David Johnston (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to respond to a question asked by Senator Bishop of the Minister representing the Minister for Defence, Senator Ian Campbell, on the performance of military police surrounding and following the untimely death of Jacob Kovco in Iraq. Jacob Kovco died on 21 April 2006 as a result of a single gunshot wound whilst serving with the Australian security detachment inside the green zone in Baghdad in Iraq. The Chief of Defence, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, appointed a board of inquiry to investigate the facts surrounding the death of Private Kovco, including the incident in which he lost his life, relevant instructions and procedures, and the adequacy of training and equipment involved therewith. The board of inquiry commenced at Victoria Barracks in Sydney on 19 June 2006.

Defence went to great lengths to accommodate an open and transparent inquiry in the face of serious safety concerns for many of the witnesses involved, who were serving at the time in a potentially lethal operational environment. That is why all deployed personnel involved in the inquiry were referred to by a randomly chosen number rather than by name. This measure ensured that Defence provided these personnel with the confidence that their evidence would not jeopardise their safety, the safety of people they were charged with protecting or the safety or privacy of their family members. The measure ceased immediately upon the return of the soldiers to Australia.

The board was headed by Group Captain Warren Cook, an RAAF specialist reservist who is also a retired magistrate and a former coroner. He was supported by a civilian member, Jim O’Sullivan, a former Queensland Commissioner of Police, and Colonel Michael Charles, a reservist with an extensive military background. The board was also assisted by a number of witnesses and subject matter experts from the New South Wales Police Service investigations branch, forensic and ballistics specialists and leaders in the field of psychiatry. As a result of the report that I believe was presented yesterday, the Chief of Defence, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, acknowledged a number of shortcomings in the performance of the military police. The Air Chief Marshal has said that those shortcomings have been observed and identified and that he is going to conduct a proper response to those so that appropriate action can be taken.

This matter is one of ongoing concern. There has been a number of inquiries on this. Also, with respect to boards of inquiry, we have undertaken substantial reform wherein a number of civilian personnel have been enabled through amendments to the defence inquiry regulations to be contracted into supervised boards of inquiry.

The point of all this is that, as far back as 2005, the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee inquiry into the effectiveness of Australia’s military justice system made a number of recommendations and the government response was quite emphatic, with more than 30 of the 40 recommendations accepted. One of those committee recommendations was that:

... the ADF conduct a tri-service audit of current military police staffing, equipment, training and resources to determine the current capacity of the criminal investigations services. This audit should be conducted in conjunction with a scoping exercise to examine the benefit of creating a tri-service criminal investigation unit.

This recommendation has been undertaken. The government will conduct a tri-service audit of service police to establish the best means for developing investigative capability. These establishments are underway and are being conducted.

The problem is that the Australian Defence Force is under intense operational requirements at the moment in Iraq—and may I say that I have been to Iraq—Afghanistan, the Solomons, Fiji and East Timor. This has put an enormous burden upon the Australian Defence Force. Angus Houston, the Chief of Defence, has committed to sorting these matters out. I have great faith in his ability to do that. (Time expired)