Last year Smith decided to trust a nobody cadet with a history of mucking up over a Commodore with a good service record:

Last April, Smith endorsed “cadet Kate” going to the Ten Network to plead her case because she did not believe she was getting a fair hearing or a proper investigation, and then made a series of claims about Kafer and Defence that he said “coloured” the handling of the Skype sex scandal.

The decision to hear previous cases of discipline breaches by the female cadet were “inappropriate, insensitive and wrong” and “a serious error of judgment”, Smith said. It was “not just unfortunate, it’s deeply invidious” and “somewhere between being completely insensitive and completely stupid”.

He said Kafer and Defence were responsible and, as a “lapsed lawyer”, he offered the legal opinion that the other disciplinary actions were “faulty in law” and should be dealt with again.

In relation to allegations of vilification against Kate, Smith said his advice was that most were denied, but he confirmed there was “an instance of vilification, ie smearing her door” and that “I made it public her door had been sprayed with shaving cream”.

All of this turned out to be untrue.

After receiving the Kirkham report in December, and a Defence recommendation to re-instate Kafer before the ADFA academic year began, Smith let the recommended schedule lapse.

Yesterday we found the report exonerated Kafer, did not find the parallel disciplinary action “coloured” the proceedings, found it was “reasonable” to proceed with the disciplinary hearings and that there was no “error of judgment”. It said there was no vilification or plastering with shaving foam.

Yet Smith refused to resile from his attacks on Kafer…

Basically Smith tried to destroy Kafer’s career over some idiotic Skype affair between two cadets. Great way to make enemies. Then there is the part when Smith does not want to be the Defence minister and probably is not competent enough to be any type of minister.

The judgment on Smith rendered by the Australian Defence Association is uniformly damning….Its comments on Smith in its widely read Defence Brief are routinely scathing. Turning the ADA into a dedicated, campaigning opponent of the government is quite an achievement.

The ADA makes the argument that Smith hardly ever defends the ADF or the Defence Department. He doesn’t draw attention to the countless reports and inquiries that have shown little or no systemic cultural failure in the defence force, for example.

UPDATE

Stephen Smith has leaked what has been described by channel ten as the ‘unedited report’ into the Skype affair. And hey presto the ‘unedited’ report completely vindicates Kafer.

Channel Ten obtained the original Kirkham report, and it told a significantly different story. ”Commodore Kafer could and should have foreseen that [disciplinary charges would be served on Kate] at a time when [she was receiving] medical treatment and had recently been advised of the Skype incident, and further that such service could cause her upset.”

Mr Kirkham’s report also found that Kate suffered unnecessary distress because of Commodore Kafer’s actions, and that he failed to inquire as to whether Kate wanted the disciplinary matter to be delayed.

Channel Ten, which is building a reputation for attacking the ADF, has a copy of a wrong and inaccurate report. A report probably re-written by the Minister’s office. It is not plausible that an ‘unedited’ report could reach a conclusion so at odds with the final report – if an ‘unedited report’ even really exists. Who did the ‘editing’? There can only be one correct judgement, or is the QC who wrote the report bi-polar?

Seems Smith is just digging himself a bigger hole by leaking against the ADF. Trust at a new all time low. Seems Gillard is keen to jump into the same hole.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has confirmed her support of embattled Defence Minister Stephen Smith amid calls for him to apologise to the head of the Defence Force Academy (ADFA).

Well, who is else is Gillard going to get to be the Defence Minister? Having Smith doing the job is scrapping the barrel as it is. Go back to Joel Fitz….and his madam Wu from the PLA? Gillard could pull Joe Tripodi out of retirement like she has done with Carr for foreign affairs, or have the GG appoint someone who is not in Parliament as part of the Executive Council. Or better still Gillard could sack herself and call an election.

UPDATE II

Alan Jones goes off the rails again. He can’t understand why Smith should apologise to Kafer. Jones makes an unfounded and idiotic claim that evil people within Defence are conspiring, or some nonsense. The facts are theses: Smith defamed Kafer plain and simple and the QC report into the Skype affair concluded that Kafer acted appropriately. There is no conspiracy.

Remember last year when the Defence Minister made unfounded accusations against ADFA head Bruce Kafer?

Mr Smith criticised Commodore Kafer’s handling of the sex scandal – in which an 18-year-old female cadet was filmed having sex with another cadet, which was beamed to a group of male cadets in another room – and ordered an inquiry by Rod Kirkham QC.

The Kirkham inquiry into the handling of the scandal largely exonerated Commodore Kafer and recommended his reinstatement. It’s understood the former Defence lawyer made findings against Commodore Kafer for some mistakes in “minor procedural matters”.

Smith won’t reinstate Kafer.

The refusal to reinstate Commodore Kafer is creating new tensions between the minister and the military. Sympathisers are demanding Commodore Kafer be reinstated immediately.

Howard government minister Nick Minchin, whose son is at ADFA and was seriously injured by a boat propeller during military training, said that if Commodore Kafer had been exonerated, he should be re-instated. “As the parent of an ADFA cadet, I can say that Commodore Kafer obviously had strong support and loyalty from the staff and cadets,” he said.

“When our son was injured, Commodore Kafer was caring and generous in his support. If the report has exonerated him, he should be reinstated immediately.”

I wouldn’t be serving papers to the Commonwealth, but to the Defence Minister personally. Smith was not parliament when he attacked Kafer’s character and conduct – he was at a press conference. As a result Smith has opened himself up to litigation and he would be far easier to take on in court than the Commonwealth.

Mr Smith launched six inquiries into the ADFA scandal, the treatment of women in the ADF generally and the effectiveness of ADF legal processes. Defence personnel were alarmed that Mr Smith had reacted to allegations in the media that were wrong; endorsed unauthorised comments to the media; was interfering in military justice; was taking credit for ordering a second Australian Federal Police appraisal of the incident; and, most of all, was condemning Commodore Kafer’s behaviour without proper consideration.

The ALP may not pay for any legal fees like they have for Craig Thomson, because it is not a matter that would get Smith kicked out of parliament. However given the ALP’s natural hostility towards the military, I am sure the attorney-general would find some way to channel public money to pay for Smith’s defence.

Seems Stephen Smith is using the skype sex scandal as a pretext for remaking the ADF after the lefts political correct eye. Does anyone seriously think a mixed gender infantry regiment will be as combat effective as a single gender regiment? We now have the head of the Human Rights Commission running a review, in other words ignore the chain of command and existing HR functions within Defence and put someone in charge who can be trusted to deliver the right result. This is just not about some one’s individual rights based on the lefts dogma of anti-discrimination. Presumably combat units have the right to employ people that fit into the esprit de corps and roles needed by the unit.

UPDATE

The Australia Defence Association is gowing to town on Stephen Smith.

“Simple commonsense tells you that if you put women in some jobs where you directly fight men, enemy men, one on one in a physical confrontation for a continuous period, then we are likely to suffer more female casualties than male casualties.

“The other thing the feminists never justify in their arguments is would they be prepared to have women suffer disproportionate casualties compared to men just to satisfy their whims.”

and….

Mr James said he consulted “five or six senior legal counsel in the ADO membership” who unanimously told him Mr Smith had acted unlawfully.

“His interference in an internal disciplinary proceeding contravenes the principle of the separation of powers.”

Smith’s press conferences really were a case of ‘forget due process and whip up a storm of hysteria’. Apparently the AWOL hearing against the female cadet under question was requested by her based on legal advice, not some type of ‘pay-back’ against the cadet for going public as Stephen Smith has tried to argue before the press.

UPDATE II

It is amazing that a stupid teenage prank that could be quickly resolved before any magistrate has now blown out into a full on attack on the ADF, CDF, the chain of command and combat units and personnel via no less than 6 inquiries and a Defence Minister that has lost control of his mouth. Now we have the ABC giving credence to some obscure reserve Army Captain, who appears to be as removed from the situation as any civilian.

But Julian Fidge, a GP in Wangaratta and a medical officer with the rank of Captain in the Army Reserve, has called the issue of women in frontline service a “furphy”.

He says Air Chief Marshal Houston is the reason a “destructive” culture remains in Defence and has called for his resignation.

The ABC really are clutching at straws. In all of this of course no body, especially the Minister, has any clue about what has actually gone on at ADFA!

UPDATE III

Probably the best summation of the issue from AB:

Some low-life lout at the Australian Defence Forces Academy had sex with another cadet, an 18-year-old girl who should have known better, and got six of his mates next door to secretly watch the gymnastics via Skype.

Yet another cadet blew the whistle and the ADFA called the police, who decided no crime had been committed. Not satisfied, the ADFA decided to find some other excuse to punish the creeps who so humiliated the girl.

But in the meantime the ADFA commandant, Commodore Bruce Kafer, punished the female cadet for two earlier breaches of his academy’s strict rules – drinking alcohol and being absent without leave.

He reportedly gave her the option of delaying the hearing, given her distress over the Skype betrayal, but she allegedly said she’d rather get it over with, and received a mild punishment.

So far I’m struggling to find in this narrative a crime so terrible as to justify Kafer now being damned by his Minister, vilified in the media and told to take leave by his clearly unwilling superiors, bowing to their masters.

Good grief. Gillard is accusing the ABC of ‘hyperbowl’after she was asked why she trusts Kevin Rudd after he detailed cabinet discussions over his doomed ETS. I gather Gillard means hyperbole, or hī-ˈpər-bə-(ˌ)lē. Well if you want hyperbole look no further than meddling Defence Minister Stephen Smith.

When he discovered a couple of weeks ago that soldiers in Afghanistan described the locals and Taliban as ‘sand coons’ and the like, he claimed that he couldn’t think of anything worse. Smith has clearly never been shot at, wounded or seen someone die in battle. Would Smith make the same claim about calling Japanese ‘nips’ during WWII, or what about our own soldiers being called ‘rats’ during the Tobrouk siege? Soft…..Oh, and the soldiers also called the PM a ranga (a little bit of ‘hyperbowl’).

This week we have a case where a female cadet was secretly filmed having sex, so sent to the media about it. Stephen Smith endorses her decision to ignore internal disciplinary processes and chain of command and just vent on national TV. Is this how Defence disciplinary matters will be dealt with in the future, on the TV?

It now appears that the cadet in question has a poor disciplinary record and was due to face court proceedings. However:

Mr Smith called for her conviction to be quashed, saying it was ”inappropriate, insensitive or completely stupid” to proceed with the hearing yesterday and casting doubt on her capacity to plead guilty under the circumstances.

Presumably people join the ADF to learn how to fight and kill through discipline, or is that an optional extra these days due to sensitivity concerns? It seems increasingly that the ADF is becoming a micro welfare and nanny state.

It also begs the question what Stephen Smith is doing involving himself in day to day military discipline. All of the above three incidents should be resolved without the Defence Minister going on national TV wailing about how must sympathy and concern he has. One might assume he has bigger things to worry about, like our dilapidated naval amphibious capability and the current war in Afghanistan. You know, things of national importance that can only be managed with national leadership. Smith clearly needs to toughen up and prioritise and cut the ‘hyperbowl’.

UPDATE

This story does not add up, although further details could clarify the issue. An aunt rang up ABC radio today to report a past rape of her niece.

Jennifer’s niece did leave the army, but she was not the only one who was allegedly assaulted.

“It’s absolutely disgraceful and it’s such a waste of taxpayer money and I can tell you she was not the only one,” Jennifer said.

“When she was in hospital she met a young girl who had been raped twice and she was still continuing because her life’s dream was to be in the Army.”

If someone is admitted to hospital for rape medical staff are obligated to report it to the police. Wonder which hospital it was? Furthermore, if you were the aunt of a niece that had been raped, I would imagine most relatives would report it to the police.

BTW, I will not publish abusive comments. If you don’t think the ADF is becoming a micro welfare state, then walk around Canberra and look at all the glorified public servants dressed up in uniform or talk to anyone in DVA about all the claims that are paid out for basic acts of stupidity. DoD is now even paying for breast plastic ’augmentation’ and transgender surgery. My taxes at work!

UPDATE II

Looks like Stephen Smith is fast out of his depth.

Australia Defence Association executive director Neil James, who is close to military service chiefs, said Mr Smith should have backed Defence’s handling of the matter with an assurance that “there was no evidence to suggest that any one in the ADF chain of command had acted inappropriately”.

He also accused Mr Smith of overstepping his authority in calling for unrelated charges against the female air force cadet to be dropped.

“It is surely constitutionally inappropriate – at least – for the Minister for Defence to be perceived as interfering in defence force disciplinary proceedings,” Mr James said.

Stephen Smith should have bigger issues to deal with than cadets running a muck. The more cynical person might say that Smith’s over reaction was designed to take the headlines away from Rudd’s moves to take down Gillard, and the collapse of the biggest tender process in Commonwealth history, the NBN’s $14bn ‘network construction’ project.

UPDATE III

Things are getting worse for Stephen Smith after he refused to give the ADF the benefit of the doubt. He should have stayed out of it from the beginning and reserved judgement until all the facts were in.

“It’s not up for the minister to express the confidence in a subordinate officer in the Defence Force.

“The minister rightly controls the Defence Force but it’s legally commanded by the Chief of Defence Force and the chain of command.

“And the idea that a minister should be commenting on command matters further down in that chain of command is reasonably unprecedented in our Westminster system.

“It’s sad that we’ve reached this stage.”

This and past events seem to indicate that Smith is losing control of his portfolio.

The World Today also spoke to several recently retired members of the military’s top brass.

While some were reluctant to enter the debate publicly, there was a deal of anger privately expressed over criticism of the culture of the institutions and a reluctance by Mr Smith to back key officers in command.