Australian defence chief axed

2002-09-25 10:17

Sydney - The Australian government came under fire on Wednesday for dismissing its top defence bureaucrat without explanation as it prepares for the possibility of war with Iraq.

Defence Department secretary Allan Hawke, sacked on Tuesday after three years in the job, will be replaced by Australia's current ambassador to Indonesia, Ric Smith.

It was the second time Prime Minister John Howard has sacked his defence department chief at a crucial time.

In August 1999 Paul Barratt was dismissed just as Australia prepared to send troops to halt bloodshed in East Timor.

The latest dismissal sparked immediate criticism that it could once again destabilise the department at a critical moment.

"This is a government that has seen two heads of defence sacked, one when we were just about to go into Timor and the other when we're considering what action (to take) in relation to Iraq," said Simon Crean, head of the main opposition Labour Party.

The government gave no reason for its decision, announced when Howard was in Britain discussing moves towards possible military strikes against Iraq with British leaders.

But media reports said the government felt Hawke had not made sufficient progress in reforms designed to reduce the defence department bureaucracy and put more resources into front-line fighting forces.

Howard has been one of the staunchest backers of US President George W Bush's hard line on Iraq and is expected to send Australian troops to join any US-led strikes aimed at ousting Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Hawke will officially "retire" next month to take up a diplomatic appointment next year. His departure is the second in defence since retiring military chief Admiral Chris Barrie was replaced by current commander, General Peter Cosgrove in July.

But Crean said the dismissals of Barratt then Hawke showed the government and its defence minister, Robert Hill, were using departmental heads as scapegoats for their failure to adequately fund the military.

"The government has to take responsibility, it can't keep passing the buck," Crean said.

Critical time

A spokesperson for the smaller opposition Democrats party said the dismissal of Hawke would destabilise the military when it is already stretched thin with troops in East Timor and Afghanistan and preparations under way to join a possible US-led strike on Iraq.

"Our defence forces are more committed, more stretched now than they have been for many years," said Democrats spokesperson Andrew Bartlett." And that is before we consider what the government might do with Iraq."

Hawke's dismissed predecessor, Paul Barratt also assailed the move as a sign it wants "to pretend that we can have a very high level of defence capability with very inadequate funding."

"I begin to wonder whether it is possible to satisfy this government about the management of the Department of Defence," Barratt told ABC radio.

Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson, who announced Hawke's replacement in the absence of Howard, denied there was any instability in the military.

"I think Australians would think that the defence forces have served this nation extraordinarily well in recent times," he said. - Sapa-AFP

- SAPA