The Prime Minister has denied claims by the mother of the Australian soldier killed in Iraq of a cover-up over her son's death. Private Jake Kovco, 25, died in Baghdad on Friday. It had been thought he had accidentally shot himself while cleaning his weapon but Defence Minister Brendan Nelson now says Private Kovco was not handling the gun at the time.
Dr Nelson's comments have angered Private Kovco's mother, Judy and other members of his family. Private Kovco's stepbrother, Ben, says the family wants answers about the tragedy. "We feel like we have been lied to from the moment this started," he said. "We've been kept in the dark and that's the most insulting thing - we can handle the truth and it shouldn't be kept from us."
Prime Minister John Howard says there will be a full inquiry into the way the soldier died. He has urged the family to wait for the results. "I can give her an assurance there will be no cover-up," he said. "There's never been any intention on the part of anybody to cover anything up, that's why we're having a full and open inquiry.
"It will take time. You can't get to the bottom of something like this within 24 hours ... there does have to be a coronial investigation."
The family's grief has been compounded by a mistake that saw the wrong body flown back to Australia. The coffin that arrived in Melbourne from Kuwait yesterday contained another body.
Australia's ambassador to Kuwait, along with two Australian Defence Force soldiers, has now retrieved the correct body. The coffin was draped with an Australian flag and the maroon beret of Private Kovco's unit had been placed on top as it was taken to a military plane to be flown home.
The Government says it appears the mistake was made by the private company handling the repatriation, Kenyon International. That has raised questions about how the process is handled.
The former chief of the Defence Force, General Peter Cosgrove, has angrily denied accusations he obstructed an agreement to tighten procedures for the return of bodies of Australian soldiers. In April last year a draft document was circulated with new tough new rules regarding procedures for handling Australian military deaths. There have been reports that all state and territory coroners signed up but General Cosgrove did not and the agreement did not go into force.
But General Cosgrove denies that is the case. "We proposed it and basically the coroners could not agree to the protocols," he said.