Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Hansard source

I seek leave to move a motion relating to Defence accountability and the Twenty-year review of the Office of the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force:

That:

(1) the Senate requires the Minister representing the Minister for Defence to immediately attend the Senate to explain:

(i) the lack of transparency and accountability in relation to the tabling of the Twenty-Year Review of the Office of the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force Report;

(ii) why the Twenty-Year Review of the Office of the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force Report was removed as an exhibit from the website of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide;

(iii) who authorised the removal of the Twenty-Year Review of the Office of the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force Report as an exhibit from the website of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide; and

(iv) who has been consulted in relation to the release of the Twenty-Year Review of the Office of the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force Report; and

(2) any senator may move to take note of the explanation; and

(3) any such motion may be debated for no longer than 60 minutes, shall have precedence over all business until determined, and senators may speak to the motion for not more than 5 minutes each.

Leave not granted.

Pursuant to contingent notice of motion standing in my name, I move:

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent me moving a motion to provide for the consideration of a matter, namely a motion to give precedence to a motion relating to Defence accountability and the Twenty-year review of the Office of the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force report.

Well, well, well, wasn't yesterday a farce! It was worse than a circus in here yesterday—absolutely disgraceful. Here I was, still pushing hard to get Minister Marles to release the 20-year review into the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force. The IGADF is the military justice system that sits within defence. Side by side, mates for mates and all that sort of stuff—they love each other. Set up 20 years ago in the wake of the bastardisation and abuse that was going on in our military, the IGADF are supposed to be there to make sure veterans get justice and are dealt with fairly and that any matters are investigated impartially. But they're not, are they? The royal commission demonstrated that. For God's sake, 18 out of the 122 recommendations of the royal commission were targeted at the military justice system.

On Monday, I sent an email calling for supporters to back in my calls for the release of the report of the 20-year review into the office of the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force. I forked out for radio ads and moved motions in the Senate every chance I got. Again, I was told I couldn't have it. Julie-Ann Finney even went down to Richard Marles's electorate office, in Geelong, on Monday morning and sat outside, begging Minister Marles to release the report. Jacqui Lambie Network supporters sent almost 2½ thousand emails to Minister Marles's office, flooding his inbox, demanding the minister release the report.

Then yesterday afternoon—it keeps getting better; you couldn't make this up—David Shoebridge's office, God bless them, found the report buried deep down on the royal commission's website. It wasn't listed as an exhibit, but there it was. My office called the royal commission and asked for the date that that report had gone up, and then it was gone. That's right—gone off that website in 30 minutes. Wow! We got a sniff of it, and they took it off the website—talk about transparency! But it was too late; we had already downloaded it and we'd already made copies of it. I can tell you that the only place it was going was right out there.

Senator Shoebridge and I headed back down to the chamber to table the report in the Senate yesterday afternoon, and the government refused. That's right. They don't want to put veterans first. You are part of the cover-up. You don't want to fix the culture that is apparently going on in our military, even after three years of a royal commission. But apparently you're going to table it—because it's so important—maybe sometime today. But veterans and Australians can go to lambienetwork.com.au and download their very own copy right now. We've done that for you because this government is too busy covering its own backside and that of defence, even after three years of a royal commission.

I would like to thank Justice Kerr for his work. He was given only three months to do that review, and that was over the Christmas period. It put him under the pump, and he was given very narrow terms of reference—because we wouldn't want to know the truth, would we? The truth's already there. Have you not been watching the royal commission? Sure you have! People from the department were there every day. I had veterans in there feeling intimidated because people from Defence thought it was a smart idea to wear their uniform with all their brass sparkling. How intimidating is that for a veteran to tell their story? This is what they were up against.

I'm sick of the cover-up. You say you want to make changes, you say you want the culture to change and you say you want to reduce veteran suicide, but you are part of the problem. You are not holding them accountable. And then you go and do stuff like this. It wasn't even redacted. That report is hardly redacted, yet your minister has been telling me he's been consulting for six months. Oh, really? We'll see who he's been consulting, because there are FOIs going at him quickly today. There are FOIs coming from Rex Patrick, and I'll tell you that I want some answers today.

The IGADF might be a statutory office, but it is not independent. Most veterans see the IGADF as an agency that just runs interference for defence, and that's exactly what it does. We don't see it. After the royal commission, we know they're running interference to cover their butts. Minister Marles needs to finally get off his rear end and start showing some courage. He's lost. He's finished. Marles is gone. Do you know why? Because he doesn't have the guts to stand up to the brass. He doesn't have the guts. He should never have been made minister. It's not his temperament. It's not who he is. And we will never ever get culture change. We will only get more veteran suicide, because you on this side are running a bloody racket with defence. Your minister is hopeless. Your minister is the worst I have ever seen—no courage. If you can't fix it, I'll keep coming. It will get fixed. It will get fixed before I leave this house. It will get fixed, and I will keep coming every minute I have.