Stephen Smith (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I wish to update the House on the first interim report to the Attorney-General and the Minister of Defence by the Defence Abuse Response Taskforce.

Introduction

The government is committed to providing regular reports and updates on its response to allegations of sexual or other forms of abuse in defence, including to the parliament.

On 26 November last year I also announced the government’s response to the report of the DLA Piper review into allegations of sexual or other forms of abuse in defence.

Today I will provide an update on the government’s response to the DLA Piper review.

DLA Piper Review

The DLA Piper review into allegations of sexual or other forms of abuse in defence received allegations from over 1,000 people.

The review identified a range of allegations from 775 people which fell within the review’s terms of reference, the overwhelming majority of which are said to be plausible allegations of abuse.

These involve allegations across every decade from the 1950s. The earliest date of alleged abuse is 1951.

The government’s response to the review has been guided by the recommendations in the review and will ensure that people who have alleged past abuse in Defence receive a response which is tailored to their individual circumstances and the nature of their experiences. The response includes:

Apology

On 26 November last year, I delivered in this House an historic general apology to members of the Australian Defence Force or Defence employees who have suffered sexual or other forms of abuse in the course of their employment. In my apology, I said that the men and women of the Australian Defence Force, past, currently serving and future, are entitled to be and deserve to be treated with the highest standards of admiration and respect. To those men and women in the Australian Defence Force or the Department of Defence who have suffered sexual or other forms of abuse, on behalf of the government I said sorry.

On the same day, the Chief of the Defence Force, General David Hurley, also made an apology to those who have suffered sexual, physical or mental abuse while serving in the ADF.

Independent t ask f orce

The independent Defence Abuse Response Taskforce has responsibility for liaising with those who have made allegations of abuse to determine an appropriate response in individual allegations, which can include:

All communications made to DLA Piper, including those that were assessed as outside the scope of the review or were referred to an external body, are intended to be reassessed by the task force. The task force will also assess new allegations and complaints received since its establishment where those allegations refer to abuse that is alleged to have occurred prior to 11 April 2011.

Today, I table the task force’s first interim report to me and the Attorney-General.

Task force f irst interim r eport

The task force is comprised of a leadership group appointed by the Attorney-General and me and staff who have been engaged by the task force since its establishment. The leadership group chair, the Honourable Len Roberts-Smith QC is assisted in his role by three other leadership group members: the deputy chair, Robert Cornall; member consultant, Susan Halliday; and ex-officio member, Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Rudi Lammers. I am very pleased to acknowledge the presence in the advisers box of the chair of the leadership group and the task force, Len Roberts-Smith QC.

The number of cases before the task force is building steadily. In addition to the more than 1,000 DLA Piper cases, the taskforce is receiving approximately 15 new matters per week through the hotline. The task force is now preparing its transition into its operational phase, in which the assessment of allegations and complaints will be considered in accordance with the task force’s protocols. In its operational phase, the task force will consider whether the matter is:

Systemic issues

All information assessed and analysed will be considered to ascertain whether there are any implications for Defence in the work it is undertaking in its Pathway to Change or arising from other cultural reviews. This includes any systematic issues identified in the DLA Piper review report, which has been provided to the task force for consideration and advice to me.

In accordance with its terms of reference, the task force will bring any such matters to the attention of the Minister for Defence, the Chief of the Defence Force, and the Secretary of the Department of Defence to ensure Pathway to Change addresses, or is updated to address, the concerns of systemic issues.

The task force is expressly considering if further investigation through a royal commission is required into particular matters identified in the report of the DLA Piper review, in particular in relation to ADFA, as previously outlined, and in relation to alleged events at HMAS Leeuwin in the 1960s and 1970s.

Based on an analysis of the material currently available to it about the events which are alleged to have taken place at HMAS Leeuwin in the 1960s and 1970s, the task force has noted that:

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Reparation s cheme

The government has today announced that it has approved the operation of the Defence Abuse Reparation Payment Scheme. The purpose of the Defence Abuse Reparation Payment Scheme is to recognise that abuse in Defence is unacceptable and wrong. Individuals who suffered sexual or other forms of abuse in Defence should be afforded some form of financial reparation as part of a broader acknowledgment that such abuse should never have occurred. Recognition will be made in the form of a reparation payment to persons who have made plausible allegations of being subjected to sexual or other forms of abuse in Defence. The scheme also seeks to recognise individuals who reported abuse and whose cases were then mishandled by Defence management.

Reparation payments are not intended as compensation per se. They are a way of enabling people to move forward. Payments to individuals will be capped at $50,000, with the amount provided to each complainant determined on a case-by-case basis taking into account the individual circumstances of each case. The making of a reparation payment to a person under the scheme is not intended to affect the statutory, common law or other legal rights of the person. However, a court or tribunal may, if it sees fit, take the making of a reparation payment into account in assessing the amount of any damages or compensation otherwise payable to a person under the common law or a Commonwealth, state or territory statute.

Period of operation

The task force was originally intended to operate for a year until December of this year and at its conclusion report to parliament through the Minister for Defence. However, I have received advice from the task force chair that he considers an extension of this deadline is necessary as there is no realistic prospect the work required by the terms of reference could be completed within the present 12-month timetable, noting the substantial workload before it and the large number of new cases. The Attorney-General and I have therefore agreed to his request that the duration of the Defence Abuse Response Taskforce be extended from 12 to 18 months. The task force is now due to complete its work at the end of May 2014.

The Attorney-General and I also agree that the cut-off for the task force accepting new allegations of abuse that are alleged to have occurred prior to 11 April 2011 will be 31 May this year, giving the task force a full year in which to assess those allegations and conclude its work. This announcement will ensure that people who have experienced abuse prior to 11 April 2011 but who have not yet brought their case forward have the time to consider doing so.

Parliamentary o versight

The serious nature of the matters being considered by the Defence Abuse Response Taskforce requires the highest level of oversight. This is why I support parliamentary oversight in the ongoing management of these matters. This has already commenced with the establishment of the Senate Standing Committees on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade inquiry into the report of the review of allegations of sexual and other abuse in Defence, conducted by DLA Piper, and the response of the government to the review.

Today, that committee will hold hearings at which the Chair of the Defence Abuse Response Taskforce, Mr Len Roberts-Smith QC, the Secretary of the Department of Defence and the Chief of the Defence Force will appear. I propose to discuss with members of the committee how parliamentary oversight of the management of allegations of abuse in Defence and parliamentary oversight of implementation of cultural change measures in Defence can be effected. This parliamentary oversight will be in addition to the first annual report to the Parliament on Defence’s implementation of the cultural reform program, which as previously indicated I propose to put forward in the House before the end of June.

I table a copy of the first interim report to the Attorney-General and Minister for Defence by the Defence Abuse Response Taskforce in conjunction with my ministerial statement. I ask leave of the House to move a motion to enable the member for Fadden to speak for 12 minutes.

Leave granted.

I move:

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent Mr Robert speaking in reply to the ministerial statement for a period not exceeding 12 minutes.

Question agreed to.

Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence Science, Technology and Personnel) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

First let me thank the minister for continuing to keep the parliament and the nation up to date on this important issue. I join the minister in acknowledging the chair of the organisation overseeing this, the Hon. Len Roberts-Smith RFD QC, and his senior leadership executive.

I reiterate the coalition's strong and complete bipartisan support for what is occurring to address the issues of the past. We are satisfied that we have been kept informed. We are satisfied that the processes and procedures that have been put in place are appropriate and are working to the fullest extent possible. I note the issues raised on access to documentation. I also note the work that has been done to overcome these. I, like everyone in this place, would fully expect DLA Piper to cooperate, and I am sure that will be the case going forward.

It is also our very strong expectation that the Department of Defence will make every resource and every document available to the group providing the oversight and will provide assistance to that task force so they can discharge their duty. I note the overwhelming support for the senior leadership team within Defence from the minister through to the CDF, the secretary and down. But it is important to note that the coalition will not tolerate any departmental obfuscation. Everything must be made fully available to the task force upon request without delay.

I think we all acknowledge that it is important the task force be able to operate completely and utterly unencumbered, as much to expedite the process as to ensure that those who were failed in the past receive the recognition and reparations they are entitled to. We may well be beholden to our past, but it is now our responsibility to ensure the wrongs inflicted on those fine men and women of the ADF over the last six decades are addressed and, importantly, that those egregious acts and wrongs are addressed to the satisfaction of those aggrieved, whether through counselling, reparation payments, apologies, restorative justice or all of the above. To that extent, the coalition is extremely satisfied with the process being undertaken by the task force.

In terms of the initiatives, we welcome the free hotline service that has provided an avenue to many who previously did not know there was a place to turn to have issues addressed. The coalition fully supports the minister in his decision to extend the time frame in which the task force can operate from 12 months to 18 months to enable the task force to work through until May 2014. We also put on record that if the task force requires extra time it should, of course, be given to it.

We also fully support the extension necessary for the task force to completely address and assess claims made, but we also support the idea that there needs to be a finite time for potential claimants to actually lodge their claims. The minister has stated that allegations of abuse that occurred prior to April 2011 must be made by 31 May this year. We agree with the minister that this is a sensible measure that will allow the task force the time they need to ensure everything is appropriately addressed. Importantly, it gives those aggrieved time to decide whether or not they wish to make a formal allegation to the task force. That gives eight or nine weeks for the Australian people to consider their position, and that is appropriate. I note, Minister, from our discussion yesterday, that you will be looking for some degree of advertising to ensure that as many people as possible are aware of the time frame and the time required to lodge a claim, and again you receive the coalition's strong support.

Minister, thank you for your update to the House on this very important measure. Thank you for providing the necessary parliamentary oversight. I believe that the Senate committee is meeting today and the chair of the task force will be addressing the Senate committee to provide that necessary parliamentary oversight. The key thing is that we move forward—that we move forward with grace, that we move forward with determination to right the wrongs of the past and to set a new standard. I believe that the Pathway to change document that the CDF and the senior leadership team have embarked on is addressing that adequately.