Australian Defence Minister quits
Updated
As one of the Australian government's most senior ministers, Joel Fitzgibbon has overseen some important policy shifts in just over 18 months in office.
There was a new defence policy paper; a radical reform program for an at-times resentful defence department; and there were big changes in Australia's role in two major conflicts, in Iraq and in Afghanistan.
But none of that was enough to save Mr Fitzgibbon from weeks of mounting allegations against him. Mr Fitzgibbon has resigned and he may have been betrayed, possibly from within his own department and office.
Presenter: Linda Mottram
Speaker: Kevin Rudd, Australian Prime Minister; Joel Fitzgibbon, former Australian Defence Minister; Alan Behm, former Australian Defence Department official; Stephen Smith, Australian Foreign minister.
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MOTTRAM: Joel Fitzgibbon's defence policy agenda was vast, global in reach. But it was the accumulation of several comparatively small failures that were his undoing, especially under the tough code demanded by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
RUDD: The government expects high standards of accountability on the part of ministers. All my ministers are familiar with that and its on that basis that the minister has extended his resignation today. And I've accepted it.
MOTTRAM: It all began with a sensational story, which two government inquiries have now dismissed as baseless, that Mr Fitzgibbon was spied on by someone within the very defence establishment he oversaw. Connections to a Chinese business woman were revealed and allegations made that she had cultivated the minister for Chinese authorities. Some of the related claims remain untested. But that wasn't what brought Mr Fitzgibbon down. What followed was Mr Fitzgibbon's failure to publicly declare, as required by law, some gifts from his Chinese friend, including travel to China. That made the Prime Minister unhappy, but Mr Fitzgibbon survived. Then, this week came revelations about a potential conflict of interest involving attempts by a company his brother runs to win a defence contract. Mr Fitzgibbon says he did nothing wrong, that he had at all stages distanced himself to the extent of being unaware of some key meetings. But he'd decided the political cost to the Rudd government was too much. Joel Fitzgibbon decided to resign, and -- in keeping with claims that his tough stance with his department has caused resentment -- has claimed that he was betrayed.
FITZGIBBON: There's no doubt given the sort of information that was going forward that people who were coming after me were quite close to me, working in the organisation or organisations, there's no doubt about that.
MOTTRAM: Alan Behm is a former senior Australian Defence Department official who says the minister's resignation was the right thing to do.
BEHM: It's not that the minister did anything unethical or immoral and its probably not even improper but it can be constructed so easily as bringing pressure to bear on the decision-making capacities of the defence organisation and in the Australian system that is not acceptable behaviour and so because that construction can be put on it, the minister has done the right thing and has decided to resign.
MOTTRAM: Do you think he's been a good defence minister?
BEHM: I do think he's been a good defence minister. He has in the first 18 months of the Rudd government he's delivered a very substantial revamping of the Australian force structure through the White Paper process, he's also done a lot of work on ensuring the orderly extraction of the Australian forces in Iraq and he's worked closely with the Coalition parties to bed down a more effective military intervention in Afghanistan, a military intervention which one hopes will be backed up by much more in the way of economic, social and humanitarian assistance. So i think just even on those accounts he's been a pretty successful minister.
MOTTRAM: Not irreplaceable though. There are a number of strong contenders for the post in the Rudd government. And Australia's Foreign minister Stephen Smith has told Radio Australia that the controversy has had no implications for Australia internationally.
BEHM: The fact that he has been from time to time under domestic spotlight which has frankly born no relationship to him progressing defence policy or national security policy has not in my view caused us any difficulty so far as our defence or national security arrangements are concerned.
MOTTRAM: It's the Rudd government's first ministerial loss. But Mr Rudd says there will be a replacement to go to a NATO defence ministers meeting in Brussels next week. In the meantime, some others will be looking to answer the question, who betrayed Joel Fitzgibbon.
