Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee, , 1:05:20 to 1:09:17
Discussion centers on the practice of "throwdowns" and the perceived lack of disciplinary action against commissioned officers for cultural failures.
Topics: Workplace culture, ADF, Integrity
Speakers: David Shoebridge, Mark Hammond, Unknown Speaker
>> Um, one of the most um disturbing features in this report is about the practice of throwdowns. Do you know what the practice of throwdowns is?
>> Yes, sir. I've read the report. which is
where um people in Afghanistan were killed by the special operations group and then after they were killed, weapons were placed on their bodies and photographs taken to seek to justify the unlawful killing of people in Afghanistan. We're we're of one mind about what throwdowns are.
>> Senator, yes. My question, my answer to your question is still yes. Um
um and this is one of the um uh this comes from the IGF report. The unwillingness to challenge non-commissioned officers was particularly apparent from the breakdown of military discipline through the lack of supervision. The failure to address the widely known use of throwdowns is an example of this for which substantial comment is provided in report. There was also a manifestation of broader breakdown within military discipline within the special air services regiment. the tolerance of officers of overt non-compliance sent a powerful the the thought that um officers either who were deployed on the operations or were in the special operations task group uh special operations task group headquarters were aware of this practice and did nothing is is incredibly disturbing. Um, uh, being aware of that unlawful practice, which was disguising unlawful murder would be a matter that I would have thought would see you, if it was proven, exiting the defense force at a minimum. Um, has anyone had that consequence attached to them? They were aware of this unlawful practice. They did nothing. Has anyone exited the defense
firstly I I I agree with your response to the allegations. Uh it is um extremely unprofessional. That behavior is is absolutely not in concert with our values, our professional standards uh of behavior that we expect of our personnel. I I absolutely believe uh absolutely agree with your reaction to that allegation. I cannot speak to the second part though which is your question as to whether or not people have been exited from the service. Uh I'm happy to take that on notice.
>> Um and and you know the the findings about it is it's it's not just about the unlawful murders, the throwdowns that were happening in the field. It's also about the practices in the barracks, the which I understand to also include the mocking of dead Afghan uh people from Afghanistan, including drinking out of a prosthetic limb that happened in plain sight of officers repeatedly, is my understanding, repeatedly um on base. Um has anyone been held to account for allowing that practice to continue? And if so, what happened?
>> Senator, again, I agree. completely unacceptable behavior, an inversion of authority is what the IGF referred to. Uh a breakdown in culture, a normalization of unacceptable practices. All of that is contained and uh utterly unaligned with the expectations we have of our personnel. Uh it also talks to relatively junior officers, the people who were on the ground and makes a whole bunch of recommendations about how we should do things differently in the future which have been taken into account. But again with respect to consequences, I'm not in a position to speak to that, Senator. Most of these uh many of these issues have been dealt with over a period exceeding 10 years. I'm happy to take it on notice. Well, it