Richard Marles concealed war crimes report, denying justice for David McBride

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Marles’ repeated attempts to conceal the report until the announcement of McBride’s five-year prison sentence obliterate Prime Minister Albanese’s remaining platitudes about improved government transparency, accountability and whistleblower protections.

Months before the panel’s final report was sent to Marles late last year, government refusals to properly investigate senior defence force commanders had already provided the trigger for those officers to be referred to the International Criminal Court prosecutor.

Echoing the command responsibility doctrine codified in the ICC Statute, the panel found “multiple signs” of war crimes were ignored, concluding “personal knowledge or direct involvement of the senior officers in the causes or behaviour that led to the corporate failure are not required.” The oversight report also says:

Not only do the Afghanistan oversight panel’s findings and conclusions vindicate McBride’s concerns and echo the command responsibility doctrine codified in the ICC Statute, Marles’ and his department’s handling of the report further highlights the abuse of security classifications as a means of preventing scrutiny of wrongdoing by senior government officials.

When OSI Director-General Chris Moraitis testified to Senate Estimates last year about the legality of rules of engagement and targeting orders given to special forces troops in Afghanistan, he deflected key questions back to Defence, the organisation he’s supposed to be investigating.

Not only does Marles’ repeated defiance of Senate orders based on non-existent “advice” constitute contempt of Parliament, his obfuscation to the Royal Commission shows a similarly contemptuous attitude towards the ultimate avenue of government transparency available under the Australian democratic model.

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