DEFENCE has settled one of its longest-running, most contentious and costly legal disputes with a former Royal Australian Air Force officer it sacked for suffering depression.
After a decade-and-a-half of legal action costing taxpayers an estimated $15 million, the Defence Department has finally made a generous settlement with former Wing Commander Russell Vance.
The settlement with 55-year-old Canberra-based Mr Vance is an admission of the Defence Department's liability for his loss of earnings, because his promising RAAF career was destroyed after a petty dispute involving subordinates. Defence also paid his $1 million-plus legal bill.
Defence moved to settle the case late December when former Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon demanded answers about unsatisfactory aspects of the Defence Department's conduct of the case.
Mr Fitzgibbon intervened after the Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department launched an investigation into whether the Defence Legal Office was conducting the case appropriately.
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