SAS officers knowingly allowed the use of "throwdowns" during operations in Afghanistan, according to a report.
A newly released military report has revealed deep failures in Australian Defence Force (ADF) leadership and discipline during deployments in the country.
Throwdowns refer to the practice of planting weapons on dead Afghan civilians to falsely identify them as combatants.
The report, an executive summary of a 2021 investigation by the inspector general of the ADF (IGADF), examined the "cultural context" of special operations command in Afghanistan.
It was commissioned by former defence force chief Angus Campbell following the Brereton Inquiry, which in 2020 found credible information that Australian special forces personnel murdered 39 Afghan civilians and prisoners.
Unlike the Brereton report, which largely placed responsibility at the patrol commander level, the new findings state that some SAS officers were aware of the throwdown practice and failed to intervene.
The report stated: "Officers with actual knowledge of misconduct in-theatre, including notably the use of throwdowns to effect in fraudulent reporting, or rumours of misconduct, did not take effective action to investigate and address these issues."
It described these failures as evidence of a "breakdown of command" and an "erosion of military discipline."
Australian Defence Force chief Admiral Mark Hammond told a senate estimates hearing that he agreed with the findings.
Admiral Hammond said: "unacceptable behaviour – it is extremely unprofessional, that behaviour is absolutely not in concert with our values, our professional standards, the behaviour that we expect of our personnel".
Greens Senator David Shoebridge criticised the lack of accountability for senior officers.
Senator Shoebridge said: "The thing that is eroding faith and trust is this seeming accountability gap.
"the people who are in leadership positions who were either aware of it, or had the data that should have triggered that [awareness], and have not taken action."
Opposition frontbencher and former SAS captain Andrew Hastie said the findings reflected his own experience.
Mr Hastie said: "I lived a lot of what I read in that report.
"If you hold a commission in the Australian Army, then you are accountable for those underneath you."
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