Senator Hill Must Resign Chris Evans - Shadow Minister for Defence

Media Statement - 16 June 2004

Senator Hill today attempted to whitewash the Defence inquiry into Australia’s knowledge of the egregious abuse and torture of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.

The Minister’s report is morally bankrupt because it once again has failed to answer key questions about the extent of Australian knowledge about the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal.

By failing to take any responsibility for this issue, Senator Hill has displayed incompetence and gross political cowardice and must now resign as Minister for Defence.

Today’s report does not make any attempt to explain:

• how or why the Australian public have been misled by the Howard Government for so long about its knowledge of Iraqi prisoner abuse;
• after being briefed on 10 May about Defence knowledge of Red Cross reports and Australian involvement the Minister failed to correct the record;
• Australia’s moral and legal responsibilities towards prisoners that were captured by our troops;
• the ‘understanding’ about how the 120 prisoners physically captured by Australia came to be detained by the United States;
• the role of the Iraq Task Force, a group senior officials managing the Government’s approach to Iraq, what it knew, when it knew and why it did not report to Ministers;
• why Defence did not believe it had access to the Red Cross working papers, when in fact it did;
• when Defence realised it did have these working papers, and when the Minister was told about this;
• when the Minister first sought information from Defence about when Australian officials became aware of prisoner abuse; and
• whether officers other than Major O’Kane gave post-operation reports upon their return to Australia.

Today was an opportunity for Senator Hill to be open and honest with the Australian public about when he knew of the Iraqi prisoner abuses and why he took no action.

But today’s statement contains no such explanation.

The Howard Government has again refused to accept any moral or legal responsibility for Iraqi prisoners of war captured by Australian troops.

Labor is also seriously concerned at Senator Hill’s scurrilous attempt to smear Labor and the media about this issue.

Labor has never at any stage suggested that any members of the Australian Defence Force have been in any way involved in the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners of war.

By any standards, Senator Hill has failed to live up to the Prime Minister’s code of Ministerial conduct, which clearly states that Ministers are ultimately accountable for the overall operation of their portfolios.

Senator Hill’s failure to meet the Prime Minister’s standards, and his failure to provide an adequate report to the Senate today, demonstrates that he is unfit to continue as Minister for Defence.

Senator Hill said in Parliament on 11 May that the Government became aware of the Red Cross report in February, and that he accepted the responsibilities that flow from that.

He must now take responsibility and resign.