Defence fight safety breach after soldiers mauled by 2.5m croc

The Department of Defence has asked a Queensland court to throw out a case charging it with breaching workplace health and safety laws after two soldiers were attacked by a crocodile.

A large crocodile mauled two soldiers in far north Queensland.

The Department of Defence has asked a Queensland court to throw out a case charging it with breaching workplace health and safety laws after two soldiers were attacked by a crocodile in the state’s Far North.

Regulator Comcare brought the charge in August 2023 after the incident two years earlier in The Cape York Peninsula community of Portland Road, around 750km north of Cairns.

The Darwin-based Army members were transporting a landing craft from Darwin to Townsville for maintenance on August 6, 2021.

The pair, a private and a corporal, were given permission to go fishing in a Zodiac boat at Portland Road.

Comcare alleges that after anchoring the boat, the soldiers went swimming and were almost immediately attacked by a 2.5 metre saltwater crocodile.

“The crocodile dragged one of the soldiers underwater and mauled him while his colleague fought off the animal, allowing the men to escape to the Zodiac,” Comcare’s statement said.

“Both soldiers suffered significant injuries including bite and claw wounds and were treated at Cairns Hospital.”

Two men mauled by a saltwater croc were transferred from a rescue helicopter to a Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia plane at the Lockhart River airstrip. Picture: RFDS

Following the Comcare investigation, the Department of Defence was charged with one count of failing in its duties under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011.

It is alleged Defence failed to train its soldiers and maintain a safe system of work, including a failure to warn and prohibit them from entering crocodile inhabited waters without an operational reason.

The charge carries a maximum penalty of $1.5 million.

The case was heard again in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Tuesday where barrister Sarah Farnden, acting for the Department of Defence, made an application to strike out the case.

Ms Farnden told the court that the health and safety inspector who brought the case against the Department on behalf of Comcare did not have the power to instigate the prosecution because they did so using a legal authority that has since been revoked.

Crown prosecutor Polina Kinchina argued that the reference to outdated legal powers in case documents was simply an error and a new legal authority has since come into effect which would give the inspector the power to commence the prosecution against Defence.

“The critical question is whether these erroneous references make these [legal] instruments a nullity?” Ms Kinchina said.

The case was adjourned on Tuesday and the magistrate will make a decision on the Department’s strike out application at a later date.