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Katie Woolf spoke with Member for Solomon Luke Gosling · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Hello, Katie Wolf and three point sixty online at Mixed
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  Speaker 1: one O four nine dot com.
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  Speaker 2: You may have heard or read this morning in the
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  Speaker 2: news that Australian soldiers who've served in Afghanistan won't be
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  Speaker 2: stripped of their medals because of war crime allegations facing
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  Speaker 2: some Special Forces soldiers.
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  Speaker 1: That is what the.
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  Speaker 2: Defense Minister Peter Dutton has announced. Now joining us on
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  Speaker 2: the line to get well to give us a bit
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  Speaker 2: more detail about this and also to get his take,
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  Speaker 2: is the Federal Member for Solomon Luke Goslin.
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  Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Luke.
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  Speaker 3: Good morning Katie Luke.
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  Speaker 2: As I just mentioned, we know that Australian soldiers who
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  Speaker 2: served in Afghanistan aren't going to be stripped of their
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  Speaker 2: medals because of.
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  Speaker 1: The war crime allegations.
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  Speaker 2: That's what the Defense Minister Peter Dutton announced a bit
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  Speaker 2: earlier today.
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  Speaker 1: What's your take on this situation?
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  Speaker 3: You know, Katie, I've been consistent on this for five
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  Speaker 3: months now and I think we had a conversation when
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  Speaker 3: it was first announced that the Meritorious Unit citation would
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  Speaker 3: be revoked in no way and not only are there
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  Speaker 3: a number of veterans in our community here in the
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  Speaker 3: top end that received that award for their excellent work
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  Speaker 3: over in Afghanistan. But it was morally injurious I believe
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  Speaker 3: to be taking away an award for three thousand of
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  Speaker 3: our Australian patriots for the sins of a few. It
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  Speaker 3: was never a good idea. It's a shame that it's
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  Speaker 3: taken the sixth Defense Minister and five months for this
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  Speaker 3: to occur, but obviously welcome that it's been made official today.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think that you've hit the nail on
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  Speaker 2: the head there. Everybody cannot be punished for the alleged well,
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  Speaker 2: you know, alleged bad.
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  Speaker 1: Behavior from a few.
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  Speaker 2: It does go against what the Defense Force Chief, Angus
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  Speaker 2: Campbell recommended that that Meritorious Unit citation be taken from
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  Speaker 2: three thousand soldiers from Special Operations Task Groups that served
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  Speaker 2: in Afghanistan from April two thousand and seven to December
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  Speaker 2: twenty thirteen. I mean, is it unusual really to see
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  Speaker 2: the Defense Minister go against what the Defense Force Chief
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  Speaker 2: had recommended.
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  Speaker 3: It wouldn't be the first time, Cadie. And what we
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  Speaker 3: had is a process with a bredon inquiry where alleged
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  Speaker 3: war crimes in Afghanistan were investigated and there was enough
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  Speaker 3: concerning evidence that there were a number of recommendations made.
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  Speaker 3: It's really important that there is a process of transparency
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  Speaker 3: and accountability and that those that are accused have their
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  Speaker 3: right to be presumed innocent innocent until there's a proper
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  Speaker 3: legal process. And there were some very good recommendations that
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  Speaker 3: came out of the Bredon inquiry, but in the case
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  Speaker 3: of this one, it was not right. In fact, it
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  Speaker 3: was cruel to say that all those that served so
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  Speaker 3: well there should have an award stripped, when people here
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  Speaker 3: in our own community and across the country can be
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  Speaker 3: extremely proud of the job that they did in Afghanistan,
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  Speaker 3: often in incredibly difficult circumstances. So I hope we can
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  Speaker 3: move on now from this issue. And I think it's
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  Speaker 3: good what the Chief of the Defense Force said in
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  Speaker 3: that we must make sure when the ADF goes overseas,
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  Speaker 3: they are ambassadors for our nation, so their conduct should
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  Speaker 3: always be exemplary. For those that have found guilty of
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  Speaker 3: war crimes in a court of law, of course, they
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  Speaker 3: should be stripped of any awards that they were given well, and.
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  Speaker 2: As I understand it, it will only soldiers found guilty
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  Speaker 2: of war crimes or dismissed from the army will now
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  Speaker 2: be stripped. So I mean to me that sounds like
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  Speaker 2: the common sense approach here.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it is, for sure, Katie. I mean we all
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  Speaker 3: are well aware how much our serving men and women
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  Speaker 3: and their families do for us. As I said, I'm
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  Speaker 3: not being political, but it's unfortunately it's taken this long.
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  Speaker 3: I welcome the decision and I think there's a lot
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  Speaker 3: on our plate. I want to know what Peter Dutton
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  Speaker 3: is doing about in terms of reference for the Royal
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  Speaker 3: Commission that the Prime Minister says he supports. But yeah,
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  Speaker 3: we're still waiting to hear what's going to happen with that,
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  Speaker 3: And just wish all our serving people and former serving
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  Speaker 3: people all the best in the lead up to Antick data.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, and we'll be making sure that we certainly speak
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  Speaker 2: more about ANZAC day. It is just six days away,
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  Speaker 2: as we all know.
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  Speaker 1: Look just on that note into the Royal Commission, is
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  Speaker 1: there any updates?
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  Speaker 3: No, there's not, Katie. Well they did when the Parliament
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  Speaker 3: said that we need a Royal Commission into Defense and
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  Speaker 3: Veteran suicide. The Prime Minister said, well, I won't stand
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  Speaker 3: in the way of this motion, but he said that
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  Speaker 3: because he obviously didn't want to have a vote against
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  Speaker 3: him on the floor of the Parliament. And the public
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  Speaker 3: thinks we need the best, best possible veteran support system,
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  Speaker 3: the families and the serving members think we need the
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  Speaker 3: best possible support system. The way to get to that
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  Speaker 3: he threw a Royal commission. And if they had have
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  Speaker 3: started one eighteen months ago, when the calls were made
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  Speaker 3: for a royal commission, we would be putting those recommendations
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  Speaker 3: in action by now. So it worries me that they've
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  Speaker 3: gone quiet on it, and I hope that they can
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  Speaker 3: confirm that there will be a Royal Commission when we
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  Speaker 3: Maybe they're waiting till we get back to Canberra. I
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  Speaker 3: don't know. But the Prime Minister has got a lot
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  Speaker 3: on his plate with the mishandling of their vaccine rollout,
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  Speaker 3: so that he should be able to find time to
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  Speaker 3: say we are going to have a royal commission. The
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  Speaker 3: terms of reference are now out for consultation.
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  Speaker 2: Look, can I ask you I understand that there's actually
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  Speaker 2: just on a separate note, there is a bit of
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  Speaker 2: an update when it comes to to team Or and
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  Speaker 2: certainly on the donations that have been going across to
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  Speaker 2: Team More. I understand that Food Bank are now looking
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  Speaker 2: at well. Not only do they look after territories, but
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  Speaker 2: they're also now looking to send some food over to
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  Speaker 2: Team Or as well, in wake of the terrible situation
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  Speaker 2: that they're going through.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's certainly in their plans, Codie. I'm standing out
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  Speaker 3: of the front of Food Bank at the moment. I've
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  Speaker 3: had a great brief with them this morning. Not only
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  Speaker 3: do they do a great job here in the territory,
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  Speaker 3: their plans for the future involved being able to respond
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  Speaker 3: to humanitarian crisises in our region. Now. An update this
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  Speaker 3: morning from East Team Or is that they are in
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  Speaker 3: a dire way, so I think all those have made donations.
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  Speaker 3: The reality of the situation up in some of the
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  Speaker 3: mountain areas of Team Or is that the kids there
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  Speaker 3: were already malnourished before COVID, they become more malnourished during
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  Speaker 3: COVID due to the lockdown, and now after the floods
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  Speaker 3: that've taken out roads and taken our bridges some of
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  Speaker 3: those communities, the kids up there are getting by on
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  Speaker 3: a bowl of rice and a couple of leaves. It
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  Speaker 3: leaves from trees they're getting by on that day by day,
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  Speaker 3: So there is definitely a role for Australia to respond
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  Speaker 3: to the humanitarian crisis that's been requested by the team
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  Speaker 3: or government. So we look forward to the federal government
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  Speaker 3: providing some more support to those cutoff areas of each
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  Speaker 3: team or as soon as possible, Luke.
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  Speaker 2: In the meantime, what can we as Serotorians do if
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  Speaker 2: we are keen to assist in some way.
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  Speaker 3: Katie On my Facebook page, I've got a link to
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  Speaker 3: an organization called Carratas that's an international aid organization, but
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  Speaker 3: there are other aid organizations as well on the ground
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  Speaker 3: in each team or Whilst the donations are in Darwen
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  Speaker 3: and Parmeerson of Goods have been fantastic because they'll get
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  Speaker 3: there by shipping container unfortunately by Singapore, but they'll eventually
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  Speaker 3: get over there. But in the meantime they're really struggling
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  Speaker 3: to feed people in Dilly lit alone in the outlying areas.
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  Speaker 3: So as these aid organizations start to respond donations to
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  Speaker 3: them and check that they are actually operating on the
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  Speaker 3: ground in Dilly is the best way to get some
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  Speaker 3: immediate support to people in teaml Well.
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  Speaker 2: Luke Gosling Labour's member for Solomon our representative obviously in Canberra.
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  Speaker 2: We always appreciate your time, mate, Thank you so very
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  Speaker 2: much for.
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  Speaker 1: Having a chat with us today.
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  Speaker 3: Good on you, Katie.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you