A former defence minister has taken aim at a long-running inquiry into the culture of Australia's special forces soldiers, querying whether it is in the national interest.
"This inquiry seems to be going almost as long as the royal commission into the abuse of children of historical nature," Brendan Nelson told ABC radio on Thursday.
The now director of the Australian War Memorial says the 18-month investigation should be brought to an end as quickly as practicable.
The Australian Defence Force's inspector-general began a scoping inquiry in May 2016 looking into the culture of special forces soldiers, including allegations of possible war crimes committed in Afghanistan.
"I don't see the national interest in having protracted inquiries calling for people to come forward on the basis of rumours," Dr Nelson said, noting Defence was conducting a separate inquiry into special operations in Afghanistan.
In a statement to the ABC, the department said finalisation of the report would depend on "the number of additional lines of inquiry identified as the inquiry progresses".
