Scott Morrison: New body to investigate findings of the Afghanistan inquiry

Scott Morrison has said the upcoming report into whether Australian Special Forces soldiers committed war crimes in Afghanistan will be “difficult” to hear.

Scott Morrison has said the upcoming report into whether Australian Special Forces soldiers committed war crimes in Afghanistan will be “hard” and “difficult” to hear.

The Prime Minister said that given the “likely allegations of serious and possibly criminal misconduct”, the government is setting up a special war crimes prosecutor, known as the Office of the Special Investigator.

The Office, under the Department of Home Affairs, will operate for as long as necessary to make sure the findings are “assessed, investigated and where allegations are substantiated, prosecuted in court”.

He said the Office of the Special Investigator will address the criminal matters made in the Inspector General’s report and investigate those allegations, gather evidence and where appropriate, refer briefs to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.

Mr Morrison said the government will also establish a separate and independent oversight panel, comprising of “three eminent” Australians whose legal expertise and experience will be used to oversee the defence response to the inquiry.

“There is some disturbing conduct,” he said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison holds a news conference. Picture: Sam Mooy/Getty

Defence Minister Linda Reynolds said “nothing will be out of bounds” and Dr Vivienne Tomm AM will be leading that panel.

“Can I say, I have absolutely no doubt, no doubt whatsoever, that this is likely to be a very difficult and a very distressing time for those impacted by this report,” she said.

“This government is absolutely committed to ensuring that current and former serving ADF members and of course their family members any who are impacted by this inquiry have access to the right support.”

It comes as the nation’s security agencies are on red alert ahead of the release of the report while intelligence and defence communities are readying for a potential response from Australia’s enemies.

This includes the terror group Islamic State, which is expected to seize on any findings of wrongdoing and use it for propaganda and recruitment purposes.

While a redacted version of the report conducted by NSW judge Paul Brereton for the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force is unlikely to be released immediately, Mr Morrison has promised to outline a process for dealing with any adverse findings, if it is found that Special Forces soldiers did commit war crimes in Afghanistan between 2005-2016.

Victoria Cross recipient and war hero Ben Roberts-Smith, pictured at the Holsworthy Barracks in 2011, is under investigation by police over his actions in Afghanistan. He denies any wrongdoing. Picture: Brad Hunter

Any such findings, which are widely anticipated, would likely be referred to police for further investigation.

Two Special Forces soldiers, VC recipient Ben Roberts-Smith and another man identified only as Soldier C, are already under investigation by the Australian Federal Police. Mr Roberts-Smith strongly denies any wrongdoing.

News Corp has confirmed the nation’s security agencies are concerned there could be heightened security risks to Australian assets, embassies and personnel overseas.

Adverse findings could also be used in cyber warfare by our enemies.

Peter Jennings, executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said the release of the Brereton report would be a “big story internationally’’ and was being closely watched.

“It clearly is going to come as a big shock to a number of people to see, what on the face of it, appears to be pretty serious allegations of potential war crimes,’’ he said.

“It’s possible this will be used in the propaganda efforts of a variety of different countries and organisations.’’

An official portrait of Major General Paul Brereton, who conducted the Afghanistan inquiry for the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force.

Mr Jennings said he could “almost guarantee’’ Islamic State would use the report to recruit members, and that with their ability to radicalise people online “there’s always a possibility that this type of propaganda might lead to attacks here in Australia. I think we have to be conscious that this is a real problem.’’

An Islamic State fighter in Raqqa province in Syria in 2014, is shown in propaganda photos released by the terror group.

He also said countries like Russia would “quite happily’’ use the report to continue a campaign seeking to paint western democracies as being as compromised by inappropriate behaviour as authoritarian regimes were.

Mr Jennings said Australia’s military was highly regarded, and the “real test of us now is how it’s going to be managed from here.’’

“It’s really critically important that we operate as we would want to be judged, which is that we have a Defence Force that operates according to the rule of law and the Laws of Armed Conflict,’’ he said.

“And if people do bad things, commit criminal acts, that’s something we would take seriously, investigate, and if necessary they will be tried for those crimes.’’

Executive Director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute Peter Jennings at the National Press Club in Canberra. Picture: AAP

Mr Jennings said the commissioning and eventual release of the report was a “significant’’ event.

“It’s going to come as a blow to the Australian way of thinking about their military. We have a Defence Force that is incredibly highly regarded in Australia by Australians and this is going to come as a shock,’’ he said.

“Not least because (how) successive governments and frankly the Defence organisation themselves … portrayed what it was we were ostensibly doing in Afghanistan.

“There was a heavy emphasis on why we were there, we were helping people, we were constructing schools. Even when we were doing military things we were not like Americans, we dismounted our vehicles, we go and talk to locals, that’s the Australian style of warfare.

“That was something Australians took a lot of pride in and in some respects even without knowing specifically what on earth was going on there. And there were a small group of people it seems that were actually engaged in some very bad behaviour … the impact of this I think could be quite profound.’’

Mr Jennings said the key test was how Defence and the Government responded to the findings, and if they had made changes to fix cultural problems and ensure such issues never happened again.

The Defence all-hours Support Line is a confidential telephone and online service for ADF members and their families 1800 628 036

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Originally published as Scott Morrison: New body to investigate findings of the Afghanistan inquiry