Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a)

notes:

(i)

the tragic events of 13 February 2009, when Australian Defence Forces conducted an operation in Afghanistan in which six civilians were killed including, an adult man, a teenage girl, two boys aged 10 and 11 and two babies, aged 1 and 2, and

(ii)

the Special Broadcasting Service Corporation’s Dateline program of 7 March 2010 which revealed that it took 6 months for the investigation of this incident to be referred to the Australian Defence Force Investigative Service and that the Afghani individuals involved in the incident have not been interviewed; and

(b)

calls for an independent inquiry into this tragic episode.

John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I thank the Senate for its courtesy to enable me to briefly speak on this matter. In the first instance, to be clear to the Senate, the government is not able to support this motion. Of course, any civilian casualty is a tragedy. That is especially so when it involves the deaths of children. I want to assure the Senate that I—as do the government and the ADF—take incidents such as these very seriously indeed. I note for the Senate’s information that the incident occurred on 12 February, not 13 February, for Senator Brown’s assistance as it appears in the Notice Paper. But I certainly understand the incident to which he refers.

All efforts, of course, are made to minimise civilian casualties and it is critical that, where allegations of civilian casualties arise, such incidents are properly and thoroughly investigated. The day after this tragic incident occurred defence commenced an internal inquiry to investigate the incident. This inquiry was conducted over a number of months. It did take some time as the matter is very complex and the facts that needed to be established had to be done so in what is a hostile and dangerous environment. Once the inquiry was concluded I can inform the Senate that the matter was referred to ADFIS—the Australian Defence Force Investigative Service—for investigation. That investigation began immediately on referral. The ADFIS concluded its investigation late last year. The matter is currently with the Director of Military Prosecutions for review and consideration.

Mr President, I say to the Senate and, through you, to Senator Brown, who has moved this motion, that it is important that the necessary time is taken to ensure this matter is investigated thoroughly and comprehensively. In terms of Senator Brown’s call for an independent inquiry, the government cannot support the motion because the issues this inquiry seeks to address are being dealt with through a Defence investigation. I stress: legal processes are not yet complete. There is also a serious concern that any concurrent Senate inquiry could prejudice the ability of personnel involved to receive a fair hearing, and this is critical. It is important that the process is just; it is important that the process is robust. I can assure the Senate that I am committed to being open and transparent about this and all civilian casualty incidents. I can also assure the Senate that at the earliest opportunity, when the legal processes have concluded, I will make the outcomes public.

Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I thank the Minister for Defence for that contribution. However, the problem here is that the process has taken so long and has manifestly been inadequate in at least parts of the investigation of the facts and the interviewing of the people who are at the heart of this matter. As the motion states, there was a raid by the Australian Defence Force personnel on a household in Afghanistan—the minister is right—on 12 February last year, and that led to the death of a number of children, a teenager and an adult in that house. The remnants of the family who were involved have been available as, obviously, witnesses of the event and have been available for investigation, but when the results of an inquiry were handed down in November last year that family still had not been questioned.

The SBS program Dateline has put a lot of work into covering what actually happened on that terrible night and so have other elements of the Australian media. The problem here is that the investigation process is not consistent with what we would expect as a full, diligent and independent inquiry. This motion is calling for an independent inquiry, not a Senate inquiry. We would want to see a judge with the full powers of inquiry being able to take up this matter and investigate it independently, because let me quote just one component of the Dateline program:

Dateline understands that the ADF investigators were keen to take up Popal’s offer.

That is, to bring the family to a neutral place for interview.

However, bureaucratic red tape and security concerns cited by the Defence department prevented the investigators from doing so.

And so in late November 2009 … the … investigators handed their brief over to the Director of Military Prosecutions …

And at that stage there had been no interview with the people who are still alive who were in that house on that night. That must be a matter of concern for this Senate. It must be a matter of concern for all those involved, including the Australian Defence Force personnel who put their lives on the line for this country in Afghanistan. There ought to be an independent inquiry. This is moving too slowly. Manifestly, if the people in the house that night had not been interviewed when that finding was handed down in November last year, something seriously has gone amiss and it should not be left to independent news or other investigators from Australia to be following this story 12 months later and to be uncovering what appears to be a very inadequate investigation.

This is obviously a tragic event that has occurred. It should have been properly and fully investigated. While it cannot be reversed, the findings of what happened on that night should have been concluded. We all know the efflux of time is dangerous to the administration of justice. He we are in this parliament more than 12 months after this tragic incident and we do not know what has happened and we have no report to the parliament and nor has the public of Australia. That is not good enough. An independent inquiry is warranted.

Question put:

That the motion (Senator Bob Brown’s) be agreed to.