SAS top brass to keep their war medals

Richard Marles has indicated the generals who commanded special forces soldiers accused of war crimes in Afghanistan will not be stripped of distinguished ­service medals, with the penalty ­to be reserved for those who directly led the troops.

Defence Minister Richard Marles. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Defence Minister Richard Marles has indicated the generals who commanded special forces soldiers accused of war crimes in Afghanistan will not be stripped of distinguished ­service medals, with the penalty ­to be reserved for those who directly led the troops.

Defence Force Chief Angus Campbell has written to officers who held senior command positions in Afghanistan when the war crimes identified in the Brereton Report were alleged to have occurred.

But Mr Marles told parliament on Monday that, in line with the recommendations of Justice Paul Brereton, Defence was not seeking to strip medals from personnel who held positions above the level of task group commander when the alleged crimes occurred.

The decision indicates Defence is limiting its assessment of command accountability for the alleged murders of Afghan civilians and prisoners to officers who were ranked from captain to lieutenant colonel at the time.

General Campbell, who was Australia’s Middle East commander in 2011-12 – at the height of the alleged criminal behaviour – is therefore likely to be exempt from handing in his own Distinguished Service Cross earned during that period of command.

The two former task force commanders who led Australian special forces on the ground in 2011 and 2012 have left the army.

Opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie, a former SAS captain who served in Afghanistan, sought an assurance from Mr Marles in parliament that the generals would face the same scrutiny over their accountability as captains who served in the field. Mr Marles said the Albanese government intended to implement the recommendations of the Brereton report “to the fullest possible extent”.

“What we’ve seen in the past week or two is the Chief of the Defence Force writing to a small number of people to whom this recommendation concerns.

“We completely support the Chief of the Defence Force in the steps that he has taken. I can’t disclose the number (of commanders written to) for privacy reasons.”

Mr Hastie told The Australian the review should cover the entire chain of command. “Accountability runs up and down the chain,” he said. “We want to see this review applied consistently. That is not only fair, but recognises that senior ADF officers had the privilege and moral responsibility for the conduct of the war.”

Justice Brereton found credible information that 39 Afghan civilians and prisoners were murdered in 23 separate incidents by Australian special forces soldiers.

Former defence minister Peter Dutton ordered General Campbell in June 2021 to suspend consideration of administrative action against those who held command positions. But a Defence spokeswoman said Mr Marles had overruled the order, and General Campbell had resumed consideration of such action.

The Australian reported in September that an independent oversight panel set up to monitor Defence’s implementation of the Brereton inquiry’s recommendations called for a “top down” inquiry into command respons­ibility, but it never happened. Instead, Defence commissioned a “lessons learned” paper that was criticised by the panel for not addressing the “strong criticisms and sense of unfairness” over the lack of command ­accountability for the crimes in Afghanistan.