Jordon Steele-John (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Today I'd like to speak to Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2020-2021. This appropriation bill relates to the allocation of $12.4 million to the Office of the Special Investigator to investigate potential criminal matters identified in Inspector-General Brereton's report in relation to war crimes committed by Special Operations Task Group in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2016.

The matters which will be investigated by the Office of the Special Investigator are of a most serious nature. They go to the alleged commitment of war crimes by our special forces in Afghanistan during our nation's longest conflict, one that is drawing to a close. We have seen, through the work of Justice Brereton, many terrible, terrible crimes come to light. Within that report we've also seen a contention which, from the beginning, we in the Greens have clearly suggested is untenable. The contention is that knowledge of and responsibility for these crimes is limited to ranks below that of officer. When the Brereton report was published to the world, the Greens were very quick to call attention to what seemed to be the ridiculous idea that such activities as were outlined in the report—the war crimes; that is what they are—could have been committed without the knowledge of senior commanding officers. In the subsequent months since the publication of the Brereton report, it has indeed come to pass that the cultural activities referenced in the Brereton report, particularly the illegal imbibing of alcohol and the use of limbs of enemy combatants as trophies and playthings, were indeed something participated in by officers of our ADF.

It is vitally important that this investigation is properly funded—that it is given the resources and access needed to undertake its work. What is at stake here is nothing less than justice for those whose lives were ripped apart by the actions of serving members of our ADF, who were participating in a security action in Afghanistan undertaken under the pretence of protecting and supporting the people of Afghanistan.

Let's be very clear: the war in Afghanistan was a complete failure. We should never have participated in this military engagement. It was without strategic direction almost from the beginning and it has seen the loss of countless lives and the diversion of resources which would have been spent better either here in Australia or as part of international efforts to address humanitarian issues. We are also as a community now forced to confront, through the revelations of the Brereton report, the reality that individuals who have been elevated to a supreme position of moral leadership within our community may well have committed some of the most heinous war crimes, the most heinous violations of the laws of war, that have been committed not only in this nation but in the history of nations within recent times. We are forced to contend with the possibility that we may be forced to journey soon to the Australian War Memorial, that space which has been elevated to the closest thing we possess that might be considered a secular national shrine, and take down pictures of individuals who are currently honoured there, post their conviction for the commitment of some of these crimes.

It may soon fall to this parliament to make decisions about what actions we will take in holding politically responsible the serving defence ministers of the day. Make no mistake: the office of the special investigator will have the responsibility of pursuing individuals for the commitment of these crimes. But that is not where the responsibility must end. It must be held there: individuals that pulled the trigger, individuals that lied, individuals that took actions that covered up—they must be held responsible and so too must the senior levels of command, all the way up to the top. General Burr and General Campbell must be held responsible and so too must the various defence ministers that served over that period of time. All must be held responsible for their part in these crimes. After a long period of existing in the shadows of these instances being spoken about, first as whispers, then as conversations, then as confidential statements, there must now be full transparency. There must be full accountability. These crimes must never, ever be enabled to be perpetrated again. The seriousness of them must never be excused, because they have taken the lives of people, they have shattered families, they have stained our institutions.

We must in this moment find the courage to look clearly in the mirror of Afghanistan and study the reflection, lest we accidentally recommit ourselves to the same cycle of violence that led us to this conflict. There are some in this place that are welcoming, propagating, promoting, very dangerous narratives, speaking of the drums of war and, in so doing, beating them themselves. They are claiming false historical analyses, planning career moves, looking for their opportunity, their space, to make a name for themselves as they whip up dangerous rhetoric. What Brereton gives us the opportunity to do—and it is an opportunity that we must grasp—is to look clearly at the reality of war, to look clearly at the crimes that have been committed, to look clearly at the political mistakes that were made, to hold all accountable for their action and inaction and to ensure that these crimes are never, ever committed again. I thank the chamber for its time.