Defence

Marshalling Point

ACM Angus Houston
Chief of the Defence Force

Achievement and change

Enhancing our military justice system

I am very pleased with the way in which the enhancements to our military justice system are progressing. Rear Admiral Bonser, his team, and sponsor groups, have done a great job so far implementing the Government's response to the 2005 Senate report into the Effectiveness of Australia's military justice system.

In the first six months of the two-year implementation period, significant achievements have been made in reforming our system to deliver impartial, rigorous and fair outcomes through enhanced oversight, greater transparency and improved timeliness.

There are nine achievements in particular that I want to highlight:

1. The backlog of Redresses of Grievance cases has been cleared, and the Defence Fairness and Resolution Branch has been established as the central management body for dealing with all complaints and grievances.
2. Effective immediately, dedicated Service police investigators will be deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and the Solomon Islands. This deployment further assures that the Australian Defence Force (ADF) military justice system delivers impartial, rigorous and fair outcomes both at home and on deployed operations.
3. Initial phases of the tri-Service audit of ADF Service police investigative capability have been completed. This audit is expected to establish the best means for developing the capability.
4. The impartiality of the Service Tribunal System has been enhanced with the establishment of the Chief Judge Advocate, Director of Military Prosecutions and Registrar of Military Justice as statutory positions and the establishment of the new position of Director of Defence Counsel Services. Also, the position of Inspector-General ADF has been established as a statutory position to provide independent oversight of the military justice system.
5. Colonel Tim Grutzner has been appointed the Provost Marshal—ADF.
6. A review of the Defence Whistleblower Scheme has been completed. I am pleased to report that the review indicated that the scheme accords with necessary standards and was operating satisfactorily.
7. The Defence Inquiry Regulations have been amended to incorporate new provisions with respect to representation of affected persons at boards of inquiry. These amendments ensure that all persons who appear before an inquiry receive fair and impartial treatment.
8. The initial phase of the audit of ADF schools and training establishments has also been completed. I expect that this completed inquiry will establish a baseline from which to drive change in our training culture.
9. As reported in the May issue of this magazine, the administration of the ADF Cadets has been enhanced through the engagement of an expert to examine whether the human rights of children are being respected and through the provision of additional resources to the ADF Cadets to improve administrative support.

All of these achievements demonstrate that we are making good progress in enhancing both the discipline and the administrative aspects of our military justice system. Of course, there is a great deal more work to be done over the next 18 months, but I firmly believe these initial changes have already led to an improvement in our current system and provide a strong base on which future enhancements will be implemented.

Operational update

This month there have been several developments with regard to our operations in the Solomon Islands, Afghanistan, Iraq and Timor-Leste.

After reviewing the security situation, and consulting with the Solomon Islands Government and our regional military partners, we have scaled back our commitment to the Solomon Islands to about 140 personnel. Since deploying 400 personnel on Operation Anode in April, excellent progress has been made in restoring law and order.

In relation to Operation Slipper—our contribution to the international fight against terrorism in Afghanistan—240 personnel will deploy in July as part of a Reconstruction Task Force (RTF) and will work on reconstruction and community-based projects. Our two Chinook helicopters will remain in Afghanistan, conducting airlift support and aero-medical evacuations, until April next year to support the RTF and the Netherlands-led Provincial Reconstruction Team.

In terms of Operation Catalyst, our contribution to the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Iraq, Brigadier Michael Moon has taken over as Commander of the Australian Forces in the Middle East Area of Operations. He takes over from Brigadier Paul Symon, who has held the appointment since November 2005 and has done a wonderful job in what was a very difficult and demanding rotation. Our third Al Muthanna Task Group has deployed for six months and will continue the fine work of the first two rotations in providing a secure environment for the Japanese engineers and training the Iraqi Security Forces.

We have also recently been invited back to Timor-Leste to create a secure and stable environment in order to re-establish local law and order. We currently have about 2500 personnel deployed on Operation Astute. Our rapid deployment was a remarkable achievement, and we are working very hard to resolve this situation as quickly and peacefully as possible.

This is a busy time for the ADF, but I know we are up to the challenge. Thank you all for your continued commitment and hard work. I am very proud to be your Chief.

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