Many ADF allegations to stay private

Defence Minister Stephen Smith says a raft of individual allegations about physical and sexual abuse in the Australian Defence Force will never be publicly revealed.

The executive summary of a government-initiated review into Defence abuse was released on Thursday under freedom of information laws, more than three months after Mr Smith made public extracts only.

The summary says previous report findings and defence files show very little evidence perpetrators had been called to account.

The minister has defended his decision to only release extracts from the summary in early March, saying he had released enough material to make the point that the allegations were serious and concerning.

The review, conducted by law firm DLA Piper, includes allegations from 775 people. It suggests the overwhelming majority are “plausible” allegations of abuse.

Mr Smith has not ruled out a royal commission.

“But I’m not talking it up,” he told ABC Television on Friday, adding other options included compensation, reconciliation or a parliamentary or judicial inquiry.

“What you don’t want to do is to not put in place systems which seek to bring this to a conclusion in a timely manner.”

He says there are thousands of allegations made about individuals that would never be detailed.

“There is a whole lot more material associated with what has come to me, initially in October and more recently in April,” he said.

“A lot of that will never see the light of day because it deals with personal allegations and personal circumstances.”

Mr Smith is confident the culture of turning a blind eye to abuse was over and there was “zero tolerance on all of those matters” now in the ADF.

Mr Smith said there was a chance some serving ADF personnel may have had allegations made against them but at this stage they were “untested allegations”.

“They are entitled at some point to rebut those allegations,” he told Sky News, adding it was important not to rush to judgement because that would trample people’s rights.

The Australian Defence Association is backing calls for a royal commission to counter what it says has been sensational and out-of-context reporting of the allegations.

“We think that a royal commission will now be required to clear the air and get the facts out,” executive director Neil James told ABC Radio.

Mr James said the association had never denied there had been cases of serious abuse in the defence force, especially between the 1950s and the 1970s.

“But it’s somehow being reported now as being covered up, and that’s just ridiculous,” Mr James said, adding it was known at the time there were serious problems.

The opposition says a royal commission would take two years and cost upwards of $100 million.

Instead, Mr Smith should have been considering compensating victims of abuse from day one, defence spokesman David Johnston said.

“He has to round them up and work out if the lawyers are saying these people have been aggrieved,” he told ABC Radio.

Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey says the allegations needed to first go to police.

“These are just horrific allegations, they should be properly referred to police,” he told the Seven Network on Friday.

You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Leave a Reply

Powered by WordPress | Designed by: Premium WordPress Themes | Thanks to Themes Gallery, Bromoney and Wordpress Themes