Brereton War Crimes Allegations: A Decade of Controversy and Injustice

There wasn’t much media attention or notice taken when the first ever Brereton ‘War Crimes’ allegation trial began recently.

It’s been 9 years now after the government initiated what has widely been called a witch hunt, and four and a half years since the release of the Brereton Report.

When that was released in 2020, Defence immediately tried to strip 3,000 special forces and enablers of their awards over allegations in relation to just a few. Yet the first court trial from any of those allegations is only beginning now. This is despite over $150 million being spent on the Office of the Special Investigator dedicated to bringing these charges forward.

No guilty verdicts, only one single charge still untested, yet politicians and senior brass threw the reputation of our most elite soldiers under the bus and tarred the service of all ADF in Afghanistan.

I’m not declaring there’s nothing to these allegations, or that anyone is guilty or innocent. That is a decision for our courts and a jury of these soldiers’ fellow Australians properly presented with all of the relevant facts.

The right to the presumption of innocence is fundamental to this country. Veterans and current serving members too afraid of to speak out against the Defence hierarchy due to fear of retaliation, have always told me that the place for accountability, if needed, should be determined in a courtroom, not through a trial by media with verdicts handed down by press conference, as was done with the Brereton Report.

If there is to be accountability for war crimes, that responsibility should flow up to the highest levels of command and politicians, not down. The politicians who sent us to war based on the lie of weapons of mass destruction should be the first to be thrown in jail before the men who threw themselves into the path of bullets and grenades are punished.

As we approach 15 years on from some of the allegations, and 10 years since investigations began, it’s time for governments of all sides to admit this issue must be finally put to rest and remove this dark cloud over people who believed they were lawfully serving Australia.

One Nation will always support Defence Force personnel over the increasingly questionable decisions and claims of politicians and bureaucrats in command. We support the presumption of innocence and we support all Australians having their day in court instead of being indiscriminately tarnished as guilty by press conference.