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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