FITZGIBBON AND DEFENCE UNDER FIRE OVER SAS PAY

C O N F I D E N T I A L CANBERRA 000213 NOFORN SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/01/2019 TAGS: PGOV PREL MARR AS SUBJECT: FITZGIBBON AND DEFENCE UNDER FIRE OVER SAS PAY Classified By: Political Counselor James F. Cole, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C/NF) SUMMARY: Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon and senior Defence officials have come under intense pressure over bungled handling of salary payments to Special Air Service (SAS) troops, the elite special forces who are doing the bulk of Australia's fighting in Afghanistan. In Parliament last week, Fitzgibbon was unable to give a coherent answer when asked why some SAS soldiers on the front lines had their pay reduced to zero, later acknowledging he had ordered the problem fixed four months earlier. The Prime Minister is reportedly furious over this latest embarrassment to his government, with the Opposition and some in the media calling for Fitzgibbon's head. Fitzgibbon's weak parliamentary performance and his inability to obtain information from ADOD have highlighted tensions between the Minister and the Defence bureaucracy. Fitzgibbon, an early supporter of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and close to Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard, will likely survive this incident, however, at least through the delivery of the Defense white paper and the AUSMIN consultations, both scheduled for April. END SUMMARY SAS PAY PACKETS REDUCED TO ZERO ¶2. (SBU) During Parliamentary Question Time on February 24, 25, and 26, Fitzgibbon was questioned repeatedly about a salary mixup in which ADOD apparently deducted the entire net pay of SAS soldiers fighting in Afghanistan. The situation began in 2007 when a Defence Tribunal found that some SAS personnel had received extra allowances to which they were not entitled. ADOD began recouping the allowances through payroll deductions that the Opposition claimed reduced some salary payments to zero. Responding in Parliament, Fitzgibbon looked uncomfortable and defensive, spending most of his time criticizing his own department for failing to respond to his requests. Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull called for his sacking and initiated a censure motion (handily defeated by the governing majority.) On February 27, Fitzgibbon claimed the Opposition had misread the payslips central to its claims of zero payment. When asked specifically how many SAS were affected by the allowance deduction and how much money had been deducted from their pay, Fitzgibbon replied: "I can't give that figure because Defence can't give it to me." �0A; ¶3. (U) Outside of Parliament, Fitzgibbon told the media he had learned of the situation in October 2008, and had ordered ADOD to cease all debt recovery action. Last week, however, when some SAS families came forward to complain that the allowances were still being deducted from their pay packets, Fitzgibbon admitted that he could not give absolute assurance that all debt recovery action had ceased. On Sunday, March 1, the Minister announced that he had directed ADOD to hire an independent auditing firm to examine salary payment to all special forces so that he could "finally determine once and for all what's going on." WHO RUNS DEFENCE? ¶4. (U) Fitzgibbon's lament that he could not get any action or answers from ADOD is not the first complaint from a defense minister about the bureaucracy his is charged with overseeing. Former Howard Defence Minister Brendan Nelson Qoverseeing. Former Howard Defence Minister Brendan Nelson was reported only last month as saying that "I think its fair to say that at times the uniformed side of Defence finds it difficult to respond to directives that come from civilians in the form of the government and minister of the day." Since becoming Defence Minister in December 2007, Fitzgibbon has clashed with Defence over the timetable for release of the White Paper and the embedding of journalists with Australian troops in Afghanistan. Apparently, Defence has refused to give the Minister's office the raw responses of journalists who responded to a survey of ADOD's media policy. Last September, Fitzgibbon defended Australian troops over allegations that Taliban prisoners had been kept in "dog pens." Days later it emerged that a "dog pen" was the soldiers' nickname for makeshift enclosures. WHERE IS THE CIVILIAN DEFENCE SECRETARY? ¶5. (U) Like the U.S. Department of Defense, ADOD has a civilian bureaucracy, headed by Secretary Nick Warner, an appointee of former Prime Minister John Howard. Warner, a former diplomat with limited defense experience, is viewed as a weak actor in ADOD and was nowhere to be seen during the payroll controversy. Ideally, ADOD is run by two CEOs: the Secretary and the Chief of the Defence Force (CDF). In recent years, according to the media, the CDF has become the stronger voice within Defence and the civilian side has withered. This has remained true under current CDF Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, a Howard appointee who was extended for another three-year term after Rudd came into office. Former Defence Minister and former Australian Labor Party (ALP) Leader Kim Beazley recently noted "the downgrade of the policy-making capacity of civilians in Defence is crippling." COMMENT ¶6. (C/NF) One media report described Fitzgibbon as being "helpless" in dealing with the situation, and many thought his performance in Parliament was inadequate, including some of his fellow ALP MPs. It is widely assumed that Fitzgibbon, a former auto repair shop owner with only a brief stint as Shadow Defence Minister before assuming his present role, got his job because he was one of Rudd's early supporters in the ALP leadership contest with Kim Beazley. While he has proven himself able to master the external elements of his job, he appears to have little appetite for detail, and he may be somewhat out of his depth in this job. Fitzgibbon's combative, partisan political style and frequent criticism of the previous administration's conduct of defense matters have rankled the ADOD establishment, and doubtless have contributed to his communications problem within the Defence establishment. Another problem for Fitzgibbon may be the inexperience of his ministerial staff. After the departure of his respected first chief of staff, Dan Cotterill, late last year, Fitzgibbon elevated 30-year-old Deputy COS Davina Langton to replace Cotterill. Langton came to the job with no prior experience working in Parliament or on defense issues. ¶7. (C/NF) Fitzgibbon's job is likely safe for now. He still appears to have the backing of the Prime Minister and the support of Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Rudd would be unlikely to sack Fitzgibbon before the upcoming release of the Defence White Paper and the AUSMIN consultations in Washington. Importantly for Rudd, no doubt, Fitzgibbon has been able to engage with his U.S. counterpart, Secretary Gates, in support of his administration's number one priority: the U.S. Alliance. Rudd is said to be "livid" with the military chiefs over this issue, however, and if any heads roll, it will likely be from within ADOD. Nevertheless, Fitzgibbon is not out of the woods yet; Rudd's decision last week to add to Fitzgibbon's responsibility the complex defense acquisition portfolio previously managed by Parliamentary Secretary Greg Combet opens up new opportunities for Fitzgibbon to make a costly, high-profile mistake that may again call into question his fitness for the job. CLUNE