SAS troops hit with $30,000 pay debt

[Julian2]

ELITE SAS soldiers who fought Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan have been hit with a $30,000 pay debt, forcing their families below the poverty line.

 

Some married diggers with children are being forced to live on $250 a fortnight as they struggle to repay tax-free allowances, with after-tax income docked from their pay without consultation, The Australian reports.

 

Western Australian Liberal Senator and opposition defence spokesman David Johnston called the debt the worst thing he had ever raised in Parliament.

 

The news comes as the Australian Government announces a withdrawal of troops from East Timor.

 

"Our special forces personnel are telling me that they don't know which is worse, dodging the bullets of the Taliban or dodging the missives being fired at them by bureaucrats,'' Senator Johnston told a senate estimates hearing today.

 

"For the pleasure, courtesy and privilege of dodging bullets in Afghanistan we bring them home and then we in one line in their pay have put in there that they are ... indebted to the Commonwealth.''

 

He called for top brass to investigate, return the money to the troops and cancel the debt.

 

Defence chief Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston told Senator Johnston that he knew nothing of the matter and would have it investigated urgently.

Link

[Flashermac]

Don't ya just love politicians?

 

 

[Julian2]

I suspect that this was an "in house" decision that may have been made without the Defence Minister's knowledge.

I suppose it could be seen as another case of employees that don't belong to a trade union being trashed by their employer.

The difference here is that there will be a public hue and cry and the Army, under political pressure, will back down.

It wouldn't happen if the guys were civilians working for a contractor in Iraq.