Aust-China defence meeting after PM ‘guardrails’ call
Defence Minister Richard Marles says his meeting with Chinese counterpart Li Shangfu in Singapore on Saturday was ‘another important step’ in improving bilateral relations.
Australian War Crimes
![Picture believed to be of Major (now Colonel) Matthew Stevens [standing] performing lewd acts. The senior SAS officer and a non-commissioned officer, kneeling, pretend to engage in a sex act using an object designed to look like a penis at a party in the makeshift Fat Ladies Arms bar.](https://content.api.news/v3/images/bin/78cf56e8bc680d4139a1393e00415646?width=650)
Colonel faces sack over SAS bar antics
A high-ranking officer implicated in the debaucherous special forces antics has been stood down.
New police probe as VC trial looms
Ben Roberts-Smith has denied allegations that he buried a USB containing classified material in his backyard as an attempt by Nine Entertainment to ‘punish’ him.
![Picture believed to be of Major (now Colonel) Matthew Stevens [standing] performing lewd acts. The senior SAS officer and a non-commissioned officer, kneeling, pretend to engage in a sex act using an object designed to look like a penis at a party in the makeshift Fat Ladies Arms bar.](https://content.api.news/v3/images/bin/bb81d528b1d36988f807b7e8b9ad14e3?width=650)
‘Lewd crew’ star now to fix military culture
A senior officer whose new job will be to help reform special forces culture has been implicated in lewd exploits at an unauthorised on-base bar in Afghanistan.
War hero hits back at bombshell report
Ben Roberts-Smith accuses Nine of trying to intimidate him into not proceeding with a defamation suit.
‘Don’t give back your medals heedlessly’
Angus Campbell has revealed he personally urged senior officers not to ‘emotionally’ hand in their medals following the Brereton war crimes inquiry.
Officer to keep Afghan medal
Defence has prevented a senior officer from returning a medal earned in a period when troops allegedly committed war crimes.
High flyer not afraid to tell top brass what’s what
Brigadier Ian Langford is one of the army’s most respected and decorated leaders, having received three Distinguished Service Crosses.
Respected leader’s ‘first port of call’ for soldiers
Jon ‘Irish’ Hawkins left the army after his deployment as task group commander, setting up a company that has attracted retiring special forces soldiers.
Ham-fisted Defence needs to lead from the front
If you stuff up in the corporate world, you don’t last long. Not so in the military, where deadly stuff-ups can be buried for years.
Non-military trio to lead war crimes probe
Victorian Supreme Court judge Mark Weinberg has been named the nation’s war crimes special investigator, among other key appointments.
War crimes ‘can’t be swept aside’
Defence Minister Linda Reynolds says allegations of 39 murders by special forces soldiers in the Brereton war crimes report ‘cannot be swept under the carpet’.
Juukan inquiry urges Rio to pay compensation
Rio Tinto should negotiate a restitution package and the WA government should establish a memorial for destroyed Aboriginal heritage sites, a parliamentary inquiry has recommended.
Alleged murders in heat of battle: veteran
Heston Russell says some of the 39 alleged murders of Afghans by Australian special forces soldiers could have been in the “heat of battle” killings.
![CORRECTION - Nurse May Parsons (R) administers the Pfizer/BioNtech Covid-19 vaccine to Margaret Keenan (L), 90, at University Hospital in Coventry, central England, on December 8, 2020 making Keenan the first person to receive the vaccine in the country's biggest ever immunisation programme. - Britain on December 8 hailed a turning point in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, as it begins the biggest vaccination programme in the country's history with a new Covid-19 jab. (Photo by Jacob King / POOL / AFP) / âThe erroneous mention[s] appearing in the metadata of this photo by Jacob King has been modified in AFP systems in the following manner: Pictures were taken on [December 8, 2020] instead of [December 9, 2020]. Please immediately remove the erroneous mention[s] from all your online services and delete it (them) from your servers. If you have been authorized by AFP to distribute it (them) to third parties, please ensure that the same actions are carried out by them. Failure to promptly comply with these instructions will entail liability on your part for any continued or post notification usage. Therefore we thank you very much for all your attention and prompt action. We are sorry for the inconvenience this notification may cause and remain at your disposal for any further information you may require.â](https://content.api.news/v3/images/bin/67f7948e27e55a61ed92b63210336d60?width=650)
V-Day: Britain begins vaccine rollout
A grandmother, 90, has become the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer vaccine following its clinical approval.
Labor to back bill to split CFMEU
The ALP shadow cabinet has agreed in principle to support a bill that is expected to lead to the CFMEU’s mining and energy division, as well as its manufacturing division, breaking away.
Officers ‘must be called to account’
The former commander who became the driving force behind the establishment of the Brereton war crimes inquiry says leadership accountability is an ‘unwritten contract’.
‘We are owning our mistakes in stark contrast to China’
Andrew Hastie has blasted Defence over its decision to allow the publication of an unsubstantiated allegation that Australian soldiers killed Afghan children.
Brereton has undermined the rule of law
The recommendation medals be stripped from more than 3000 soldiers sparked swift backlash for good reason.
‘Public fury led to medals backflip’
Linda Reynolds admits backlash over the stripping of citations from 3000 Afghanistan veterans was behind U-turn on the move.
Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/topics/australian-war-crimes