An issue of accountability
This is an edited version of Minister for Defence Senator Robert Hill’s statement to Senate Additional Estimates on February 18 about the Senate References Committee inquiring into the effectiveness of the Military Justice System.

"What I want to underline is the paramount importance of fair and just treatment for all those involved in the inquiry."

I’VE said before that the military justice system must be rigorous, fair and accountable to the public – and that the Senate inquiry is part of that public accountability.

The Parliament has the right to assess whether the rules that relate to personal behaviour within the military and their application accord to contemporary expectations.

However, I am deeply concerned about the path the Committee appears to be taking. Last week, the Committee decided to publish 15 of the submissions it had received – most focusing on the experiences of individual families.

While this is not an uncommon practice, this is an inquiry unlike most others undertaken by the Parliament. The issues are highly emotive and extremely personal.

Some of the accusations being levelled at individuals and institutions are of the worst kind – rape, bullying, neglect, incompetence.

Those that are based on substance and supported by evidence should ‘ certainly be treated with the utmost seriousness, rigorously tested by the Committee and the right lessons should be drawn from them.

But releasing submissions without testing the veracity of the information they contain fails to recognise the impact they will have on the men and women of the ADF. The Committee, for example, agreed to publish a submission which claims that there have been anywhere between 10 and 100 victims of gang rape at ADFA and that the perpetrators of these crimes are still within the ranks of the ADF.

The claim was completely unsubstantiated. Even the author of the submission acknowledges his estimate is based solely on rumours he had heard almost 20 years ago.

This of course would not be accepted in any court in this land. Yet in posting it on the web site with the protection of Parliamentary privilege, the Committee has given these claims – and others in the same submission – wide public exposure and an unjustified degree of implied credibility.

The media went into a feeding frenzy with the opportunity. In fact, there have been no reported allegations, I am advised, of gang rapes in the 18 years of its [ADFA’s] existence.

And rape of course is not an issue of military justice. Rape prosecutions occur in civil courts. Rapists are prosecuted by civil police and presented before civil judges.

The result has been a slur against all the men and women in the ADF whose ’ integrity has now been put in question on the basis of rumour and untested speculation.

A number of the released submissions are from family members still struggling to cope with the tragic loss of a loved one through suicide. Their emotions are still raw and their grief understandable.

This Committee needs to be mindful of the extraordinarily sensitive environment in which it’s operating. The very tragic issue of a small number of suicides in the ADF should not cast a long shadow over all who serve.

Any suicide is a tragedy, and the families of ADF members who suicide should certainly be given prompt and honest answers to the questions they will inevitably ask. Where failures in the military justice system have contributed to a suicide, those who have failed should be brought to account.

Where it’s evident that the system can be improved it should be improved. But we should also put the issue in context. The bigger picture is that military service and training is by its very nature physically and mentally demanding.

Personnel need to be trained for the prospect of war fighting and how to protect themselves in the most extreme circumstances. This is not a benign environment.

It’s stressful. And, of course, all of this very often is taking place a long way from home.

The ADF leadership acknowledges the challenges it poses for young people. The ADF has moved with the times, changing its training practices and built up its support mechanisms.

If more can be done it should be done and General Cosgrove can attest to this. Again, however, the context is important. It must be acknowledged that the suicide of young people is not a problem that is unique to the ADF – it’s a considerable problem in the wider Australian community.

The issue as it affects the ADF should be seen, and in part measured, in that context. Individuals and families have the right to air their stories and to have the military justice system scrutinised to ensure that it is fair and just.

The ADF should not be immune from criticism, but such shortcomings should follow thorough and objective process. What I want to underline is the paramount importance of fair and just treatment for all those involved in the inquiry.

For those individuals and families who give evidence, for the ADF members who try ensure the equitable and effective dispensation of military justice, and for all the other men and women of the ADF who do not deserve to be maligned by unsubstantiated claims such as those made about ADFA.

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