Afghanistan war crimes inquiry report into Australian special forces released – latest updates
Australian defence force releases long-awaited Brereton report into allegations SAS committed war crimes in Afghanistan from 2006 to 2016. Follow live
2.25am GMT
The Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John has said that the new special investigator should explore criminal prosecutions against SAS commanders whose negligence results in an unlawful killing".
Both the Office of the Special Investigator and the Oversight Committee must be independent, without any personal or professional ties to the Australian Defence Force. So far, these assurances have not been given.
Major General Campbell stated that the commanders who either didn't know what was happening on the ground, or turned a blind eye to sanitised reporting, would be disciplined internally and not referred to the Special Investigator. When negligence results in an unlawful killing, there are pathways for prosecuting that as a criminal matter and these must be explored.
2.09am GMT
The minister for defence personnel, Darren Chester, has just released this statement:
We ask a lot of every person who puts on the defence uniform and the last 20 years has seen one of the highest operational tempos in our military history.
During this time, more than 39,000 Australians have deployed to Afghanistan and for the overwhelming majority their service was in keeping with the values we expect as a nation, and the high standards they demand of each other.
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