Head of war crimes agency paid more than Chief of the Army

The man overseeing the investigation of Australian military veterans is paid more than the Chief of the Army, the head of Australian Federal Police or the director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.

Chris Moraitis, the Director-General of the Office of the Special Investigator, will be paid $878,760 a year starting July 1, according to a decision by the Remuneration Tribunal that reinforces his position as one of Australia's best-paid public servants despite leading one of Canberra's smallest statutory agencies.

The Office of the Special Investigator has been criticised by some veterans for the slow pace of investigations into war crimes allegations made in the Brereton Report, which said Australian soldiers were responsible for 39 deaths of prisoners or insurgents during the Afghanistan war outside of combat.

Mr Moraitis, who did not respond to a request for comment, will be paid 33 per cent more than Lt-Gen. Susan Coyle, who will become chief of the army next month. She will have responsibility for an annual budget of about $13 billion and approximately 50,000 full-time and part-time employees.

The Office of the Special Investigator has 128 employees, most of whom are support staff, according to its last annual report. Its budget since coming into existence is $309.5 million, which includes funding allocated for next financial year. Mr Moraitis earns more than every federal judge, including the Chief Justice of the High Court, Stephen Gageler, and receives the same pay as the head of ASIC, the ACCC and the Solicitor-General.

The agency's work has led to charges against two former SAS soldiers, Ben Roberts-Smith and Oliver Schulz, for the war crimes of murder. Thirty-nine investigations by the agency never resulted in charges and ten are still being pursued, prompting complaints from veterans that the agency has conducted some of the most expensive criminal investigations in Australian history.

Including the cost of the Brereton inquiry, criminal prosecutions, the federal government's involvement in Mr Roberts-Smith's defamation lawsuit against Nine Entertainment Co, legal support for those investigated and compensation for victims, some lawyers involved believe the total war crimes bill for the government could surpass $350 million.

“Veterans are being told their is not enough money for services, support programs and mental health initiatives, yet there appears to be no shortage of funding when it comes to maintaining and expanding the machinery established to pursue former soldiers,†said Heston Russell, a former officer in 2nd Commando Regiment, which worked closely with the SAS during the war.

“Years after the Afghanistan conflict ended, the Government needs to explain what positive, strategic outcome it believes this level of expenditure is achieving. Beyond the financial cost, there has been significant damage to trust within the veteran community, consequences for recruitment and retention, and ongoing impacts on the mental health of many current and former serving personnel.â€

Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce, who is One Nation's Treasury spokesman, questioned if the government had tried to find someone willing to run the agency for less money. “If you saved the taxpayer $200,000 of the salary would you really get a deficient candidate?†he said.

Last month Mr Moraitis defended the agency's work at a Senate committee hearing, while expressing sympathy to those affected by the time taken to conduct the investigations.

“We remain committed to finalising the remaining active investigations as expeditiously as possible, cognisant of the impact on those involved and the broader Defence community,†he said on May 26. “However, these are exceptionally complex matters to investigate.â€

A spokesman for Attorney-General Michelle Rowland did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

After many years of complaints from veterans, the Government has created a Veteran and Family Wellbeing Agency, which begins operating next week and is designed to make it easier for former military personnel and their families to get assistance from the Department of Veterans' Affairs.

“That's going to be the biggest change in a century,†Veterans' Affairs Minister Matt Keogh said in Parliament on Monday, “moving from three complex systems that were interacting with each other to a single system going forward to improve the system that supports our veterans, making it quicker and easier for their claims to be processed.â€

On Sunday a founder of SAS veterans' charity Wandering Warriors published a letter he sent Prime Minister Anthony Albanese requesting an independent inquiry into the investigation carried out by former NSW judge Paul Brereton.

Quentin Masson said veterans held “significant concerns†about “the impact of the process on natural justice and procedural fairness for affected personnel†and “the prolonged public scrutiny and reputational damage experience by individuals who have not been convicted of any criminal offenceâ€.

“We respectfully request that the Government advise whether it intends to undertake any further review of the Afghanistan inquiry process, and if not, the reasons why such a review is considered unnecessary,†he said in a letter dated June 10.