Campbell confirmed he had recently sent letters to current and former defence force personnel to inform them their honours for distinguished and conspicuous service may be cancelled but he refused to provide the exact number.
“I know that not only yourself but a range of other interested parties and the media are circling around this issue like great whites in a feeding frenzy,” Campbell told Lambie.
“I would wish to decline to tell you the number so as to mitigate the enthusiasm with which these people are hunted down by the media looking for spectacle.
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“It is a small number of persons who held command appointments during particular periods of operational service in Afghanistan.”
Lambie said she believed Campbell had sent 24 such letters in recent months,but the defence chief said he did not agree with this number.
Campbell said it would ultimately be up to Defence Minister Richard Marles to decide whether any military honours should be cancelled,adding that theBrereton inquiry into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan had recommended a review of military honours.