The submission, obtained by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age under freedom of information laws, said the preferred option was to revoke the unit citation whilst allowing individuals to keep and wear the badges. It said demanding the physical return of the badges had the potential to “cause significant harm and distress to members, veterans and families, especially for families of those killed in action”.
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Mr Dutton instead chose “Option Five”, which was to retain the unit citation except for those either convicted in a court of law or identified by Defence as being implicated in war crimes.
General Campbell and Mr Moriarty said going with this option risked “causing significant harm to the families of those affected by the alleged actions of Australian soldiers and Australia’s relationship with Afghanistan”.
“Retaining the Meritorious Unit Citation does not send a decisive message that Australia is holding itself to account for the actions identified in the Inquiry report,” the submission said.
“The retention of the Meritorious Unit Citation poses unacceptable risk to the moral authority of the force and threatens the international and domestic reputation of the Australian Defence Force and its capacity to operate effectively. The action could be perceived by international counterparts as dismissive and a failure to accept accountability for the actions identified in the Inquiry.”
The advice also warned the move risked the integrity of the unit citation process because “it does not address the fundamental premise that the award is intended for a Unit that has performed meritoriously”.
The submission noted that at least Option Five ensured the consequences were directed at those who had been found to have committed wrongdoing.
Mr Dutton defended his decision to retain the unit citation except for those people implicated in war crimes, saying it was “in the best interests of our country and of the men and women of the Defence Force”.
“99 per cent of our people earned that citation through their brave and courageous actions,” he said. “We will deal with the one per cent who have done the wrong thing through other processes, including the OSI [Office of Special Investigator] and if they are found guilty under Australian law, they will be stripped of their honour. I’ve been very clear about that.”
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Neil James, executive director of the Australia Defence Association, said it was a “surprising decision because the biggest risks are to Australia’s international reputation and the reputation of the Defence Force internationally”.
“It risks the integrity of this citation and future citations,” he said.
Opposition defence spokesman Brendan O’Connor said Labor supported the “belated decision to remove any unjust reflection on the overwhelming number of Defence personnel who are innocent”.
Mr O’Connor said the government had left the Defence Force to make the initial response to the Brereton inquiry while ignoring its tougher recommendations.
“To maintain the confidence and morale of our Defence Force personnel and ensure our international reputation is not tarnished the government cannot continue to ignore alleged criminal conduct by those who wear our uniform,” he said.
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Source: | This article originally belongs to smh.com.au
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