Senator Jacqui Lambie has told the Senate she has asked the international criminal court (ICC) to investigate senior Australian Defence Force commanders for alleged war crimes.
Lambie said that the Brereton report gave senior commanders a “free pass” while soldiers were “thrown under the bus”.
The 2020 Brereton report found credible information that 39 Afghan civilians were killed by members of the Australian special forces, but did not find commanders criminally responsible.
The defence minister, Richard Marles, said he was taking advice on whether the ICC would take up the case, but said the government had committed to Australia “holding itself to account” for the allegations raised in the Brereton report.
Lambie said the federal government had not supported her call to admit “that we have a massive problem” and that she had been asking for a meeting with the defence minister “for months”.
“Like the chief of the defence force and the top brass, the government is no doubt hoping this will just go away,” she said.
“They’re hoping Australians will forget that when alleged war crimes in Afghanistan were investigated, our senior commanders got a free pass, while the diggers were thrown under the bus.
“Well, we don’t forget. I won’t forget. Lest we forget. There was a culture of cover-up at the highest levels of the ADF. It is the ultimate boys’ club. Well, today I say enough is enough.”
Lambie attempted to table documents asking the ICC to prosecute the chain of command, but the Greens, the government and the opposition voted against it, saying they had not had a chance to read the documents yet.
They indicated they may allow the documents to be tabled once they had a chance to look at them, which could happen on Tuesday afternoon.
Marles, in an afternoon press conference, said he would meet with Lambie tomorrow about her concerns, praising her “significant” advocacy for the veterans community. The minister again reiterated that the allegations of war crimes raised in the Brereton report were “appalling” and committed to implementing its recommendations in full.
“Under the Albanese government, Australia is holding itself to account,” Marles said this afternoon.
He said that included ensuring accountability of senior military figures. Marles said he’d take advice on whether the ICC would take up the case, but that the government was committed to implementing the report’s recommendations “fully and thoroughly”.
The Greens senator Nick McKim said the Greens usually took a “very generous view” on tabling documents, and would support Lambie’s move if it was in the public interest.
The Liberal leader in the Senate, Simon Birmingham, expressed his willingness to see them tabled but wanted time to examine them, a sentiment echoed by the Labor senator Anthony Chisholm.
The ICC can investigate war crimes if a country is unwilling or incapable of doing so itself.
In 2020, then defence force chief, Angus Campbell, said he accepted that the Brereton report found fault with commanding officers.
He said the report highlighted “that there are officers in command roles in the special operations task group and indeed in higher appointments who had a responsibility to deal with issues and to completely and openly report, and he finds fault there”.
In May, Campbell conceded he reviewed his own performance commanding troops in Afghanistan.
“When the chief of defence was asked in estimates if his command accountability review was an investigation, he admitted that it was not,” Lambie told the Senate.
“I guess it was just another marking your own homework exercise,” Lambie said.
“Leadership knew this went beyond patrols. It went up the chain. Everyone knew. Everyone knew. And still our government is silent.
“I am giving you a second chance to get this right and fix this mess … I want to see what leadership you have. So with a heavy heart, once again, I am asking you to allow me to table these goddamn documents.”
• In Australia, support and counselling for veterans and their families is available 24 hours a day from Open Arms on 1800 011 046 or www.openarms.gov.au and Safe Zone Support on 1800 142 072 or https://www.openarms.gov.au/safe-zone-support. Hayat Line is a free and confidential crisis support line for Muslims on 1300 993 398
