Mark Bishop (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Defence Industry, Procurement and Personnel) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Ian Campbell, the Minister representing the Minister for Defence. Can the minister confirm that yesterday’s audit report into the ADF’s military police concluded that the system is so seriously flawed that even with ‘unremitting resolve and commitment’ it will take ‘no less than five years to correct and remedy’? Don’t these findings echo Ernst and Young’s report into the Army military police in 2004, which identified the same deficiencies of a lack of qualified military police and expert forensic skills? Given that two reports have found the same problems, can the minister explain why the government rejected the unanimous recommendation of the Senate military justice inquiry to transfer responsibility for criminal investigations to the Australian Federal Police? Why has the government continued to fail ADF personnel and their families by allowing the current flawed system to continue?

Ian Campbell (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Heritage) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Bishop for the question. If the audit report into military justice and the military police has just been tabled, I am sure the government and the minister will respond to it in due course. It is an incredibly serious issue, and the reason you have these audit reports is to look at the capabilities, the processes and the effectiveness of the system. I am sure that is what the minister will do.

Mark Bishop (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Defence Industry, Procurement and Personnel) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. For the advice of the minister, the report was recommended; the government accepted the recommendations on the advice of the Chief of the Defence Force. So it is not a matter of further work; it is a matter of answering that question—and you should be aware of it, Minister. In that context, my supplementary question is this: isn’t it the case that the bungled investigation of Private Kovco’s tragic death occurred because of the military’s lack of forensic skills and experience? Isn’t this the same problem that was clearly identified three years ago by both the Senate committee and Ernst and Young reports? Hasn’t the audit report also concluded ‘that it would be futile to maintain the ADF investigative capability as it presently exists’? When will the government take responsibility for fixing this mess so that military personnel and their families can receive the justice they deserve?

Ian Campbell (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Heritage) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

These are very serious issues; they are issues that the government take very seriously. The opposition obviously do not take them seriously. They seek to make cheap political mileage out of the Kovco investigation at the risk of upsetting Private Kovco’s family and his friends and loved ones. The minister and the government will respond in due course to the findings of the audit report. We take these issues seriously. Senator Bishop and the Labor Party want to play cheap politics with it.

Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Read your brief; they have responded!

Paul Calvert (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Senator Evans, shouting across the chamber is disorderly.