Royal commission accidentally leaks secret report

A sweeping review into Australia’s military justice watchdog kept secret for the last six months has been accidentally published online, revealing recommendations to make the body truly independent and allow it to investigate more deaths in the defence force.

The 141-page report into the office of the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force, which investigates deaths and complaints of misconduct, was briefly uploaded to the website of the royal commission into veterans’ suicides on Tuesday before being taken down.

Senator Jacqui Lambie has released a report the government kept secret for six months.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The independent report, which Defence Minister Richard Marles has refused to release for six months, calls for the inspector-general’s office to be granted greater independence from the Department of Defence via new legislation, its own physical offices and a separate email system.

These changes recommended by former attorney-general and Federal Court judge Duncan Kerr are designed to combat the perception of critics, including the families of some dead soldiers, that the inspector-general’s office was “‘umbilically linked’ to the command structure of the ADF”.

The recent royal commission into veterans’ suicides found that 3000 service personnel had probably died unnecessarily over the past three decades, with 20 times more current and former defence force members dying by suicide than in combat or military exercises.

Kerr’s report found that “too many inquiries [into the death or suicide of a serviceman or woman] continued to be conducted with insufficient sensitivity as to their impact upon family members”.

It recommends two new deputy inspectors-general – one to undertake audits and one to investigate deaths – be appointed. The inspector-general should be appointed by the Governor-General for a single seven-year term and be able to investigate any death of a service member within two years of their leaving the Australian Defence Force.

Independent senator Jacqui Lambie, who has led calls for the 20-year review of the inspector-general to be published, released the report on Wednesday morning.

The Tasmanian senator said the report had temporarily appeared on the website of the royal commission into veterans’ suicide and been discovered by the office of Greens senator David Shoebridge.

“We downloaded it, we printed it, and then we rang the royal commission to ask when the report was uploaded to the website – and an hour later it was gone. This shows again the cover-up culture in Defence and the government. I want to thank Senator Shoebridge and his staff for their help on this,” she said.

Lambie said she had been told “it couldn’t possibly be made publicly available until Minister Marles had finished consulting with all stakeholders”.

The report notes that the current inspector-general, James Gaynor, had told the royal commission that “he had been absolutely appalled when, in mid-2023, he had been told that some families of service members that had died by suicide had not been informed of the inquiry outcomes”.

A spokeswoman for Marles said the minister was considering the report and the government had agreed to “implement the thrust of the recommendations of the royal commission, of which reform to the IGADF and military justice system forms a large part”. The royal commission has been contacted for comment about the accidental publication.

Many of the findings of the report on the inspector-general’s office report were similar to the royal commission’s recommendations.

If you are a current or former ADF member, or a relative, and need counselling or support, you can contact the Defence All-Hours Support Line on 1800 628 036 or Open Arms on 1800 011 046. Crisis support is also available from Lifeline on 13 11 14.

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