Jacqui Lambie slams ex-ADF chief’s Brussels posting

Jacqui Lambie is threatening to roll out a nationwide ad campaign mobilising voters’ support on veterans’ welfare, as she criticises Angus Campbell’s top diplomatic posting.

Senator Jacqui Lambie said what she called Angus Campbell’s poor record as ADF chief should disqualify him from assuming such a high-powered position in Europe. Picture: Martin Ollman/NewsWire

You can now listen to The Australian's articles. Give us your feedback.

You can now listen to The Australian's articles.

Jacqui Lambie is threatening to roll out a nationwide ad campaign mobilising voters’ support on veterans’ welfare, as the independent senator criticises Labor for appointing former Defence chief Angus Campbell to a plum diplomatic posting overseas.

Ahead of the federal election, due by May 17, Senator Lambie said the campaign she was considering would call on both sides of politics to improve the nation’s defence capabilities, act in the interest of veterans and throw out war crimes charges against former SAS troops who served in ­Afghanistan.

Senator Lambie has also criticised Foreign Minister Penny Wong for appointing Mr Campbell as Australia’s ambassador to the EU, NATO, Belgium and Luxembourg, after the retired general oversaw a decline in defence capabilities and personnel numbers during his six years as Australian Defence Force chief.

Writing in The Australian, Senator Lambie declared Mr Campbell “simply doesn’t deserve” the Brussels posting after the retired general “threw Diggers under the bus” over allegations SAS troops had committed war crimes in Afghanistan, while command “got off scot-free”.

If the ADF doesn’t reform itself, improve support for veterans and drop the charges against the SAS soldiers, Senator Lambie said she would campaign to place veterans’ issues on the election agenda and vowed to “keep going” after the poll.

“If I start running ads on behalf of those veterans, I usually get the Australian population behind me, and that’s the last thing they want going into an election and I’ll use it,” she told The Australian.

“You don’t want that running during an election, if you’re not doing the right thing by them.”

Senator Lambie criticised Mr Campbell for overseeing the defence force during a time when the worst “abuse and systemic weaponisation of administrative processes” took place. She pointed to the ADF’s attempts to frustrate the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide by refusing to share requested information to the inquiry.

Former Defence chief Angus Campbell. Picture: Martin Ollman/NewsWire

She also accused Mr Campbell of refusing to accept responsibility for Defence’s failures during the royal commission or for allegations of war crimes when he was in command of Australian forces in Afghanistan.

“You threw your Diggers under the bus, said we don’t want anything to do with this,” she said.

“No way. I am sick and tired, and many other Australians are sick and tired of seeing people that do the wrong thing, and are flown out under the darkness of night into another well-paid job.

“Or get stints like these when they don’t deserve them, because that shows me they have no idea.

“Politicians have no idea on leadership and what leadership should look like. There is no way you would put that man in a leadership position like this. No way after what he has done.”

Senator Lambie said Mr Campbell shouldn’t have been “rewarded” for his performance as ADF chief, while SAS soldiers are being investigated by police for their role in alleged war crimes and unlawful killings committed on deployment in Afghanistan. One SAS soldier was charged in 2023 and is yet to face trial.

“The Labor Party’s done absolutely nothing for these guys who have been alleged of these war crimes, absolutely nothing at all,” she said.

“It’s just a mess, and he’s part of that mess. Why would you promote him? You wouldn’t promote him in your own business.

“When someone’s done that much damage, that much morale damage in the time he’s been in.”

The Australian understands former SAS soldiers are critical of the government’s decision to ­appoint Mr Campbell, with one labelling it as “tone deaf”.

However, a government spokeswoman said Mr Campbell would bring “valuable experience to his role” as ambassador from his tenure as ADF chief.

“During his service as Chief of the Defence Force, General Campbell built relationships to enhance Australia’s security co-operation with regional partners, and drove organisational and cultural change to enhance the ADF as a modern, highly capable, integrated force centred on its people and Defence values,” she said.

“As ambassador, General Campbell will help deepen Australia’s peace and security co-­operation with NATO, both in the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific.”