence until we get somebody that’s got the courage to say ‘no, this is not the way it’s going down’,” she said. “The transparency that (the Government) promised Australians? You’ve been the worst government I’ve ever seen..
. Deleting this from the website a week after the royal commission’s (final report), that is an indictment on the transparency of defence and an indictment on the transparency of the Albanese Government.” Mr Marles’ office has been contacted for comment.
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