Navy training 'deficient' before SIEV 36

A naval officer has conceded there were deficiencies in the Australian navy's
training program when an asylum seeker boat exploded and killed five people in April
2009.
Chief Petty Officer Glenn Alan Lee told a coronial inquest in Darwin on Tuesday that
the training manual was an "evolving document" that was adapted as new scenarios
emerged.
Asked by counsel assisting the Northern Territory Coroner, Stephen Walsh QC, whether
there were deficiencies in training programs at the time of the explosion, Chief PO
Lee said the navy was "constantly learning".
"So yes, that would be a fair assessment," he said.
Past issues that had arisen when the navy boarded any Suspected Illegal Entry Vessel
(SIEV) were used to brief boarding parties on what they might encounter, Chief PO
Lee said.
He said he had never personally covered any scenario of a boat exploding and
throwing people into the water.
Five Afghan men drowned and another 40 people were injured when the wooden fishing
vessel they were aboard, known as SIEV 36, caught fire and exploded while it was
under the control of the Australian navy near Ashmore Reef.
Earlier, the inquest heard asylum seekers could not readily access life-jackets that
were still in their plastic wrapping when the boat exploded.
Chief PO Lee said naval officers should have shown the asylum seekers how to use the
life-jackets.
He said the policy of rescuing their colleagues first, before the asylum seekers,
was flexible and that value judgments were to be made on the scene.
Able Seaman Christopher Saville, who helped rescue about 12 of the asylum seekers,
told of the "horrifying" aftermath of the explosion.
He said "blood and skin was flowing over the deck" as he assisted medical staff to
treat the asylum seekers who were taken to HMAS Childers.
"It was just a mess, there were bodies everywhere," he said.
The inquest was told of several changes that had been made to naval training as a
result of the SIEV 36 explosion, including in relation to the volatility of
particular fuels.
Chief PO Lee said he would have removed the unleaded fuel used to operate the bilge
pump onboard SIEV 36 had he been a member of the boarding party.
However, he said he would not have initially confiscated cigarette lighters or
matches from the passengers because they were heavy smokers who had not shown any
belligerence.
The inquest heard it was now naval policy to confiscate lighters and matches and to
quarantine fuel stocks.
Seaman Matthew Pierce said mobile phones were now taken from passengers aboard all
SIEVs because some asylum seekers had been found with the telephone numbers of
Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel.
"The reason was given that some of the people on board had found out numbers for
different personnel in Defence," Seaman Pierce said.
"And to save them calling people, we'd taken the phone off them so that we could
process them without any problems."
No further questions were asked of Seaman Pierce about how the asylum seekers had
gained access to ADF telephone numbers.
The inquest continues.