End secrecy on death of Diggers, say families

FAMILIES of the three Diggers murdered by a rogue Afghan soldier are demanding access to a NATO report that links the killer to the Taliban.

FAMILIES of the three Diggers murdered by a rogue Afghan soldier are demanding access to an explosive NATO report that links the killer to the Taliban, which Australian defence chiefs want to keep secret.

Before today’s coronial pre-­inquest hearing, Hugh Poate, whose son Robert died in the ­attack, slammed the Australian military investigation into the 2012 slayings by Afghan National Army soldier Zabet Hekmatullah inside a remote base in the war-torn country.

An Australian Defence Force application for “public interest immunity’’ will be made today to block release of the NATO report at the inquest

Outgoing ADF chief David Hurley has warned that Australia’s enemies might attend the coronial inquest in a bid to glean “sensitive information’’ about ­coalition military procedures in Afghanistan.

In a submission to the inquest, Mr Poate accused the ADF of using “confidentiality provisions and spurious operational procedures’’ to stop information, ­including that contained in a heavily redacted report, from being released.

Mr Poate blames the death of his son, as well as those of Lance Corporal Stjepan “Rick’’ Milosevic, 40, and Sapper James Martin, 21, on poor planning and intelligence gathering by Australian officers ahead of the deployment of the 24-strong platoon to Patrol Base Wahab, in Afghanistan’s Oruzgan Province.

“I believe the manner in which the ADF has handled the in-house investigation into the Wahab incident is tantamount to abuse of a longstanding privilege of being able to investigate itself with no accountability,’’ he said in the submission.

“I also feel it has used alleged secrecy and confidentiality provisions and spurious operational procedures to justify the extensive redactions in the report.’’

The Australian revealed yesterday that a NATO investigation found the teenage gunman, who turned his M16 on the troops as they played cards, had links to the Taliban through his father.

The Afghan base ­commander knew Hekmatullah — sentenced to death last year in Kabul after being on the run for six months in Pakistan — had “strong ties’’ to the Taliban, but had kept it a ­secret.

An unclassified, one-page executive summary of the NATO report, which also blamed the same base commander for ­Hekmatullah’s easy escape to Pakistan, has been released to the families.

As well as the deaths of Private Poate, Lance Corporal Milosevic and Sapper Martin — all based at Enoggera Barracks in Brisbane — two other Diggers were wounded in the shooting during a surge of insider attacks in Afghanistan. General Hurley has told deputy state coroner John Lock that while some documents could be provided to those involved in the inquest — including lawyers for the families — many could not be released. The NATO report, seen by Mr Lock and co-counsel assisting the coroner, Anthony Marinac, could not be tendered.

In an affidavit, General Hurley said the coalition headquarters of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan wanted the NATO report kept secret.